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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Business
- Telegraph
I run a French university course on why Britain is such a mess – I won't run out of material
Your 60-minute exam on 'Public Policy Failure and the British State: A History in Twelve Case Studies' starts…. now. Turn the page and read Clarissa Eden's diary entry for November 4 1956, in the midst of the Suez Crisis, and answer the question: 'Do the personalities involved in a given policy failure matter as much, if not more than, the ideas themselves?' Bon courage! For the past three years, 38-year-old Oxford academic Oliver Lewis has been teaching an oversubscribed course at Sciences Po – the Paris university that produced six of France's last eight presidents – while researching a DPhil (equivalent to a PhD) on UK rail privatisation as a 'case study in British public policy failure, 1985-1997'. The source of Lewis's inspiration, he believes, was his father's scientific expertise in materials failure. After earning degrees in History and Politics at the London School of Economics and King's College London – and a short stint in financial services – Lewis was unable to shake off his interest in a different sort of failure, dating back to his study of the privatisation of British Rail for A-level Economics. Having enrolled at Oxford for his DPhil, he won a year's fellowship to Sciences Po in 2021 as part of an exchange programme. The following year, he was asked to develop a 12-week course. It has now been taken by over 200 French, British and other international students at the university dubbed ' la fabrique des élites ' (the elite factory). 'Regardless of citizenship, there is a universal curiosity in a country that has gone from one of the richest in the world to a mediocre one,' says Lewis. 'There is definitely a general feeling that something has gone deeply wrong for Britain. When I tell people that my DPhil is on railways and public policy failure, they say, 'Well, you won't run out of material'.' There has certainly been no shortage of recent stories highlighting problems with Britain's rail infrastructure. In December, The Telegraph reported on an 18-mile line in Northumberland – a victim of the Beeching cuts in the 1960s – which took three decades to be rebuilt after plans for its reopening were first mooted in the 1990s. When work finally began in 2019, the £160 million project was due to be completed by spring 2023. It eventually opened in December 2024, by which time the estimated cost had nearly doubled to £298 million – and only two of its six stations were ready. Nevertheless, the curiosity displayed by Lewis's enthusiastic students appears untainted by any contempt for the country they have been studying. 'I have always been a fan of the UK,' says Milan Wojcieszek, a 23-year-old Polish student at the University of Amsterdam, currently on a year-long exchange at Sciences Po. 'I admire your newspaper culture and the civilised way in which you debate in Parliament. But for me, Brexit appeared an irrational decision in a country where everything seemed to be going right, and I wanted to understand the motivations behind it better. 'I still like the British attitude, but the course put an end to the picture in my head that people from western Europe have a superior intellect when it comes to statecraft. It raised my national self-esteem: if these guys can f--- up, maybe we're not so stupid.' But what about his French classmates, the Pompidous, Mitterands and Chiracs of the future? Did they enjoy a good laugh about l es Rosbifs while quietly taking notes on mistakes to avoid? 'I did not see a visible enthusiasm for smirking about their arch-rivals shooting themselves in the foot,' says Wojcieszek, who hopes to become an entrepreneur when he graduates. 'I guess what I saw was more sympathy and curiosity.' Wojcieszek's classmate Amélie Destombes, a second-year student at King's College London currently on secondment to Sciences Po, confirms the impression that Britain is a fascinating country to study – if not for the most reassuring reasons. 'I've had conversations with many French students who have brought up Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss or Boris Johnson – so there's a pretty bad reputation,' she says. Brexit is often the hook that attracts European students to Lewis's course – although many might be unaware that he stood for Reform, originally founded as the Brexit Party, in last year's general election for the Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr seat, where he came second to Labour. Now no longer active in the party, Lewis adopts a rigorously apolitical stance in his seminars. 'Our duty is to truth, not to subjectivity or opinion,' he explains. In any case, he argues, 'it's too early to tell' with Brexit. Instead, he roots his teaching in historical method, blending aspects of anthropology and law, as befits Sciences Po's interdisciplinary approach. This results in a 12-part lecture series on the 'long 20th century' that seeks to understand 'how we got to this malaise,' what lessons can be learnt for other countries, and whether British decline is reversible. The course begins with the First World War, a well-documented event, before exploring three further foreign policy failures: appeasement in the 1930s, the Partition of India in 1947, and the Suez Crisis of 1956. It then shifts focus to domestic issues, covering Northern Ireland, comprehensive education, the 'financialisation' of the economy, the poll tax, rail privatisation – which Lewis estimates has cost taxpayers over £120 billion – and Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs). This shift in focus reflects the changing role of a state that, over the past 100 years, has been asked to do more with less. 'For most of its history, the British state dealt only with defence and with imperial concerns,' explains Lewis. 'Its culture and institutions were designed to serve a different purpose. They are, therefore, not terribly efficacious when it comes to solving domestic problems. Britain is in a uniquely unfortunate position because its global role coincided with a domestic economy that could not shoulder its defence burden.' This, Lewis says, did deep, long-term damage, meaning the country 'could not adjust to its drastically reduced role post 1970, with the result that domestic public policy has been poorly planned, poorly executed – and at times poorly financed too.' Prof Sir Ivor Crewe, a distinguished political scientist, is the author of The Blunders of Our Governments, which features on the reading list for Lewis's course – alongside films such as Rogue Trader (the Nick Leeson biopic), and The Navigators, Ken Loach's story of Sheffield rail workers affected by privatisation. 'It's hard to say if Britain is appreciably worse than other countries such as Italy, France or Germany,' he says. 'But it's difficult to imagine students in Britain being very interested in the mistakes of those countries.' The Blunders of Our Governments, co-authored with the late Prof Anthony King and published in 2013, includes well-known British disasters such as the Millennium Dome and membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, as well as more niche blunders like New Labour's individual learning accounts and the Child Support Agency spending two years chasing a childless gay man over a daughter who didn't exist. The book argues that the British political system suffers from a dwindling talent pool, limited understanding of project management, ineffective checks and balances and inconsequential penalties for failure. Although decisive governments can make effective policy, it is just as easy for incompetent ministers to make bad decisions – a problem that has worsened since the Thatcher and Blair governments. 'With the best will in the world, I have found it difficult to identify successes since 2010,' says Crewe, who is currently working on a new edition of the book covering fresh blunders such as austerity, High Speed 2 and Covid. 'Even when I ask Conservative commentators, it's pretty thin gruel.' Lewis's course at Sciences Po concludes with the Iraq War, before devoting the final lecture to a handful of public policy successes, including PAYE and Bank of England inflation targeting, followed by a plenary discussion on the past and the future. 'My main takeaway is that, when we make policy, it impacts real people,' says Destombes, who hopes to work in British public policy after graduating. 'There needs to be better research on the communities that are affected.' Gabriel Ward, a third-year student at the LSE who took the course at the same time, cites Nicholas Ridley – the Cabinet minister responsible for introducing Thatcher's poll tax (and the son of a viscount) – dismissing people's financial worries by saying, 'Well, they could always sell a picture.' 'There's a disconnect between policy makers and those who would feel it most,' says Ward. 'I was constantly struck by the gap between ideology and practicality.' Wojcieszek's conclusion is that even a strong political system can lead to bad decision making. 'It reinforced my belief that what really matters is visionary leaders who can propose something unpopular,' he says. Lewis wants his students to 'leave with a knowledge that ideas can be as dangerous as they can be powerful.' But inevitably, he has some interesting ideas himself on how Britain might extricate itself from problems that began last century and have worsened since the millennium. 'I used to think that dealing with Britain's 'issues' would be a 30-year project,' he says. 'I now think it's a 50-year one. In the short run, the solution is attracting the best human capital into politics. In the long run, it's education. The education of our future political elite is a massive burning platform.' Lewis is an admirer of the French lycée system, as well as the strong sense of national pride at Sciences Po, where 'virtually every corridor has a tricolour and its primary duty is to the people of France.' Dismissing claims in a recent book that Sciences Po is a hotbed of woke radicalism – 'This obviously afflicts all institutions' – Lewis applauds 'the genius of de Gaulle and the reset of the 1950s,' which Britain has never had, with the possible limited exception of the Northcote-Trevelyan Civil Service reforms of the 19th century, aimed at moving away from patronage and towards a meritocratic system. 'Our electoral system creates a duopoly in which there's no market for ideas,' he says. 'We've never really had a proper conversation about the role of the state in our lives. 'An absence of vision and standards seems to affect every branch of the British state. It's now at emergency levels. Britain's standard of living is on course to be overtaken by Poland's by 2030. The electorate is not going to accept that decline. Something will have to give.'
Chicago Tribune
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: First Kentucky Derby held
Today is Saturday, May 17, the 137th day of 2025. There are 228 days left in the year. Today in history: On May 17, 1875, the first Kentucky Derby was held; the race was won by Aristides, ridden by jockey Oliver Lewis. Also on this date: In 1792, the Buttonwood Agreement, a document codifying rules for securities trading, was signed by 24 New York stockbrokers, marking the formation of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying — but not preventing — a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen. In 1954, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, which held that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional. In 1973, a special committee convened by the U.S. Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal. In 1980, rioting that claimed 18 lives erupted in Miami after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating Black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie. In 1987, 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq apologized for the attack, calling it a mistake, and paid more than $27 million in compensation.) In 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to allow same-sex marriages. In 2015, a shootout erupted between members of motorcycle clubs and police outside a restaurant in Waco, Texas, leaving nine of the bikers dead and 20 people injured. Today's Birthdays: Musician Taj Mahal is 83. Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard is 69. Sports announcer Jim Nantz is 66. Singer-composer Enya is 64. TV host-comedian Craig Ferguson is 63. Musician Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) is 60. Actor Sasha Alexander is 52. Basketball Hall of Famer Tony Parker is 43. Screenwriter-actor-producer Lena Waithe is 41. Dancer-choreographer Derek Hough is 40. Former NFL quarterback Matt Ryan is 40. Actor Nikki Reed is 37.
Boston Globe
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Today in History: May 17, Supreme Court strikes down school segregation
In 1875, the first Kentucky Derby was held; the race was won by Aristides, ridden by jockey Oliver Lewis. Advertisement In 1946, President Harry S. Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying — but not preventing — a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen. In 1954, a unanimous US Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, which held that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional. In 1973, a special committee convened by the US Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal. In 1980, rioting that claimed 18 lives erupted in Miami after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating Black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie. In 1987, 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the US Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq apologized for the attack, calling it a mistake, and paid more than $27 million in compensation.) Advertisement In 2004, Massachusetts became the first US state to allow same-sex marriages. In 2015, a shootout erupted between members of motorcycle clubs and police outside a restaurant in Waco, Texas, leaving nine of the bikers dead and 20 people injured.
Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
McGrath hurrah - Frank McNally on the first Kentucky Derby, 150 years ago
Run 150 years ago this weekend, the inaugural Kentucky Derby produced something of an upset, even for the colourful Irish - American who won it. Henry Price McGrath had two horses in the race, and as often happens, the wrong one won. The diminutive Aristides was meant to be a mere pacemaker for his more fancied half-brother and stable mate, Chesapeake, with a view to burning off the formidable favourite, Ten Broeck. That part of the plan worked: Ten Broeck was in second place at halfway, then faded to finish fifth. Alas for McGrath, the blistering early pace burned off Chesapeake too. Meanwhile, having done his job in front, little Aristides – described by racing historian David Alexander as 'a nothing of a horse ... a shrimp with a scampering gait' – was ready to fold, and his jockey, African-American Oliver Lewis, was ready to let him. The owner and breeder needed to issue new orders, urgently. READ MORE Alexander takes up the story: 'Then old McGrath ran out on the track. He waved his hat frantically to signal Lewis, the hundred pound jockey who was riding Aristides, that he couldn't quit now, that Chesapeake was beaten … and that Aristides must break his heart to win.' Happily, cardiac injury was not required. Responding to the jockey's renewed urgings, 'the little red horse with a heart that wouldn't break' rallied again and won by a length from Volcano. The Louisville Courier rhapsodised: 'It is the gallant Aristides, heir to a mighty name, that strides with sweeping gallop toward victory … and the air trembles and vibrates again with the ringing cheers that followed.' In fact, the horse was named not for the great 5th century BC Athenian statesman, but for a friend and fellow breeder of McGrath's, Aristides Welch. It was a win for the ages, even so. Writing about it 90 years later, Alexander struck a poetic and philosophical note: 'The same horse always wins the Derby, no matter what name he bears. Always the winner is the ghost of the little red horse, Aristides, who answered his owner's hat.' Less seems to be known now about the origins of McGrath than of his horse. Born the son of a tailor in 1814, he turned his back on that profession in favour of wandering the American south as a young man in search of his fortune. He found some of it in the California Gold Rush of 1849, enough to open the south's first 'gambling house' three years later. His luck as a gambler is said to have won him $105,000 in a single night. And he was eventually able to buy 500 acres near Lexington, which he named 'McGrathiana' and turned into one of the great stud farms of 19th century America. What his ancestry was exactly, I can't say. But his horses ran in green and orange, and Aristides was the grandson of an Irish sire called Faugh a Ballagh (from the old war-cry, meaning 'clear the way'). Alexander's 1966 book, The Sound of Horses, also reproduces an artwork celebrating the 1875 win, which depicts McGrath, Lewis, and the horse each occupying a horseshoe arranged in what the author calls a 'clover leaf' shape, but which is surely a shamrock. That was an era of great Irish sporting chauvinism. Price McGrath will have been familiar with the exploits his four-legged namesake, Master McGrath, who died in 1873 after winning England's premier coursing competition, the Waterloo Cup, three times. As immortalised in a famous ballad, the dog was a fervent Irish nationalist whose talents included returning the insults of his English rivals, mid-race: 'Well, I know,' says McGrath, 'we have wild heather bogs. But you'll find in old Ireland there's good men and dogs. Lead on, bold Britannia, give none of your jaw, Stuff that up your nostrils,' says Master McGrath. Interestingly, the same period produced an American racehorse equivalent of that ballad, involving the aforementioned Ten Broeck. It commemorated not the Kentucky Derby but an 1878 'match' (a race involving only two horses) with an undefeated Californian mare named Mollie McCarty: the first horse from out west to travel east and compete in what is now Churchill Downs, the derby's home. Mollie's grandmother was a Shamrock (literally – that was her name). Sadly for Hibernian romantics, she lost the match. Mollie and Ten Brooks, as the song was called, is still a bluegrass standard today. Getting back to the 1875 Derby, it also made African-American history, and not just because of the jockey. The winning horse's trainer, Ansel Williamson, was black too. He had been born a slave in Virginia, as which he first learned to handle horses. After the civil war, he pursued the vocation as a free man, training many champions. He was inducted into the US National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1998. The former McGrathiana was renamed Coldstream Farm sometime after McGrath's death in 1881. Today, it is an agricultural research facility in the University of Kentucky.
BBC News
11-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Reform UK: Leading figure in Wales not a Senedd candidate
The man who represented Reform UK in Wales during last year's general election campaign is "not a candidate" for the Senedd election in 2026, the party has Lewis also confirmed he is no longer the party's Welsh spokesperson, following an apparent rift between Lewis and party chair Zia Yusuf over comments Lewis made on to the BBC's Politics Wales programme in January, Lewis said immigration in Wales had been "very limited" and "arguably has been very positive for the economy". Responding to a clip of the interview on X, Reform UK Chairman Zia Yusuf said "this is not the Reform position". Reform UK has now said that "Oliver Lewis is not a spokesman for Reform and is not a candidate for 2026".Lewis himself agreed that he is "not a spokesperson any longer" as he is "now based abroad for work."Asked about the apparent rift on S4C's Y Byd yn ei Le programme, Reform UK's communications lead in Wales, Llyr Powell, said "that was Oliver's opinion."He disputed Lewis' title as spokesperson for Reform UK in Wales saying "I'm not sure that was his title".Powell also denied that Reform UK had demoted Lewis for his comments."There wasn't such a role so I'm not sure where this is coming from."Next year's Senedd election looks set to be the most open since the institution's creation 26 years ago, as Reform is polling neck-and-neck with the ruling Labour Party and Plaid Cymru, ahead of the Conservatives. Plaid has warned Reform could win the summer, Oliver Lewis represented Reform UK in Welsh debates and media interviews during the Westminster election campaign, alongside other Welsh party stood for the Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr seat, coming second to Labour's Steve was still doing media interviews as Welsh spokesperson for Reform UK until January this year, when he spoke to BBC Politics told the programme: "Wales has had really very limited levels of immigration and the immigration that we have had arguably has been very positive for the economy."So immigration is much less of a factor for politics in Wales than say England."In a statement to BBC Wales on Friday, Reform UK said "Oliver Lewis is not a spokesman for Reform, and is not a candidate for 2026."Lewis confirmed he is "not a spokesperson any longer" but says "I am still a member and deputy chairman of my branch and supportive of the Reform movement". "The reason the Reform release said I am not a candidate for 2026 is because we have no candidates yet for 2026."Additional reporting by Adrian Browne
