John Harris's piece for the Guardian on Monday morning was a good example of how sentiment can dilute rational thinking and potentially blight the progressive movement. In what amounted to an emotional rage, Harris claimed the glorious victories of Ennis, Farah and Rutherford on Saturday proved once and...

Last week, feminism was kicked around the Westminster bubble by both political parties. Harriet Harman began by declaring it impossible to be both a Conservative and a feminist. Andrea Leadsom described Harman's argument as 'patronising rubbish', and linked the origins of the suffragette movement to the...

Last week at an event, I asked Alastair Campbell whether the well-known worship he and team Blair receive from Cameroons alarmed him or was a reason to be flattered. Campbell, intrigued by the question, went on to write a blog where he concluded that the current crop of...

Ed Miliband has a long list of reasons to worry. Polls tell him he has yet to make a dramatic impact on the public's consciousness. His party remains fraught with tensions from the fraternal struggle that culminated in Manchester 12 months ago. Headlines continue to focus on the ghosts of...

There is a well-known and over-used phrase in football. A centre-forward nervously stabs at the ball, six yards from goal, and misses again. The ball flies yards wide of the post and the fans roar with displeasure. Yet, in the post-match interview, the manager is brimming with praise - "at...

The Big Society and Blue Labour are movements in crisis. Unable to inspire their relative political parties or the public, they are now seen more as the outlandish, often inflammatory, musings of academics from their ivory towers.

The decline in standing is highlighted and reinforced by recent events. Maurice...

As the Hackgate storm slowly dies down, onlookers are left bewildered. From the likely decline of the Murdoch empire in Britain, to the revelations about the corrupt MET to Ed Miliband's new-found confidence as Labour party leader, there is a sense that something remarkable has happened. But whilst the consequences...