• OPINION

  Anti-Trump op-ed boosts democracy

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 10/09/2018

  » The good news was well disguised in the anonymous cry of warning against the "amorality" of Donald Trump. A senior administration official, writing as an unnamed columnist in The New York Times, described how he and like-minded colleagues "are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of (the US president's) agenda and his worst inclinations." The message is that democratic habits -- and, crucially, civic decency and responsibility -- can, in step with free journalism, win out over degraded administrations.

• OPINION

  Britain's current mess extends well beyond Brexit

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 13/11/2017

  » Britain -- ever-ready to boast stable politics and a faultless, often-called "Rolls-Royce" civil service -- is in a mess. Between scandals over sex, secret meetings, political donors and the royal family, the government is melting down.

• OPINION

  Trump's Iran nuclear decision strains US-Europe ties

  Oped, John Lloyd, Published on 14/05/2018

  » Does Europe still have a partner, a big brother across the water? One which can be a scold, a nag, an annoyance, a puzzle -- but which has always been there for it? A partner that is also a protector, with a military and security network of unrivalled power and reach? Is the United States still that partner?

• OPINION

  2019 ushers in era of state control

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 07/01/2019

  » A signature theme of the new year is the possibility of a malign confrontation between the world's greatly enhanced capacity for electronic surveillance and the weakening of democratic control. The antidote to that risk is the democratic spirit and civil freedoms -- both of which are suffering worldwide. These are not dead, but they are unwell, at times untended.

• OPINION

  Expect 2019 to test global stability

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 03/01/2019

  » The resignation of US Defence Secretary James Mattis stands not only as a radical disassociation from the actions of the president he served, but as a foreboding for the future, a warning for 2019 -- and beyond. And, for all the assurances the world is getting better, such as Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now, there are huge geopolitical challenges to face and master to make that optimism real.

• OPINION

  Midterms resonate across Atlantic

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 12/11/2018

  » One of the major political messages of the US midterm elections has been that rural voters dominate the cities. While the Democrats made enough gains in urban areas to take control of the House of Representatives, Republicans were able to expand their majority in the Senate, where each state gets two senators regardless of population size. In an election where neither side can claim a sweeping victory, President Donald Trump's party did as well as it did because the small towns and the more sparsely populated rural areas of the United States are still, in the main, Trump country. Meanwhile, Democrat votes pile up in the cities, uselessly, from an electoral point of view.

• OPINION

  Why Macron's 'third way' is now the EU's best option

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 17/09/2018

  » The largest question in democratic politics in Europe is: who's in charge?

• OPINION

  The case for the UK's Brexit chaos

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 16/07/2018

  » Compromise is the loveliest word in democratic politics and beyond -- in lasting relationships, labour disputes, international relations. British Prime Minister Theresa May has never more needed the deployment of this lovely and necessary word than now.

• OPINION

  Three liberal prophets of doom

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 31/07/2018

  » Liberal democratic institutions and states are under sustained pressure, from outside and from within. The question now is how well liberal and democratic defences can withstand the onslaught.

• OPINION

  In illiberal societies, a wider #MeToo movement

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 13/02/2018

  » In China, women calling themselves the "silence breakers" have demanded investigations into allegations of sexual harassment. In doing so, they pit themselves against a macho culture, a Communist Party deeply allergic to independent citizens' initiatives, and an exaggerated and assiduously cultivated respect for hierarchies, themselves male-dominated.

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