Melanie McDonagh
Buda baby boomers
Hungary’s natalist policies are both generous and effective
Citizens’ Assemblies let the elite skew public debate
To produce a particular outcome from a Citizens’ Assembly, choose with care how you recruit to it, who you get to chair it, and who you allow to present their case to the members
An island that has forgotten the art of the backroom deal
‘Since the referendum, the attitude of the Irish government to the result—contemptuous, disbelieving, disrespectful—has grated. Leo Varadkar, a conformist individual, was in office at just the time when a fixer was what was needed’
Unholy Mess
The Vatican misjudged the public mood over Richard Williamson, but secular commentators don’t understand the idea of excommunication
Will the green agenda be killed off by the pandemic?
‘Will the green agenda be killed off by the longer-term coronavirus recovery? Or might the closure of so much business, and the cleaner air that results from planes not flying and factories not working, give us extra years to gain control of our environment?’
Why T.S. Eliot still matters
His contemporaries’ reputations have diminished. But Eliot’s has grown: he is the poet who shows us what can be saved from the ruins
Music’s in the house
Rappers have found a role in lockdown: chronicling coronavirus with topical tunes. Most people, though, are rushing to the safety of the past