Best of the week, 8 August 2021

The commuters are revolting

Does the Government fear an economic rebalancing away from the capital?

Mary Harrington
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15:19

Why aren’t my fellow socialists backing Boris on state aid?

The PM is right to resist the 1990s-era rules of the EU, which even more wrong now than they were then

| 8 September

How to save British farming (and the countryside)

As a farmer I've come to accept that our impact on nature is often destructive

As a farmer I've come to accept that our impact on nature is often destructive, but saving the landscape won't be cheap

James Rebanks
The tragedy of Britney Spears

Everyone wants a piece of her: even the fans are complicit. But is there anything left to give?

Everyone wants a piece of her: even the fans are complicit. But is there anything left to give?

Sarah Ditum
Why Fukuyama was right all along

Long dismissed as liberal hubris, The End of History accurately predicted our current crisis

Long dismissed as liberal hubris, The End of History accurately predicted that the West's greatest threat comes from within

Aris Roussinos
Let’s be honest, the NHS is awful

In public we lionise it; in private we share stories of its incompetence and heartlessness

In public we lionise it; in private we share stories of its incompetence and heartlessness

Henry Jeffreys
Latest from The Post >

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15:19

Why aren’t my fellow socialists backing Boris on state aid?

The PM is right to resist the 1990s-era rules of the EU, which even more wrong now than they were then

| 8 September

The ZeroCovid debate: can the disease be eliminated?

Professor Devi Sridhar makes the case for why we should not tolerate any level of Covid-19

Why is middle age so depressing?

Happiness is the most important subject of scientific inquiry. But it's not easy to study

Stop searching for the ‘gay gene’

Trying to determine whether homosexuality is 'caused' by nature or nurture is a waste of time and money

Hypocrisy is not the worst thing on earth

No one cares if progressives don't practise what they preach β€” so long as what they're preaching is good

Ben Sixsmith
The American Left is looking increasingly extreme

How would Joe Biden's radicalised supporters react to a Trump victory in November?

Justin Webb
‘Cultural appropriation’ is American cultural imperialism

The outrage over Adele shows the extent to which the US culture wars intrude in places they don't belong

Douglas Murray
Why defunding the police will hurt women most

The criminal justice system is the only safeguard for those in greatest need of protection

Louise Perry

The criminal justice system is the only safeguard for those in greatest need of protection

Louise Perry
Uber’s dangerous drive to serfdom

The company might fancy itself as a woke corporation, but its exploitative labour practices are worthy of the Gilded Age

Marshall Auerback
Let’s all meet up in the year 3000

It might finally be possible to slow down ageing. But who would want to?

Tom Chivers

Interviews.

we sit down with original thinkers and talk ideas

Tyler Cowen on herd mentality and herd immunity

Freddie Sayers speaks to the influential US thinker about Covid-19, the media, and Trump

Prof Michael Levitt: here’s what I got wrong

The Nobel Prize winner returns to LockdownTV to discuss his predictions

The ZeroCovid debate: can the disease be eliminated?

Professor Devi Sridhar makes the case for why we should not tolerate any level of Covid-19

Sweden’s Anders Tegnell: judge me in a year

The architect of Sweden’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic defends his approach

John Gray: this moment is bigger than 1989

The philosopher puts today's political turmoil in historical context



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11:01

Why I’m no longer talking to white liberals about race

They live in a different reality from my own

| 8 September
Idea
16:21

Britain should embrace Canadian-style patriotism

The Great White North has become a shining example of a diverse democracy

| 7 September
Idea
09:43

On euthanasia, old Conservatives are the new radicals

Burkean Tories are now the exception, not the rule

| 7 September
Spotted
15:00

The UBI debate exposes an ancient Christian division

A clash between the Weberian Protestant work ethic and Anglo-Catholic nostalgia

| 4 September
Idea
07:00

Watch out for the DIY surveillance state

It's not just the authorities that are getting the latest gadgets

| 4 September
Video
15:37

Tyler Cowen on herd mentality and herd immunity

Freddie Sayers speaks to the influential US thinker about Covid-19, the media and Trump

| 3 September
Reaction
10:45

Spare me the outrage of the sex trade apologists

Don't blame Bella Thorne for succeeding in an industry that we enable

| 3 September
Reaction
07:00

Sharia law is a threat to women everywhere

As the case of Afsana Lachaux's shows, its reach extends far beyond the Middle East

| 3 September
Debate
16:02

I used to be a ‘Right-wing comic’ β€” here’s what the BBC doesn’t get

Conservative comedians exist in abundance, but only a few talk about politics

| 2 September
Idea
07:00

Did we (literally) talk ourselves into a pandemic?

Evidence shows that silence reduces the spread of Covid-19... so which countries are the loudest?

| 2 September
Reaction
15:00

America’s culture war is turning into a petty squabble

And invariably, the English-speaking world gets sucked into it

| 1 September
Series: Back to Westminster

Back to Westminster

A reading list for our returning politicians

Confessions Podcast with Giles Fraser

How Solidarity gives hope to Belarus

The Polish trade union's struggles β€” and eventual victory β€” are a template for protesters in Minsk

Steve Crawshaw
Can our seaside survive the winter?

Bournemouth made it through lockdown, but the worst could be yet to come

James Bloodworth
England will miss our Church when it’s gone

Without the steadying influence of Anglicanism, our politics could descend again into extremism

Mary Harrington
The abolitionist who believed in bloodshed

John Brown's legacy raises a tricky question: can an institution be so evil that violence against it is justified?

Ralph Leonard
What the West gets wrong about consent

Modern feminists look askance at arranged marriages, yet turn a blind eye to violent misogyny

Jenny McCartney

Modern feminists look askance at arranged marriages, yet turn a blind eye to violent misogyny

Jenny McCartney
In praise of autumn, the best of seasons

In England the period when the leaves fall and the evenings darken is uniquely evocative and beautiful

Niall Gooch
Why the future of tech is trad not rad

We should never incorporate new technology into our lives just because it’s new

Peter Franklin

Box Set: Black Lives Matter

Our contributors examine the protest movement that shook the world

How white radicals hijacked Portland’s protests

Anarchists are using Black Lives Matter as a smokescreen for insurrection

Michael Tracey
Is it any wonder we’re so divided?

The relentless message of disunity promoted by BLM erodes any solidarity we gained under lockdown

Douglas Murray
Stop pretending the BLM protests were peaceful

Are journalists deliberately ignoring the effects of these devastating riots?

Michael Tracey
Why shouldn’t the curriculum be ‘Eurocentric’?

The case for 'decolonising' universities makes no sense, empirically or historically, yet it's winning over institutions of rational debate

Nigel Biggar

Why Christopher Nolan needs to calm down

There's nothing thrilling about over-complicated plots β€” they create confusion, not tension

Andrew Martin
Why is nature writing all about egos?

The genre tends to focus on self-discovery rather than birds or beasts β€” which makes Tom Fort's work so refreshing

John Lewis-Stempel
Can sex offenders change?

A new documentary suggests there is little hope of rehabilitating all those men who behave like monsters

Sarah Ditum
Why mushrooms are magic

Merlin Sheldrake's new book, Entangled Life, reveals just how much our lives depend upon fungi

John Lewis-Stempel