Athenian democracy
The Greek Donald Trump
Why does the Republican party loathe Donald Trump? Because Trump is the ultimate loose cannon, beholden to no one. And…
Safe space in ancient Athens
Brilliant Oxford undergraduates argue that it is right to prevent us saying things they object to, because speech they do…
Cleisthenes and the EU
One feels that Sir Stuart Rose, leader of the EU referendum ‘In’ campaign, should really try a little harder. First…
Pericles vs Corbyn
Whatever else one can say about Jeremy Corbyn, one thing is clear: he is a leader who does not believe…
Hesiod on Grexit anxiety
Why do Greeks want to keep the euro, or remain in the European Union? The combative, creative, competitive, mercantile classical…
Coalitions of the willing
Whatever the result of the election, it has become clearer by the day that our ‘democracy’ is run by politicians…
Rome’s 99 per cent
In the UK the richest 1 per cent — 300,000 — of the working population control 23 per cent of…
What real debate looks like
Ancients would have been astonished that parties never debate against each other in open, public forum except on the telly…
Law, democracy and rape
‘This was the rule for men that Zeus established: whereas fish, beasts and birds eat each other, since there is…
Demosthenes vs Russell Brand
Voters explain their apathy about politics on the grounds that the politicians do not understand them. No surprise there, an…
Why ostracism beats Ukip
For all Nigel Farage’s appealing bluster, he is never going to be in a position to get us out of…
Rory Stewart’s big idea
In last week’s Spectator, Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith, was reported to be proposing that we should create in Britain…
Ancient Athens, modern Egypt
Whatever problems Greeks and Romans faced, a politicised priesthood was not one of them. They might have made three observations…
