Jason Cowley

1 week ago | thetimes.com | Jason Cowley

3 weeks ago | newstatesman.com | Jason Cowley

One of the best books I’ve read on failure in politics is Michael Ignatieff’s Fire and Ashes. It is a searingly honest account of how the author became the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party and, confronted by the low cunning of Stephen Harper, the Conservative prime minister, led it to its worst ever defeat at the 2011 general election.

4 weeks ago | newstatesman.com | Jason Cowley

There was a revealing moment during Gareth Southgate’s BBC Richard Dimbleby lecture on 19 March when the camera settled on the playwright James Graham, who was among the invited audience. Graham smiled knowingly as Southgate made a joke about the striker Ollie Watkins being acclaimed “an overnight sensation” after he scored the winning goal in the semi-final of last year’s Euros in Germany. Watkins had worked his way up from the lower divisions over many years.

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Jason Cowley

1 month ago | newstatesman.com | Jason Cowley

Bridget Phillipson’s ill-fated Children’s Well-Being and Schools Bill continues to attract opposition. In a Telegraph article on 17 March, Amanda Spielman, the former head of Ofsted, said the “Schools Bill will cut the autonomy of schools and school groups right back, even though this has clearly been a contributor to system success”. Phillipson’s opponents caricature her as an unsmiling Marxist, which reveals how little they understand Marx.