Peter Wilby

Wanted: powerful city bosses

Mayoral referendums next month could produce visionary local leaders. More likely they will lead to powerless local managers Read more

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Now the mighty have fallen

The rise and fall of the Murdoch empire will have no real impact on politics or ordinary people, some commentators argue. They couldn’t be more wrong Read more...

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Who really gets the cream? By Peter Wilby

The opprobrium that is now being heaped on public sector ‘fat cats’ is pernicious, small-minded and innumerate Read more...

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Not as mad as it seems, by Peter Wilby

The chancellor’s announcement of spending cuts is largely hype to reassure the markets – nothing on that scale can be achieved in practice Read more...

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Two’s a crowd, by Peter Wilby

The LibDems’ decision to join the Tories in government will cost them in the long term, just as the lack of a second effective opposition party will cost democracy Read more...

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Look back in anger, by Peter Wilby

The red mist at Downing Street is par for the course in a society obsessed with short-term results, and where fear of failure still reigns supreme Read more...

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The personality is political, by Peter Wilby

Gordon Brown’s followers claim that the media’s trivialisation of politics writes off good leaders who fail to shine on TV. But politicians do need people skills Read more...

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Having your cake, by Peter Wilby

The public expects to have it all – low taxes and good services – and politicians are busy furthering this delusion. Will Labour tell the truth in Brighton? Read more...

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The revenge of history

Labour is in a hole because it no longer has a vision or an ideology to cling to – and its government is stuffed full of yesterday’s men and women Read more...

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People in glass houses

The phrase ‘two nations’, which dates back to the title of a novel by former prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, used to mean rich and poor, North and South or rural and urban. Now it means public sector and private sector. Read more

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