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Speech on the Book Launch of David Howell’s The Coming Anarchy and How to Avoid It
2 July 2025 David Howell’s thesis: The new anarchy is digital, not ideological. The microchip and information revolution have changed human relations everywhere, uprooted family ties, life patterns, local communities, world affairs. Microcircuit technology has compelled the need for a new type of democracy, a new pattern of world power, otherwise a slide to domestic … Continue reading Speech on the Book Launch of David Howell’s The Coming Anarchy and How to Avoid It
My speech in the House of Lords on Ukraine – 31st of October
Note: I was allowed 5 minutes My Lords, I do not know whether it is a punishment or a privilege to be put last in the list of Back-Bench speakers, as I invariably am when it comes to a debate on Ukraine. The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, was powerful and eloquent in opening, and it … Continue reading My speech in the House of Lords on Ukraine – 31st of October
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Debate – House of Lords – 16th of October 2025
Link: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-10-16/debates/CD9953E1-3AFE-436A-BBD6-D170F107AE02/ShanghaiCooperationOrganisation I may have a closer connection with Tianjin than any Member of either House having gone to school there nearly 80 years ago. I hope this will not in itself cause me to be thought of as a security risk. I agree with the noble Baroness that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation poses challenges … Continue reading Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Debate – House of Lords – 16th of October 2025
Strategic Defence Review Debate – House of Lords
22nd of July, 2025 Note: I post below my speech of 18 July in the House of Lords on Britain’s Strategic Defence Review. (The section in brackets was left out due to pressure of time. Backbenchers were allowed 5 minutes each). I was the only one of 39 speakers to have any substantial criticisms of the … Continue reading Strategic Defence Review Debate – House of Lords
The False Premise of European Rearmament
Have European leaders stopped to consider the Orwellian implications of gearing up their nations for perpetual war? On March 5 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her Re-Arm Europe Plan, which aims to boost EU defense spending by €800 billion over four years. On June 5, NATO defense ministers agreed to double … Continue reading The False Premise of European Rearmament
Should Europe Rearm?
10th of June 2025 Europe is committed to rearmament. Commission President van der Leyden unveiled her ‘ReArm Europe Plan’ which aims to boost EU defence spending by euros 800bn over four years. On 5 June NATO defence ministers agreed to double their members’ annual defence spending from an average of roughly 2.5% of GDP to … Continue reading Should Europe Rearm?
The Nation: Russophobia—an Epidemic Disease?
8th of May 2025 It is right to be suspicious of Putin’s intentions without falling for the idea that he will never stop. In 1836 the liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill claimed that Lord Melbourne’s government was smitten with the “epidemic disease of Russophobia,” an irrational panic that had triggered an unnecessary increase in defense … Continue reading The Nation: Russophobia—an Epidemic Disease?
The Lost Peace?
13th of May 2025 As the Ukrainian war enters its third year, there has been renewed, if rather limp, talk of a ceasefire followed by negotiations. The premise is that since neither side can ‘win’, it makes sense to start making peace. Few now remember that the war almost ended before it got going. On … Continue reading The Lost Peace?
Military Keynesianism?
15th of May 2025 As John Lanchester recently remarked (LRB 27 April 2025) ‘However little money there is for anything else, there’s always enough money for a war’. The failures of neoliberal economics threaten all kinds of political backlashes, some of which have already been seen in the nationalist turn of international relations. ‘Military Keynesianism’ … Continue reading Military Keynesianism?
Robert Skidelsky 