2026-08-26
David Starkey, genuine National Treasure (being one of the very few still breathing who understands the British Constitution and how we got here) holds forth at the Institute of Economic Affairs (no it's not something out of "Yes Minister") on where it all went wrong.
Plenty of food for thought here, including the clear (but unstated) idea that words are indeed spells. Well, if they act like spells, then they are indistinguishable from spells, especially when they come freighted with an assumed meaning that actually isn't appropriate to the particular usage ...
Maybe we should insist that all politicians should wear a conical hat to remind us.
But judges don't get a free pass either:
"... although you pay obeysance to the idea of democracy, it's too dangerous to allow it to work without controls ... instead you have this marvellous thing, 'liberal democracy', which means .... democracy that is limited by law ... above all it's not about the rule of the majority, but the protection of minorities ... "
"Human Rights Law and International Law has a separate authority that can only be perceived by the judges, and because ... this would frequently clash with Parliamentary Sovereignty, somebody would have to arbitrate it .. "
(50 minutes)
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