David Runciman believes that democracy's great strength is its adaptability, but autocracies can prove equally flexible

David Cameron wants to heal the rift between Thatcherites and modernisers while also coining a distinctive new Tory ideology. To achieve this he must ditch flashy initiatives and show that he is truly committed to decentralising Britain

The readiness of America, and sometimes Britain, to fight difficult conflicts in faraway places was one reason for victory in the cold war. But the end of the anti-communist struggle removed the moral justification for intervention and, as the Iraq…

Jeremiads of Britain's decline come from both the left and right. But the picture painted of the country is unrecognisable

He was the last literary lion of his generation and contrary to the accusations of snobbery he had a profoundly democratic literary instinct

Just as the right is poised to take over the Conservative party, it has stopped thinking. Worse still it has introduced an alien element into British politics-centralist, interfering, paranoid. The right should show more sensitivity to the national traditions it…