Oliver Wiseman
In defence of globalisation
Free trade is not without costs — but those costs are outweighed by the benefits. And where costs exist, the answer to “open” is rarely “closed”
Where have all the people gone?
Hot and crowded. That is the conventional wisdom on what Planet Earth will be like in the not-so-distant future. But the related question of how many of us there will be in 50 or 100 years matters too
Overrated: Hunter S. Thompson
The high priest of “gonzo” journalism took pride in making stories up — his legacy should be deplored
Liberalism’s identity crisis
The American Left has taken refuge in an intellectual dead end, argues Mark Lilla
Deep History Or Just Conspiracy?
Built on misreadings and deceptive elisions, Nancy MacLean’s Democracy In Chains reframes the colourful tale of the American Right as a dank, dark conspiracy
Overrated: John Bercow
The self-aggrandising Speaker has confused the importance of his office with that of its holder
Trust Westminster On Brexit: It’s All We’ve Got
The anti-politics of Nigel Farage contributed to the referendum result, but it won’t help Theresa May take on Brussels successfully
Underrated: Nick Clegg
The record of the former Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister is too easily ridiculed
China has a strategy and Britain doesn’t
A roadmap to better relations requires realism. Beijing’s interests and goals are openly stated—if you know where to look
The plague
Standpoint goes to press as the pandemic rages. So too does the search for blame and the political fall-out
Defeat begets defeat for Britain’s cloth-eared Left
The censorious culture of the liberal Left is hostile to freedom of expression. The fate of the trans-rights movement evinces this pointless politics