5 july 2022, the future of the future of britain...

Always a questionable use of time, the future of britain conference, indelibly tony blair's, was just about worth it. The soggy centre it was not. Stimulating, intelligent speakers like rory stewart, paul johnson and larry summers cast politics as real-world policy development: how to harness technology, address climate change and crafting messages with impact, alongside delivery on health, education and (kapow ! Batman-style by the one-and-only martin lewis), the cost of living. This kind of stuff does not make headlines. If there are two people on one side having a reasonable conversation, and two on the other having a fist fight, you know where people look and gather, talk and tweet about, and what makes the headlines. Peter kyle was excellent, and mentioned his cross-party amendment to the northern ireland protocol bill, remarkably passed after weeks of quiet diplomacy - which received not the slightest hint of news coverage. The conference did not duck this: polly mackenzie scolded blair for seeking to hand down technocratic solutions, and he later responded, that you need those that can get you into power and those with the capacity to deliver, not a 24/7 permanent campaign government. It was a day of thesis, counter-thesis and synthesis. We even heard from a caucus of american congressmen effectively working across the aisle, courtesy of david gauke. Consensus is not compromise. Quote of the day was ruth davidson's: the scale of our problems is such we don't have time for our politicians to be crap. She has a point.