Duncan Robinson
@duncanrobinson
Bagehot columnist and political editor for the Economist. Columnist of the year at the 2026 Press Awards
Obligatory Hyperpolitics mention www.economist.com/britain/2026...
Wrote about the politics of eternal adolescence and Polanski as the leader of the Peter Pan Class www.economist.com/britain/2026...
And burnham chief of staff James Purnell campaigned to keep the station open (via @ian.allenmoss.co.uk )
Being in and against the Establishment is a sweet place to be in British politics www.economist.com/britain/2026...
What is curious about the Manchester renaissance is that it is exactly the same strategy as other post-industrial cities (which is all of them). The main difference is that they did it well. www.economist.com/britain/2026...
www.economist.com/britain/2026... Wrote about our indie music loving elite and how Burnham is...just another 50-something bloke interested in the exactly same thing as others of his generation
I’ve crunched the numbers and drought leads to increased likelihood of voting Lib Dem
Sure the wonks have thought about it but also sounds incredibly easy to game
And this on the iron will required when being interrogated about whether one number is bigger than another
Digging out random quote from Damian McBride book and there's so many fun chunks
Beyond the first 100 days, it’s mainly implementation, fixing your own errors and dealing desperately with events economist.com/britain/2026...
Basic rule of government: the most consequential government actions happen almost immediately or not at all. True of basically every government since Blair. www.economist.com/britain/2026...
www.economist.com/britain/2026... in defence of the 100 days meme
TikTok comment that nevertheless applies to Labour’s approach to reforming welfare
On the limits of diplomacy. A nice medal sure...but uh, any other benefits? www.economist.com/britain/2026...
in retrospect, just quite a weird politician www.economist.com/britain/2026...
Sounds impressive until you remember that Djokovic and I have 24 slams between us, which is almost as good
On May as Britain’s first and last woke prime minister www.economist.com/britain/2026...
www.economist.com/britain/2024... on devolution. Some of it will be bad and some will be good and that's the whole point!
chippiness is the quickest path to power www.economist.com/britain/2026...
The paranoia at the heart of chippy southerner worldview www.economist.com/britain/2026...
Wrote about the ascent of the "chippy southerner" www.economist.com/britain/2026...