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180. The Only European Leader Defying Trump? (Pedro Sánchez)

Why is Prime Minister Sánchez such an outlier in challenging Trump on everything from military spending to Gaza? What’s behind Spain’s recent economic success? How is Spain tackling the rising fa... Continue

I am now confused re Big Society and DC’s foreign policy. Someone please explain

I remain confused by the Big Society concept, as I think are we all, including its author. My hunch is that when DC was trying to 'rebrand' the Tory Party, he wanted something that set himself apart f... Continue

23 February 2011

Olympic project takes a big step in the morning

Just back from seeing West Ham sneak a 5-1 win over Burnley, allowing us to concentrate on the League while they concentrate on relegation. Depending on who goes up and who goes down, it could be the... Continue

21 February 2011

Operation Get-a-Grip – hilarious to see Cameron going back to Blairite centralisation

David Cameron was always quite fond of criticising the centralising Number 10 system which operated under Tony Blair. So it is highly amusing to watch him steadily shift towards the kind of centralis... Continue

20 February 2011

A few weeks trying to teach challenging kids makes me respect teachers even more

March 2 sees the start of Jamie Oliver's latest TV project, Dream School, in which he, I and other non-teachers try to teach 20 young people who have gone through the school system without success. Th... Continue

19 February 2011

Hezza signals discontent at lack of Cameron grip, but Osborne won’t U-turn yet

I got back from Leicester in time to catch a bit of Question Time and was interested to see that the audience seemed mildly supportive of the government's U-turn on the sell-off of forests. It was a ... Continue

18 February 2011

Time running out for Tories’ ‘all Labour’s fault’ mantra

The Tories have had a very good run with their 'it's all Labour's fault', but it is slowly coming to an end. With the public, or at least the centre of gravity of public opinion, I think it came to ... Continue

17 February 2011

Royals owe one to the film people

I think that despite the risks of Jonathan Ross saying something daft, and despite the risk of speeches over-running, the Beeb should rethink coverage of the Baftas and go for it live. Yet another exa... Continue

14 February 2011

Big Society relaunch – mais on ne peut pas polir un turd

Oh dear ... poor old Dave has decided not only that he needs a 'relaunch' for his 'Big Idea', the 'Big Society.' ... but he is seemingly of the view that the problem is not the policy, it is that 'we ... Continue

13 February 2011

Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, broadcasting, charities and consultancy.