Myths of power: merchant, soldier, sage…?
David Priestland has written a provocative book, Merchant, soldier, sage: a new history of power. His…
Quotes to write by 1.
From Niccolo Machiavelli’s letter to the magnificent Lorenzo de Medici in presenting his The Prince: Nor…
A song of sorries
The Parliament of Victoria recently voted an apology for laws that criminalised homosexuality. It followed a…
Behavioural Anecdotes Teams
One of the more puzzling cases of British export success stories is the spread of successive…
The return of the venal office and tax-farmer
The French Revolution was in part a revolt against a degraded court, whose profligacy in prestige…
Political order and political decay in Australia
If there has been a single problem facing contemporary democracies, either aspiring or well established, it…
Millennial predictions 3 – big states will continue to fragment
Fernandez-Armesto’s interest as an historian rests in his unusual observations, framed in remarkable prose and made…
An interlude on disaffection and living in truth
Yet again today I had the experience of feeling like I belonged nowhere and with no…