Rachel Cunliffe

Rachel Cunliffe, Andrew Marr and George Eaton discuss whether the UK’s political funding system is broken, alongside listener questions about Marr’s earlier prediction that Keir Starmer would be radical and whether Lebanon has a right to self-defence.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine withdrew as a Conservative local council candidate after backlash over his convictions for antisemitic harassment, racial hatred and other offences. The column argues that Kemi Badenoch's defence of his rehabilitation is inconsistent with the party's treatment of other former offenders and moderate Conservatives. It stresses that rehabilitation does not erase victims' trauma or automatically qualify someone for public office, concluding that the episode signals increasingly narrow and ideologically selective standards within the Conservative Party.

The article traces the history of British novelty candidates from Catmando, the cat who co-led the Official Monster Raving Loony Party from 1999 to 2002, to Count Binface’s forthcoming challenge to Nigel Farage in Clacton. It argues that political satire can expose genuine hypocrisy and sometimes anticipate policies that later become mainstream, citing the voting age, 24-hour pub licensing and pet passports. Novelty candidates are presented as both comic relief and a reminder that established politicians are not above ridicule, while Count Binface uses his campaign to spotlight Farage’s £5 million crypto donation.

The essay argues that Homer’s Odyssey is not a fixed or historically literal story but an evolving, ambiguous work whose moral and political questions have been debated since antiquity. Christopher Nolan’s successful film adaptation is praised for exploring Odysseus’s psychological toll and for resisting contemporary right-wing complaints about casting, while being criticized for downplaying his trickster qualities. The poem’s treatment of war, heroism, violence and deception is shown to have inspired critical reinterpretations by Euripides and Virgil, and readers are encouraged to interpret the work for themselves.

The article argues that Andy Burnham and the government should consider compulsory voting as part of wider electoral reform. It highlights the UK’s turnout of below 60 per cent in 2024, the sharp inequalities in participation, and evidence from Australia, where compulsory voting has helped produce turnout near 90 per cent. Supporters say compulsory voting would reduce politicians’ incentives to focus on affluent and older voters; critics may object that the right to vote includes the right not to vote. The article favours automatic registration and a modest, waivable penalty as possible British approaches.

Political violence and threats against UK politicians have intensified, with police-recorded crimes against MPs doubling since 2019 and death-threat reports tripling. The suspected politically motivated killing of former Reform spokesperson Ann Widdecombe has renewed attention to the danger, but the piece argues that online abuse and dehumanizing rhetoric across the political spectrum help create the conditions for violence. Reform UK is criticized for demanding greater protection while failing to moderate its own language, and earlier Conservative and Labour responses to the murders of Jo Cox and David Amess are also faulted for treating the perpetrators as isolated actors. A cross-party commitment to curb inflammatory rhetoric and hold supporters accountable is presented as a more practical solution than universal 24-hour security for MPs.

Democracy is presented as a contested ideal rather than a single fixed system, with different societies translating it into different rules and institutions. Drawing on ancient Athens and Jon Harvey’s Count Binface persona, the piece highlights sortition, continuous referendums and ostracism as alternatives or correctives to representative politics. It argues that democratic systems depend on public understanding and trust, while suggesting that stronger mechanisms for holding politicians accountable could encourage longer-term decision-making.

Russia introduced a “shared values” visa in 2024 for Westerners willing to denounce what its government calls destructive neoliberal ideology, reportedly attracting nearly 3,400 applications. The piece examines migrants and influencers who portray Russia as clean, friendly and free from progressive politics, while contrasting them with more nuanced accounts, including a Texan Christian who became concerned about censorship. A former Tory council candidate living in Russia rejects political engagement despite running a business encouraging Britons to move there. The central implication is that relocating to Russia during Putin’s war is itself a political choice, regardless of how the migrants describe it.

A Treasury Committee report finds that the government mis-sold Plan 2 student loans by failing to disclose key terms, using misleading promotional materials and retaining the ability to change conditions retrospectively. Graduates face higher repayments, mounting interest and reduced mortgage eligibility, with cumulative policy changes raising lifetime repayment burdens. The committee recommends reversing the threshold freeze and issuing future loans as contractual agreements. Analysis shows graduates now bear most of the cost of degrees, highlighting systemic failure and declining trust in government institutions.