• Earlier this month, an MP from Labour’s right factions criticised the Manchester mayor Andy Burnham for planning to go to a conference by Compass. His problem? The conference would include members of the Green Party. Naturally, after reading this, I signed up to go, as did at least one other person I met there. Though…

  • Is identity problematic? The Identity Trap by Yascha Mounk, review and analysis

    In the Western world and especially the United States, the political left has a problem. It is increasingly seen as a champion of the identity politics of discriminated groups to the exclusion of others, sometimes rightly and often wrongly. Yascha Mounk had previously written books such as The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is…

  • Rawls to the Rescue? Free and Equal by Daniel Chandler, review and analysis

    There are two types of people – those who haven’t read John Rawls and those who are politics graduates. The Harvard professor revolutionised political philosophy with his book A Theory of Justice (1971), yet is rarely discussed in the world of politics. In his book Free and Equal (2023), Daniel Chandler, a political advisor turned…