Ben Jackson

Liberty After Neoliberalism

Ben JacksonFebruary 1, 2022

The Covid pandemic has raised hard questions about liberty and the role of the state. Many Conservatives have been discomfited by the answers that their own gov...

CommentGovernmentUK8 min read

British Politics Beyond the End of History: Marx, Hayek and Andrew Gamble

Ben JacksonJuly 26, 2021

Although Marxism as an organised force is a shadow of its Cold War heyday, we seem to live in a time when calling someone a Marxist can still inspire a strange...

EconomyHistoryPhilosophy15 min read

Any illusions about the Conservatives being swept from office should be abandoned now

Ben JacksonFebruary 5, 2021

Now is a good time to take stock of what the last few years have taught us about British Conservatism.The UK’s departure from the EU prompted another bout ...

CoronavirusElectionsUK7 min read

A Crisis for Devolution?

Ben JacksonSeptember 5, 2020

The introduction of devolution in Scotland and Wales, and its reintroduction in Northern Ireland, has wrought a welcome transformation in the governance of the...

CommentCoronavirusDevolutionOther7 min read

Review: The Literary Politics of Scottish Devolution. Voice, Class, Nation, by Scott Hames

Ben JacksonApril 15, 2020

The Literary Politics of Scottish Devolution: Voice, Class, Nation, by Scott Hames. Edinburgh University Press. 336 pp. £24.99The chronology of devolution ...

ReviewsScotland7 min read

The Labour leadership election: Getting it together

Ben JacksonJanuary 20, 2020

What do the different wings of the Labour Party actually disagree about? Sometimes it seems like almost everything, in spite of the warm words about party unit...

CommentElectionsUK7 min read

The Politics of Human Rights: A Response to Lord Sumption’s Reith Lectures

Ben JacksonAugust 14, 2019

Lord Sumption, the former Supreme Court Justice and historian, devoted his 2019 Reith Lectures on Radio 4 to making the case that the law – particularly human ...

CommentLaw & JusticeUK8 min read

Whatever Happened to the Conservative Party?

Ben JacksonApril 3, 2019

It has been widely observed that something has gone awry with the Conservative party. Where once its watchwords were pragmatism and economic competence, solici...

BrexitGovernmentUK6 min read

There is more political space for a liberal immigration policy than ever

Ben JacksonJune 27, 2018

On 27 April 1968, Richard Crossman reflected in his diary on Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. Powell had delivered the speech a week earlier in a bid to...

CommentEconomyUK7 min read

Learning from New Labour

Ben JacksonJanuary 15, 2018

The twentieth anniversary of Labour’s 1997 election victory passed without much comment last year – among other reasons, the hectic pace of political developmen...

CommentElectionsMedia & culture5 min read

Progressive Alliances

Ben JacksonDecember 23, 2016

When the Conservative Party is strong and the Labour Party is weak, leading ornaments of the British left often turn their minds to the creation of a broader, m...

CommentElectionsUK7 min read

English Votes for English Laws

Ben JacksonJuly 12, 2016

The Political Quarterly commentary published shortly before the 1975 referendum on Britain’s membership of the EEC was written by Bernard Crick. His summary of ...

BrexitCommentUK7 min read