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    Stephen Bush

    Columnist and Associate Editor

    Stephen Bush is an associate editor and columnist at the Financial Times. He writes a daily newsletter, Inside Politics, charting the course of politics and policy in the United Kingdom, and a wide-ranging weekly column. You can subscribe to Inside Politics here.

    Email Stephen Bush @stephenkb  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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    • Friday, 3 February, 2023
      Inside Politics
      ‘Generational warfare’ disguises the real divide in society

      Policymakers should focus support on those without access to the bank of Mum and Dad

    • Thursday, 2 February, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Raab affair: Labour’s stick to dent Sunak’s ratings further

      Bullying investigation into a trusted ally is especially painful for prime minister who cannot easily replace him

    • Wednesday, 1 February, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Chain of problems cramps Tories’ bid to win back younger voters

      Since 2019 the party’s once sizeable support from the young has tailed off, sparking internal fears about its fate

    • Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      How to make the BBC a fair arena for UK election fight

      Hiding economic trade-offs risks breaching corporation’s aims on broad impartiality, finds a new review

    • Monday, 30 January, 2023
      Parenting and families
      It would pay for us all to be more honest about family advantage

      Hand-wringing about ‘nepo babies’ obscures some uncomfortable truths around class privilege

    • Monday, 30 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Zahawi saga exposes weak links in UK legal and tax systems

      Sacking puts Sunak’s political judgment under scrutiny, amid consistently bleak opinion polls for him and Tories

    • Friday, 27 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Hunt talks up post-Brexit Britain as he sets scene for Budget

      Global race to lead green transition hinders UK growth plans, as the US and EU step up investment

    • Thursday, 26 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Why Trussonomics was doomed: Tories cannot stomach spending cuts

      Sunak presides over a Conservative party incapable of uniting over fiscal policy, but his fear of arguments has not helped

    • Wednesday, 25 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Levelling up: Sunak flounders in giving substance to Johnson’s slogan

      New fiscal powers for mayors in England being considered by the Treasury would be a better approach

    • Tuesday, 24 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Sunak is the political equivalent of a painkiller

      Tory party chair hangs on to post as one of the government’s few remaining proven and competent administrators

    • Monday, 23 January, 2023
      US politics & policy
      Politicians are unhealthily obsessed with getting to zero

      The key to making sensible policy is to be honest about the trade-offs involved

    • Monday, 23 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Zahawi may not only be embarrassing for Sunak, but damaging

      Tory party chair’s exit surely can’t be avoided, and risks exposing the prime minister to Labour’s favoured attack lines

    • Friday, 20 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Why doesn’t Sunak tell it straight on tax rises?

      Both the Conservative and Labour leaders are keen to drain attention away from the uncomfortable trade-offs of public spending

    • Thursday, 19 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Sunak dare not be seen at Davos

      Also in today’s newsletter, Starmer tries to reassure the global elite on a Labour Britain, and make himself out to be prime minister in waiting

    • Wednesday, 18 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Political interests drive the retained EU bill, not policy

      If government is lucky, the plan to scrap thousands of Brussels-derived laws will eventually die or be dismembered in the Lords

    • Tuesday, 17 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      UK ‘nuclear option’ over Scotland’s gender bill is not a party-political bid for war

      Move by Sunak’s government is less about trying to pick a fight with the SNP than a legal dispute

    • Tuesday, 17 January, 2023
      Film
      Forget digital resurrection: let the dead stay dead

      Our obsession with recreating people on screen and in reality is doomed to failure

    • Monday, 16 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Constitutional showdown looms over Scotland’s transgender bill

      Holyrood law to ease the process of changing legal gender need not conflict with workings of UK-wide equalities law

    • Friday, 13 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Misunderstanding of online safety bill muddies the debate

      Also in this newsletter, will a Conservative campaign over ‘small boats’ draw Sunak an advantageous battle line with Labour?

    • Friday, 13 January, 2023
      ReviewFT Books Essay
      Questions of privilege

      Is the term ‘white privilege’ doing more harm than good? Three insightful books look at anti-Semitism, migration and class amid the battle to end racism

    • Thursday, 12 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Sunak and Starmer are scarred from their defeats by populists

      History shows voters will not tolerate cuts past a point — but neither politician wants to admit solutions involve trade-offs

    • Wednesday, 11 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Setting NHS minimum service rules poses a risk for Tories

      Anti-strike legislation may not visibly remedy the crisis in health service as reports highlight record levels of excess deaths

    • Tuesday, 10 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      How worried should Sunak be?

      Complaints on Tory right will grow louder and more agitated in the next few months as a deal over Northern Ireland is struck

    • Monday, 9 January, 2023
      Technology
      Why everyone should be able to understand code

      Technical literacy is crucial for creating an informed citizenry

    • Monday, 9 January, 2023
      Inside Politics
      Spectre of Reform UK will shape direction of Tory party

      Also in today’s newsletter, why opinion polls might not be reflected in election results

    Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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