The Hon. Dr. David Walter Runciman (born 1967) is a British political scientist who teaches political theory at Cambridge University and is a fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He has worked as a columnist for the Guardian newspaper and written for many other publications. He currently writes about politics for the London Review of Books. His book The Politics of Good Intentions was adapted in part from his LRB articles.
Unlike Tony Blair, Gordon Brown doesn't seem comfortable in his own skin and we are suspicious of his reserve. But is our obsession with sincerity in politics a good thing? With George Orwell, the patron saint of straight-talking as his guide, David ...
The great sin in contemporary democracy is to give the impression that you are holding something back. We want politicians who are comfortable talking about their inner selves, their private emotions and convictions. At the same time, we cannot stand ...
The sport that is really vulnerable to this sort of analysis is ice hockey. The NHL is unique in having seen such a dramatic decline in home advantage over time. In the 1920s and 1930s it was the sport where playing at home counted for most ( which ...
Everyone knows that sports teams enjoy a big advantage whenever they play at home. But does anyone know why? Most of us probably think we do - after all, it seems obvious. Home teams have the crowd behind them, roaring them on, filling them with ...
AS THE PRESIDENTIAL primary season enters its critical phase, the air is thick with accusations and counter-accusations that the candidates don't practice what they preach. In what is now an inevitable feature of presidential politics, the leading ...