Political stability … has there ever been a greater oxymoron? Politics is, at the best of times, an illusion of power thrown into chaos by a newspaper headline.
Keir Starmer’s illusion of power seemed grounded in reality – which PM wouldn’t feel a sense of self-assurance having displaced a stagnant, corrupt regime after 14 years with a 174-seat majority of his own?
And yet … the gradual-then-sudden collapse of his authority has been both disappointing and astonishing.
Is it too late for him to regain his footing and convince a weary, irritated electorate that he is the man, and Labour is the party, to deliver that national renewal he spent so long talking about, but never quite defined? Or is he toast, now just waiting to be ejected from the toaster?
In this week’s issue, Paul Mason spells out the predicament, how much of it is of Starmer’s own making – and yet still finds room for a recovery.
As do I, in my article about how Starmer must make the subject of patriotism a central battleground in the fight to expose Farage’s Reform as the rhetorically empty populists they surely are. This isn’t a populism based on flying flags from lampposts – but an argument about what it means to be British. I find inspiration from two speeches, twenty years apart, which put Farage in his place.
Lastly, James Ball – having been banned by Reform from attending their conference – spends the day in the Wetherspoons next to the Birmingham NEC. Personally, I think his coverage of their bizarre and tellingly crackpot gathering is all the better for it. So thank you, Richard Tice, for refusing to allow us in. We understand what you’re scared of … it’s called scrutiny. There’s plenty more of it to come, believe us.
Away from politics, our editor-at-large Alastair Campbell spends the day at Lord’s watching the cricket, where he bumps into the actor Damian Lewis while discussing hanging out with Tony Blair and the many times he met Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton. Alastair also defends himself vigorously against the charge that he is a name-dropper.
Our other editor-at-large (we’re doubly blessed in that regard) Matthew d’Ancona is fierce in his support of both Graham Linehan and free speech. It’s a finely argued essay that confronts the difference between polarisation and division:
“Division is what happens when people dare to question and stand up to one another,” Matthew writes. “Division — one hopes — leads to resolution and social concord. It must be peaceful. But it cannot be avoided. And free speech is the most powerful solvent of nonsense, stupidity and injustice.”
Elsewhere in this week’s edition, Lucy Reade asks what it is that Taylor Swift is really selling. Marie Le Conte spends the best part of a day on a weekend train service and wonders how it is that more of us aren’t radicalised by the experience. And our philosopher-at-large Nigel Warburton discusses the philosophy of death. Don’t worry – it’s not as scary as it might sound.
For scary, simply turn to our cover this week, by the brilliant British artist who goes by the name WeFail. His image of a demonic Farage looming over a diminutive flag-waving Starmer seems to encapsulate the dynamics of British politics as they stand today. I hope you enjoy this week’s magazine, and remember: don’t have nightmares!
