Journalist · Commentator · Political Editor, The Spectator
The Long View — fifty years watching Britain govern itself
Since 1914 the West has passed through four phases: the second fall of man, the Cold War that the Bomb made safe, a brief triumphant dawn, and now Donald Trump's new world disorder. Bruce Anderson on European ingratitude, Suez, and why we are going to have to ask the Americans real nice.
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In Birmingham the Tory faithful rediscovered hope. Why there can be no deal with Reform, the 'might as well' vote, and a leader tough enough for hard times.
A year ago nobody knew whether 'this girl' would come good. The grumbling has stopped and the commentariat has noticed. The polls have not — yet.
Tennessee tried to execute a woman after thirty years on death row, and failed. On Queen Alexandra, Ruth Ellis, Myra Hindley, and a sentence that serves neither retribution nor deterrence.
Why do we obey the law? Civilisation as a collective dream, the consent it rests on, and a Britain where that consent is fraying.
Sumption doubts the verdict; Thirlwall damns the hospital. On circumstantial evidence, and why there must now be a fresh trial.
A guest essay by Sir Philip Bobbitt. Twenty-five years after 9/11, two predictable perils of the AI era — and a democracy too divided to prepare for either.
Bruce Anderson was born in Orkney in 1949 and read History at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was political editor of The Spectator, wrote for the Daily Mail and The Independent, and continues to write the Spectator's Drink column.
This site is his attempt to do what the news cycle cannot: explain why things happened, and what they mean for where we are now.
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