Articles by Richard Brooks

Their second electoral defeat has seen the Conservatives embrace a language of freedom – over drugs and censorship as well as hunting. The Labour government, cast as illiberal during its first term, seems less interested in the issue. This is a mistake: convincing people that the state can enlarge people’s freedom will be a vital task of Labour’s second term.

The British election campaign is no time for philosophical argument. Even so, Tony Blair explicitly rejected the idea that overall growing inequality should diminish. A bleary-eyed young Millbank organiser emerges into the sunlight to ask: can the left afford to agree with him?

And are there Big Macs still for tea? Richard Brooks returns from exile to take the pulse of the city that spawned a cliché.