Bagehot: A broken system

摘要

This week, Tony Blair made a thoughtful and challenging speech on how to confront and defeat Islamist terrorism. Nobody was listening. Last week, he made a thoughtful and challenging speech explaining why there was no alternative to making public services more responsive to the needs of the people who use them. Nobody listened to that either. It would be difficult to think of two more important subjects. But for ten days, the only headlines the prime minister has generated have been to do with his role in raising large undisclosed loans for Labour's election war-chest from rich donors, some of whom were subsequently recommended for peerages.