James Ball
10 May 2023
Labour, the party of small change?
The UK’s problems are deep, but its pockets are not. What can Labour promise on the cheap to excite voters?
Read the full article03 May 2023
The right are losing their own culture wars
From Tucker Carlson to Andrew Bridgen and GB News, populists have lost their grip on the narrative
Read the full article26 April 2023
The needy relationship
Right wingers sniping at Joe Biden is one more example of their delusion about Britain’s importance to the US
Read the full article19 April 2023
We need a big idea, do we not?
Our political leaders only offer up the small stuff. But this isn’t just pre-election caution – it marks the demise of radical ideology
Read the full article13 April 2023
How you can beat the voter ID con
After a cynical move by the government, 3 million Brits could miss out on voting in May’s elections because they don’t have photo ID
Read the full article23 March 2023
Taking the lunacy out of asylum
Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman believe in a hard line on migrants. A better way is possible
Read the full article14 March 2023
The problem of confidence
Another bank has collapsed, which shows once more that we have a global economy but local regulation
Read the full article09 March 2023
When will Starmer make a stand on Brexit?
Caution prevents Labour from telling the truth about Brexit. But bold policies that will bring change are also absent
Read the full article02 March 2023
Meta’s metaverse: On this evidence, the future is a bleak, cumbersome nightmare
Mark Zuckerberg has already spent $20bn on his new virtual reality project, and it’s boring, empty and clunky
Read the full article21 February 2023
A charlatan’s new low
Boris Johnson's latest intervention in the Northern Ireland Protocol is outrageous - even by his own standards
Read the full article16 February 2023
The dangers of doing God
Britain is increasingly secular, but religion remains baked into our politics and institutions. Does that need to change?
Read the full article08 February 2023
Another Major reset?
No 10 is briefing that the next election will be 1992 all over again. Here’s why they’re wrong
Read the full article02 February 2023
Trouble at the millennials
In debt, still renting and with minuscule pensions to look forward to. Meet the doomed generation
Read the full article25 January 2023
The Tories’ immoral maze
How a backscratching culture created a network of scandals that taints No 10, business, the civil service and the BBC
Read the full article16 January 2023
The Brexiteers could turn Sunak’s Protocol victory into a defeat
Britain and the EU are nearing an agreement in Northern Ireland. But will the hardliners let it happen?
Read the full article11 January 2023
The man who wasn’t there
His tactics mix invisibility with stating the obvious. How long can Rishi Sunak survive?
Read the full article03 January 2023
Back into the great unknown
People may want someone or something to blame for Covid. But we have to get used to the idea of just living with it
Read the full article22 December 2022
The year the clown fell
Boris Johnson - the man who brought himself down not once, but twice
Read the full article08 December 2022
‘Save the NHS’ is a bad slogan in need of a good policy
If we want the NHS to be functional in 10 years time, we need to start having more honest conversations about the state of affairs
Read the full article01 December 2022
Westminster is a breeding ground for the bullying class
What is behind this new wave of bullying allegations? Part of the answer lies in the UK's political system and Westminster's bizarre culture
Read the full article24 November 2022
The spies in our pockets
Four European nations are accused of snooping on their citizens’ phones – and the EU doesn’t seem to care
Read the full article17 November 2022
Breaking China
Xi Jinping has made himself president for life. Yet he may be about to lead his nation into catastrophe
Read the full article03 November 2022
Elon Musk’s bitter Twitter harvest
The self-styled ‘Chief Twit’ is often called one of the world’s most successful men. You wouldn’t know it from his latest purchase
Read the full article25 October 2022
It’s the Rishi Horror Show
Rishi Sunak has taken the reins of the country. However, he has just as many reasons to be afraid as the rest of us
Read the full article20 October 2022
The man who would be media king
Mathias Döpfner is Europe’s leading media mogul; the most influential man you’ve never heard of
Read the full article11 October 2022
Burning down the house
Mortgages helped cause the 2008 financial crash. Now they may bring about a new crisis
Read the full article06 October 2022
Why are they so hopeless?
System faults have left the UK being governed by the least gifted political class in memory
Read the full article29 September 2022
Is the prime minister a Groucho Marxist?
The comic actor said he’d never join a club that would admit him. Will Liz Truss apply the same rule to Macron’s new European forum?
Read the full article22 September 2022
The dangers of this uncivil war
Liz Truss has entered Number 10 wanting to change government. This time may be better spent on some reflection
Read the full article15 September 2022
The mission of King Charles
He has the task of preserving a system that even he knows can no longer be justified
Read the full article08 September 2022
Inside the Brexit bubble: The thinktanks who won’t take yes for an answer
A certain group of Brexiteers have got everything they wanted - but they still yearn for the impossible
Read the full article06 September 2022
Regrets? Boris Johnson should have a few
Boris Johnson wants to be remembered as a great man of British political history. So how does his scorecard look?
Read the full article