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This term’s Blueprint magazine can be found here. Physical copies are available at our events. Enjoy reading!
Richard Black is an undergraduate reading History at Lincoln College, Oxford.
On Thursday 16th May, we were fortunate enough to witness a talk by Douglas Hurd, Baron of Westwell, at Corpus Christi College. Lord Hurd spoke at length about his political life under three Conservative Prime Ministers – Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Being a patrician of the old guard of Tory politicians, his thoughtful insights were welcomed by us all.
Read MoreDaniel Hannan, Ex-President (Oriel), is Conservative MEP for South East England and blogs at hannan.co.uk
There is usually a time lag in politics. Pundits carry on citing obsolete statistics for years. Even when they catch up with the facts, they are slow to adjust their world-view to them.
How often, for example, do you hear politicians and journalists claiming that ‘half our exports’ – or even ‘the majority of our exports’ – go to the EU?
Read MoreHarry Burt
The first months of 1987 were dominated by election fever: no-one knew when the General Election was going to be, but it was certain
ly coming. The selection of the date by Margaret Thatcher's government was going to be no easy task; virtually every poll held in 1986 had suggested that the Conservatives would need to pull one out of the hat if they were to win a majority.
Read MoreAdnan Nesser Memon
In the past few days MPs have labelled cuts to Her Majesty’s Forces as “grotesque”. A common argument says that any cut to the defence budget will weaken the nation’s image internationally by giving the impression that we cannot, or will not, maintain military superiority ourselves or together with our allies. Those who argue this continue, that at a time when defence budgets across Europe are falling – especially in Germany – we can ill afford such cuts without risking being unable to protect our interests (or even in the case of the Falklands, sovereignty) abroad. They point to emerging regional superpowers such as China or they label potential trouble spot areas such as the increase in instability in Pakistan as reasons why cutting is not an option.
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