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- Edition 74 – June 2025 – Cover + Contents
- Political Musings – Labour Is Obsessed With Change
- Sonia Purnell's Perspectives – The obsessive short-termism and insularity of our political class
- The Storehouse of Truth or Lies?
- ‘We Need Psychological Herd Immunity to Create a Resilient Social Media Society’
- ‘Real Democracy Can Counter Division and Hate’
- ‘The Problem With Misinformation Is the Problem With Information’
- ‘Where Once There Was God, Now There Is Code’: The Lure of Life In The Matrix
- Science Fiction Gets to Truths Journalism Misses
- Notes on Now – It Was the City of the Future
- The Bitter After-Taste of the Candy Man’s Conspiracy
- Don’t Mention Trump
- The Trump Bump Becomes the Trump Slump
- ‘Starmer Did Not Need to Manufacture Unpopularity For Its Own Sake – Now Farage Waits in the Wings’
- Political Economy – ‘UK’s Trade Deals Show How the World is Evolving in Response to the Trump Shock’
- Zeitgeisters – Rebecca Solnit
- Myth of the Month – Tall Tales
- The Kindness of Strangers
- The Tribunal of Truth: Byline Times Joins Press Regulator
- News In Brief – Catching Up With Old Friends
- Peter Oborne's Diary – Return of the Oligarchs
- Bad Press Awards: Melanie Phillips Wins the Mirror Ball for Opinion Writing Self-Regard
- The Upside Down – Monkey Magic
- How the BBC’s Flawed Approach to Impartiality Scuppered a Podcast About a Heating System
- The British Political-Media Class’ Mainstreaming of the Populist Radical-Right
- Can Journalism and Democracy Survive Social Media?
- Mandrake – Sunshine State Benefits
- Falling for Farage
- A Coalition of Contradictions: Who Is Voting for Reform?
- Disappointment in Dartford –Triumph for Reform
- ‘In These TikTok Times, Nigel Farage Knows Personality Trumps Trust’
- Why aren’t the Greens shooting through?
- Low Voter Turnout Challenges Populists’ Claims to Speak For the ‘Silent Majority’
FREE FROM FEAR OR FAVOUR
EDITION 74 – JUNE 2025
THE POLITICAL-MEDIA CLASS: MAINSTREAMING FARAGE
Adam Bienkov
REFORM UK: A COALITION OF CONTRADICTIONS
Olly Haynes
THE TIKTOK SHOWMAN
James Bloodworth
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
How Can We Create Psychological Herd Immunity?
Dr Melisa Basol
Why Real Democracy Can Conquer Hate
Jamie Kelsey
‘Misinformation: A Problem With Information’
Rafael Holmberg
The Lure of Life in The Matrix
Iain Overton
In This Edition
In This EditionHighlights
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Sonia Purnell’s Perspectives – The obsessive short-termism and insularity of our political class
‘The obsessive short-termism and insularity of our political class, who foolishly no longer see historical context as instructive’
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Science Fiction Gets to Truths Journalism Misses
Catherine Mayer introduces a prescient extract from her book Time/Life, recently published in paperback
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The Bitter After-Taste of the Candy Man’s Conspiracy
Long before Donald Trump’s ‘MAGA’, a society railing against the New World Order recruited thousands of acolytes across the United States. All it had to do was bide its time, writes Otto English
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Zeitgeisters – Rebecca Solnit
If there is a patron saint of this column then it has to be the American writer and activist Rebecca Solnit. Her ability to weave together original historical research, personal memoir, and political activism has inspired millions.
Martin ROwson’s cartoon
Investigations, Analysis, Reports and Columns
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Political Musings – Labour Is Obsessed With Change
-
The Storehouse of Truth or Lies?
-
‘We Need Psychological Herd Immunity to Create a Resilient Social Media Society’
-
‘Real Democracy Can Counter Division and Hate’
-
‘The Problem With Misinformation Is the Problem With Information’
-
‘Where Once There Was God, Now There Is Code’: The Lure of Life In The Matrix
-
Notes on Now – It Was the City of the Future
-
Don’t Mention Trump
-
The Trump Bump Becomes the Trump Slump
-
‘Starmer Did Not Need to Manufacture Unpopularity For Its Own Sake – Now Farage Waits in the Wings’
-
Political Economy – ‘UK’s Trade Deals Show How the World is Evolving in Response to the Trump Shock’
-
Myth of the Month – Tall Tales
-
The Kindness of Strangers
-
The Tribunal of Truth: Byline Times Joins Press Regulator
-
News In Brief – Catching Up With Old Friends
-
Peter Oborne’s Diary – Return of the Oligarchs
-
Bad Press Awards: Melanie Phillips Wins the Mirror Ball for Opinion Writing Self-Regard
-
The Upside Down – Monkey Magic
-
How the BBC’s Flawed Approach to Impartiality Scuppered a Podcast About a Heating System
-
The British Political-Media Class’ Mainstreaming of the Populist Radical-Right
-
Can Journalism and Democracy Survive Social Media?
-
Mandrake – Sunshine State Benefits
-
Falling for Farage
-
A Coalition of Contradictions: Who Is Voting for Reform?
-
Disappointment in Dartford –Triumph for Reform
-
‘In These TikTok Times, Nigel Farage Knows Personality Trumps Trust’
-
Why aren’t the Greens shooting through?
-
Low Voter Turnout Challenges Populists’ Claims to Speak For the ‘Silent Majority’