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- Edition 73 – May 2025 – Cover + Contents
- Editorial – The Need to Be Seen
- News In Brief – Niet Zero
- Peter Oborne’s Diary – The Sycophants
- Political Musings – Spring is Here
- On The Ground – Royal Flush
- High Court Case Brought Against Dan Wootton Over ‘Catfishing’
- Bad Press Awards – Janet Daley Scoops the Leopard Print Ribbon for Tragically Late Epiphanies
- Mandrake – Hacking Away
- ‘Turning A Blind Eye to Gaza is the Fatal Flaw in Starmer’s European Alternative to the Trump-Putin Axis’
- Blue Labour in the ‘MAGA Square’
- Keir Starmer’s ‘Elbows Down’ Approach to Power Is Winning Over His Enemies and Alienating His Voters
- ‘How Rapidly the Labour Government Has Been Disowned by the Liberal Left is Self-Indulgent and Irresponsible’
- ‘Living Through This Labour Government’s Benefits Cuts Is Brutal’
- From Grief To Grievance
- ‘Two-Tier’ Justice Or Two-Tier Punditry?
- ‘Legitimate Concerns’ and Root Causes: Have Lessons Been Learned From Last Summer’s Riots?
- ‘The Wider Issues the Riots Were a Symptom of Must Remain on the Political Agenda’
- Adolescence May Have Created a ‘Cultural Moment’ But Our Conversations About Misogyny and Masculinity Are Missing the Mark
- Cultural Crisis: Why Can’t We Talk About the Water We Swim In?
- ‘There May Not Be Any Institutions Left to Rebuild – the Democrats Need to Project Confidence and Keep Fighting’
- Do the Democrats Need Their Own Joe Rogan – Or Just a Compelling Argument?
- The Silent Violence of Trump’s Second Term
- Being Braver Than We Want To Be
- Political Culture – Trump’s Tariffs: Starmer’s Moment of Danger and Opportunity
- Political Economy – Trump’s Tariffs: The World’s ‘Liz Truss Moment’
- Notes on Now – An Absent Establishment
- ‘This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like’
- ‘Labour Offers No Clear Narrative’: In the Shark-Infested Waters of Politics, Reform Is Circling
- A Rising Tide For Shareholders While Bill Payers Struggle to Stay Afloat: Who Owns Britain’s Water?
- The Elixir of Life Is In Danger
- ‘We Have Utterly Decimated Our Rivers’
- ‘To Imagine That A River Is Alive Causes Water to Glitter Differently’
- Ecosystem Engineers: Welcoming Back Our Beavers
- Myth of the Month – Mr. Pink
- The Upside Down – Old Nick’s Game
- Editorial information
FREE FROM FEAR OR FAVOUR
EDITION 73 – MAY 2025
the fuel for last year’s riots is still smouldering
James Bloodworth and Misbah Malik
IS LABOUR TAKING THE RIGHT TURN?
Martin Shaw, Jon Bloomfield, David Edgar, Adam Bienkov, Chris Grey and Penny Pepper
Meg Warren-Lister
‘TRUMP’S TARIFFS: THE WORLD’S ‘LIZ TRUSS MOMENT’
Jonathan Lis and
Simon Nixon
In This Edition
In This EditionHighlights
‘There May Not Be Any Institutions Left to Rebuild – the Democrats Need to Project Confidence and Keep Fighting’
Alexandra Hall Hall speaks to former Obama and Clinton staffer Tom Malinowski about why the Democrats and those outside of Washington are reluctant to push back against the Trump administration
Being Braver Than We Want To Be
Heidi Siegmund Cuda turns to Václav Havel’s dissident essays to learn how people can find a collective way back from the democratic ruin now facing her country
‘This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like’
Six years ago, award-winning journalist Carole Cadwalladr ‘walked into the lair of the tech gods’ at TED to highlight Facebook’s role in Brexit. A single phrase she uttered there led to years of legal threats against her. This April, she returned to dissect the full-scale ‘digital coup’ that has been unleashed in the wake of…
‘We Have Utterly Decimated Our Rivers’
Author Patrick Galbraith speaks to punk star-turned-water campaigner Feargal Sharkey about why decisive political action and natural regeneration can both point a way forward in reclaiming our rivers
Martin ROwson’s cartoon
Investigations, Analysis, Reports and Columns
Why aren’t the Greens shooting through?
Peter Oborne’s Diary – Return of the Oligarchs
The British Political-Media Class’ Mainstreaming of the Populist Radical-Right
‘In These TikTok Times, Nigel Farage Knows Personality Trumps Trust’
Mandrake – Sunshine State Benefits
Political Musings – Labour Is Obsessed With Change
How the BBC’s Flawed Approach to Impartiality Scuppered a Podcast About a Heating System
Bad Press Awards: Melanie Phillips Wins the Mirror Ball for Opinion Writing Self-Regard
The Tribunal of Truth: Byline Times Joins Press Regulator
Editorial – The Need to Be Seen
News In Brief – Niet Zero
Peter Oborne’s Diary – The Sycophants
Political Musings – Spring is Here
On The Ground – Royal Flush
High Court Case Brought Against Dan Wootton Over ‘Catfishing’
Bad Press Awards – Janet Daley Scoops the Leopard Print Ribbon for Tragically Late Epiphanies
Mandrake – Hacking Away
‘Turning A Blind Eye to Gaza is the Fatal Flaw in Starmer’s European Alternative to the Trump-Putin Axis’
Blue Labour in the ‘MAGA Square’
Keir Starmer’s ‘Elbows Down’ Approach to Power Is Winning Over His Enemies and Alienating His Voters
‘How Rapidly the Labour Government Has Been Disowned by the Liberal Left is Self-Indulgent and Irresponsible’
‘Living Through This Labour Government’s Benefits Cuts Is Brutal’
From Grief To Grievance
‘Two-Tier’ Justice Or Two-Tier Punditry?
‘Legitimate Concerns’ and Root Causes: Have Lessons Been Learned From Last Summer’s Riots?
‘The Wider Issues the Riots Were a Symptom of Must Remain on the Political Agenda’
Adolescence May Have Created a ‘Cultural Moment’ But Our Conversations About Misogyny and Masculinity Are Missing the Mark
Cultural Crisis: Why Can’t We Talk About the Water We Swim In?
Do the Democrats Need Their Own Joe Rogan – Or Just a Compelling Argument?
The Silent Violence of Trump’s Second Term
Political Culture – Trump’s Tariffs: Starmer’s Moment of Danger and Opportunity
Political Economy – Trump’s Tariffs: The World’s ‘Liz Truss Moment’
Notes on Now – An Absent Establishment
‘Labour Offers No Clear Narrative’: In the Shark-Infested Waters of Politics, Reform Is Circling
A Rising Tide For Shareholders While Bill Payers Struggle to Stay Afloat: Who Owns Britain’s Water?
The Elixir of Life Is In Danger
‘To Imagine That A River Is Alive Causes Water to Glitter Differently’
Ecosystem Engineers: Welcoming Back Our Beavers
Myth of the Month – Mr. Pink
The Upside Down – Old Nick’s Game
Editorial information