Author: James Bartholomeusz

  • After 2016, We Need to Start Talking to Each Other Again

    After 2016, We Need to Start Talking to Each Other Again

    There is a fallacy – one that seems to afflict liberals disproportionately – that all major political disagreements can ultimately be reduced to misunderstandings. Communication is the bedrock of human society, and the better we can communicate with one another the greater chance there is that such misunderstandings can be overcome. While it is tempting…

  • Now, with Trump in the White House, We Need a European Army

    Now, with Trump in the White House, We Need a European Army

    Much has been written about the new president-elect of the United States, and much about his total lack of experience in public office. Less remarked upon, however, is that Donald Trump has also never served in the armed forces, something regarded in times past as an alternative accolade of respectability for presidential candidates. Most famously,…

  • I Was Wrong – This Might Be the End of UKIP

    I Was Wrong – This Might Be the End of UKIP

    Back in March, before the referendum campaign that would ultimately eject Britain from the European Union, I wrote an article arguing that UKIP had successful transcended its status as a single-issue party. Like other groupings across Europe that began as protest movements against supranational integration, UKIP had broadened its appeal to become an expression of…

  • Why Aren’t We Using Low Growth as an Opportunity?

    Why Aren’t We Using Low Growth as an Opportunity?

    Earlier this month, leaders of the world’s biggest economies met in Hangzhou, China, for the annual G20 summit. The main item on the agenda was a predictable one: how, given the prolonged slump, can countries work together to restore the growth levels of the global economy. In June, the World Bank revised its annual forecast…

  • For UK Politics, Brexit Is Set to Be a Slow Grind of Contradictions

    For UK Politics, Brexit Is Set to Be a Slow Grind of Contradictions

    On Monday 5 September, over two months since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the new Brexit minister David Davis stood up to address Parliament on the government’s plan for the upcoming negotiations. Many of us who voted Remain were curious to see exactly what sort of consensus had been reached within the cabinet…

  • After the Brexit Referendum Result: Labour’s Descent into Civil War

    After the Brexit Referendum Result: Labour’s Descent into Civil War

    After the shock of the Brexit referendum result, observers from across the English Channel are likely to be rather confused by the chain of events now convulsing British politics. No sooner had the Leave campaign won its unexpected victory than Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Michael Gove fled for the hills, disowning all responsibility for…

  • Britain Has Voted Out, and Europa Is Weeping

    Britain Has Voted Out, and Europa Is Weeping

    This is the feeling of the axis of history tilting: not a smooth, mechanical turn, but the ground shifting and trembling beneath your feet. What even yesterday seemed so solid is now running through your fingers like silt. The possibilities that gave you hope have vanished behind a cloud, and now there is only a…

  • Brexit or Bremain, the British Culture War Is Just Getting Going

    Brexit or Bremain, the British Culture War Is Just Getting Going

    Yes, thank God – it’s nearly over. In a fortnight’s time, the British public will finally decide at the ballot box whether or not to remain part of the European Union, bringing to a close several months of agonisingly irrelevant campaigning. There were those of us who hoped this referendum campaign would stimulate something of…

  • An Immigrant Experience – or Something Like It

    An Immigrant Experience – or Something Like It

    This is going to a bit of a different, more personal piece from me. A few months ago, for a variety of reasons, I decided that I would spend the summer in Berlin. I’ve now been here for two weeks, and turning up in a foreign country – not for a short trip but with…

  • A Very Ugly Opposition: Anti-Semites Versus Islamophobes in British Politics

    A Very Ugly Opposition: Anti-Semites Versus Islamophobes in British Politics

    We all know that democratic politics is about building coalitions of different interest groups, bringing people together to hammer out a common position that serves the majority. The inverse of this tendency, equally if not more important, is carefully managing where the inevitable divisions caused by such coalitions fall. European history is replete with cases…