The secret to good government? Actually trying
Effort always beats ideas in British politics
The power of a new government stems not from its ideas but its enthusiasm. Labour, which took power on July 5th, kicked off with a flurry of green measures approved with the simple squiggle of a minister’s pen. Three giant solar farms were nodded through. A ban on onshore wind farms was removed by ministerial diktat. Or as Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, put it in peculiarly teenage syntax: “It was just, like, ‘delete’.”
Explore more
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The secret of good government? Trying ”
Britain July 20th 2024
- A crisis in prisons gives Britain’s new government its first test
- Why do penguins struggle with modernist architecture?
- The potential listing of Shein is a test of London’s allure
- Can Britain’s “mission-led” government defy gravity?
- Britain is a home but not a haven for Hong Kongers
- The secret to good government? Actually trying
Discover more
Are British voters as clueless as Labour’s intelligentsia thinks?
How the idea of false consciousness conquered the governing party
The best British companies to work for to get ahead
A new ranking of firms by pay, promotions and hiring practices
How the best British employers find and promote their staff
No degree? Some employers care much less than others
A tiny island fights the scourge of plastic on the beach
A Northern Irish experiment in recycling
A sticking-plaster policy for Britain’s strained courts
Magistrates get more power. Will they get punch-drunk on it?