Essays
Our contributors explain what they think and why. Each essay is the author's own view.
What Orwell actually said
Orwell was a socialist, a patriot and a critic of his own side. Quoting only the convenient parts misses what makes him worth reading.
The Anywheres have always been here
Mobility and attachment create different interests. Globalisation changed that relationship without inventing it.
Teaching the nation its story
Children deserve a history that helps them understand their country without requiring either ignorance or shame.
What is citizenship for?
Before arguing about eligibility, we should explain what membership of the country means and what it asks of us.
The court and the ballot box
Protecting rights and preserving democratic consent are both worth doing. Neither removes the difficult choices about where power belongs.
The lifeboat problem
A generous immigration policy still needs an honest account of capacity, obligations and the people it can't help.
Cheap power, expensive country
Cleaner electricity needs to become affordable electricity. That requires attention to the whole system and the way users receive its benefits.
The veto economy
Planning should consider what a community loses through development, and what other people lose when permission is refused.
The respectable lag
An outsider isn't necessarily right, and a consensus isn't beyond challenge. Reputation can't replace examination of the evidence.
The shared institution
A period of service could bring people together across social divides. Its supporters still have to answer the objections to compulsion.
The degree and the visa
University funding and immigration policy have become entangled. Neither should be decided quietly as a consequence of the other.
Taxed for working
The different treatment of earning and owning deserves scrutiny, even if an annual wealth tax isn't the answer.