Posts by Forbes Washington DC
On political paralysis, British intellectuals and the wisdom of Victorians
Our Britain columnist offers Theresa May a dramatic suggestion
Read MoreOn protesting “nuns”, a Labour “defection” and a story about “Andre Previn”
By BAGEHOT THE FIRST time I encountered protesters dressed as nuns was when I lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco in 1984-5. Sister Mary Boom Boom and her fellow Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were fixtures on the flourishing protest scene. This week I encountered another one protesting against Jacob Rees-Mogg’s appearance before a…
Read MoreOn Brexit films, Brexit books and Brexit television
I RECENTLY spent a happy few days in Los Angeles promoting my new book, “Capitalism in America: A History” (co-written with Alan Greenspan). I was driving down Hollywood Boulevard in a taxi thinking that all was right with the world—the sun was shining, the people were good-looking and, above all, I wasn’t on deadline to…
Read MoreBritain’s government slides into chaos
By BAGEHOT NOBODY CAN accuse Theresa May of an unwillingness to repeat herself. The woman who said, again and again, that “Brexit means Brexit” is now telling Britain that her version of Brexit is the only version worth having. This morning the prime minister spent three hours extolling her deal to the House of Commons.…
Read MoreBoris Johnson takes centre stage—from the sidelines
By BAGEHOT TODAY’S Conservative Party conference is all about one person: Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson booked the largest room in the conference centre, with enough space for 700, but people nevertheless started queuing three hours early. He came flanked by a bigger entourage of security guards and minders than he ever commanded as foreign secretary.
Read MoreOf blue suits and smelly trainers
THE most visible difference between the Conservative Party Conference and the Labour Party Conference is age-adjusted dress sense. The Conservative Party Conference is full of young people dressed like middle-aged business people. The preferred style is the blue suit with a shirt and tie but a few adventurous spirits add pocket squares, waistcoats (brightly coloured…
Read MoreThe Tory Party is split down the middle
By BAGEHOT THE first thing that you notice in Birmingham is that the Conservative Party is hopelessly split on Brexit. The government is united (for now) over Chequers. Most of the party faithful hate it. On September 30th hundreds of people queued for more than an hour—the queue snaking down the stairs; people locked in…
Read MoreWhat Birmingham means to today’s Conservatives
By BAGEHOT BIRMINGHAM was an obvious place for the Tories to hold their conference. The mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, is a Conservative. Central Birmingham is a far better place for conferences than Manchester (where the Tories had their conference last year) or Liverpool (where Labour had their conference last week). There are…
Read MoreJohn McDonnell offers an ambitious alternative economic policy
By BAGEHOT SO FAR the Labour Party’s annual conference has very much been John McDonnell’s. The shadow chancellor not only delivered today’s keynote address in the main hall. He’s been ubiquitous in the media and on the fringe. This is as it should be. Mr McDonnell has provided the Labour Party with the closest thing…
Read MoreAmericans are doing a good job of misunderstanding Britain
By BAGEHOT A RESTAURANT critic for the New York Times informs us that, on returning to London after a ten-year absence, he was astonished to discover that the local restaurants have moved beyond “porridge and boiled mutton”. Robert Draper has been widely mocked for this nonsense. What next on his list of amazing discoveries? That…
Read MoreLabour is no longer the party of the traditional working class
By BAGEHOT ON JULY 3RD Jeremy Corbyn told Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, that “Labour is back as the political voice of the working class”. This would be nice if it were true: the Labour Party was after all founded to represent the working class, and the working class has been severely battered, in recent…
Read MoreSome thoughts on the crisis of liberalism—and how to fix it
By BAGEHOT BREXIT is such an all-consuming process for the British—at once a drama, a muddle and a mess—that it is easy to forget that it is part of something bigger: a crisis of liberalism in the west. A growing number of countries have had their own equivalents of Brexit: Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary…
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