Phil Dobbie

The first Christmas for the new Archbishop of Canterbury, and the first Christmas message by a woman in that office at the head of the Anglican communion. Sarah Mullally leads a global church in crisis - over child abuse, gay marriage and diminishing congregations. Can it survive the huge d...

Just eighteen months after a massive electoral victory, the man who leads the Labour party and the country seems to be unable to govern effectively, and it's widely assumed he will be replaced in 2026. Sir Keir Starmer has some of the worst poll ratings in modern political...

With growing numbers of claimants for benefits, pensions and social care, and little sign of growth in the economy, how can we balance the books? Has the whole idea of supporting every member of society ‘from the cradle to the grave’ been superseded by financial conditions? Or is it just a matter of...

Why is the BBC in semi-permanent crisis? Is there a way the premier national and international broadcaster can escape a cycle of scandal and resignations? After more than a century, does it need to revisit what it is for, and how it is funded? And, in an age of streaming and citizen journalism,...

Everyday heroes - what is it that makes some people put themselves in harm's way to save others, while most of us flee from danger? The recent events on a train at Huntingdon - in which a railway employee appears to have suffered terrible injuries by putting himself in front of a man wielding k...

Is it time our ancient monarchy got a modern makeover? When a prince of the realm can be downgraded to plain Mr Mountbatten Windsor, has something fundamental shifted in the magic and mystique? The accident of birth means that not all members of the royal family will be morally-upstanding and dutifu...

Is everything becoming the same? High streets all over the world with identical shops, people consuming the same burgers, the same video games, the same social media, the same music? Are we losing what makes us different - the cultures, the foods, the languages? In a world of online hyper-connectivi...

Keir Starmer has launched his bid to claim back migration policy from the right - talking about the UK becoming an “island of strangers” unless the number of incomers is slashed. But is he correct that this is at the top of voters’ list of concerns? Is tackling this what will win back the Red Wall? ...

Taking over Greenland, turning Gaza into a US resort, switching sides over Ukraine - the world has faced a whirlwind of Trump initiatives in the opening weeks of his presidency, some madcap, some sinister. How are foreign leaders and diplomats supposed to deal with this? Is he serious? Or i...

Interest rates, inflation, monetary control. What is it that central bankers actually do - and are they the right people to be doing it? The last decades have seen huge turbulence in the global economy - the Great Recession, then post-Covid inflation, so is the system working? Is it right that a pol...