Niccolò Machiavelli
The case for realism
We should be pessimistic about the possibility of change
Speak softly and carry a big stick
A prudent fear of the unpredictability of war has been the touchstone of realist thinkers
Encouraging evil for the common good
Mansfield does not condemn him: rather refreshingly he exhilarates in Machiavelli’s genius
Rough statecraft
Biden’s Machiavellian moment
Most Read
The martyrdom of Young Bob
On ebbing power of the political influencer
Why has Keir Starmer been so unpopular?
He was the perfect embodiment of a failing system
Grooming gangs and the truth
We should not give ammunition to deniers of the grooming gangs scandal
Babies need women
Leaving children with only men who are not their parents is foolish and dangerous
Can Russell T Davies write “terfs”?
In Tip Toe, Russell T Davies is more nuanced than one might expect — much to the dismay of gender ideologues
Plant sentience
Pollination, long treated as a largely mechanical transaction, begins to look more like a dialogue
The Hollywood starlet and the immigration albatross
Free marketeers were too content to ignore the negative externalities of immigration
The end of anonymity?
The moral norms of the internet are being destroyed by zero sum politics
Spectres of folk
Can the gallery embrace unofficial culture?
We must save the right to smoke
Liberals must not put down the sword against paternalism
The knife and the bone
After war and repression, Iranian dissidents believe the regime’s reckoning is near — but Tehran’s influence reaches far beyond its borders
Keir’s logorrhoea
The prime minister has a lot to say — but does any of it actually matter?
Tony Blair cannot escape politics
And our politics cannot escape from Tony Blair
A.E. Housman
The poet is less read than he once was but his deep love of England still resonates
Today Havering, tomorrow Westminster
The local elections exposed a political class united mainly by its inability to feel embarrassment
Restore the King James Bible
Those who are opposed, please consider, in the bowels of Christ, whether you may be mistaken