International
12 February 2014
Christopher Pyne’s plan for “independent” public schools bears a family resemblance to the academies and free schools that have undermined British education,…
Books & arts
17 December 2013
As two Australian books show, the European Enlightenment rested partly on a global traffic of persons between widely separated spaces
16 December 2013
The polls say no, the mood yes. Scotland’s independence debate is a puzzle, says David Hayes
3 September 2013
Syria’s war is opening new dividing lines in British politics, says David Hayes. Once the consequences play out, Ed Miliband might have lost more than has David Cameron
International
28 August 2013
Britain’s media coverage of Australia’s election is lively but limited, finds David Hayes
25 July 2013
The scale of Britain’s problems leaves its party and electoral systems struggling to catch up, says David Hayes
International
15 July 2013
Popular unease about US surveillance of German citizens could pose a problem for Angela Merkel as national elections loom, writes Klaus Neumann
17 June 2013
Although it’s widely disdained, the very vagueness of David Cameron’s ambitious idea gives it resilience, says David Hayes
28 April 2013
The renowned director’s new film, which uses the socialist mood of 1945 to assail the world Margaret Thatcher created, is bad history and worse politics, says David Hayes
International
17 April 2013
Australian journalist Natalie Bennett has big ambitions for Britain’s Green Party. Carmela Ferraro talked to her in London
12 April 2013
The grim conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have dulled the instinct for armed intervention. But it still runs deep in British political culture, writes David Hayes
Books & arts
3 April 2013
Richard Johnstone reviews Richard Hughes’s The Fox in the Attic
National affairs
5 March 2013
Like Australia, Britain decided to make it harder for new arrivals to become citizens. Kerry Ryan looks at the mixed results
25 February 2013
The roots of ambivalence in Britain’s relationship with the European Union go deep, says David Hayes
International
6 December 2012
The Leveson report's case for more rigorous press accountability was immediately undercut by David Cameron, but despite the cheers from the tabloids, the prime minister has backed…
3 December 2012
An endless recession has changed politics and livelihoods. But in a many-sided national argument there is no consensus about its lessons, says David Hayes
4 October 2012
The halfway point of Britain’s five-year parliament finds all of the parties under pressure to adapt to a changing environment, says David Hayes
3 August 2012
A thrilling opening ceremony turned London’s mood from cynical to euphoric. But after artistic seduction comes political reduction, says David Hayes in London
International
10 July 2012
It’s a year since News Corporation’s cover-up of phone-hacking in Britain began to unravel. Rodney Tiffen takes stock of the damage so far, assesses the News…
25 June 2012
Brian McFarlane reviews a classic theatrical revival, a new play paired with an old one, and a musical adapted from a film for the stage
18 June 2012
Britain’s season of high spectacle offers only a temporary respite from economic and political troubles, writes David Hayes
International
3 May 2012
Comparisons with Watergate raise worrying prospects for News Corporation, writes Rodney Tiffen
From the archive
19 April 2012
The celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s sixty years on the throne coincided with the best of recent times for the British monarchy
Books & arts
11 April 2012
The language of class distinctions tells us a lot about Britain and Australia, writes Frank Bongiorno
22 February 2012
A high-stakes constitutional tussle over the future of the United Kingdom is under way. The political transformation of Scotland since the 1950s will help to shape the outcome,…
International
12 January 2012
A sympathetic film portrayal of Britain’s most divisive modern prime minister fits a broader mood of reappraisal of her years in power, says David Hayes
International
7 December 2011
London’s mayoral election might be overshadowed in 2012 by royal and Olympic pageants, but it’s more revealing of the city’s heartbeat
1 November 2011
An encampment around St Paul’s Cathedral in London casts a new light on this icon of British wartime defiance. But the epic days of the 1940s may have something to teach the…
18 September 2011
The tendency to press reality into a heritage mould traps England in political aspic, says David Hayes
Essays & reportage
15 September 2011
With the Leveson inquiry into the British press starting work in London, Rodney Tiffen looks at what the phone-hacking scandal has revealed so far about media, politics…