Adrian Wooldridge

A new ritual has evolved in political analysis. A populist leader hits a rough patch. Liberal pundits conclude that populism has peaked. Then another populist leader records a triumph and the pundits move on. “The end of populism” may be the most frequently discredited tag line of our time.

It is hard to think of a recent film that has excited as much interest. “The Odyssey” made $264.1 million in its opening weekend and an ancient Greek hero replaced Trump as the most talked-about person on social media. London’s Waterloo Imax, where I was lucky enough to see it, is booked until the middle of September. It is even harder to think of a film that has done as much to boost the cause of education. The British have bought more than 40,000 copies of Homer’s text since shortly before the

Most Labour prime ministers start their time in power offering a vision of the future. Tony Blair promised that New Labour would give “new life” to Britain by mastering the global economy and revitalizing tired institutions. Harold Wilson said he would reforge the nation in the “white heat” of the scientific revolution. Clement Attlee offered nothing less than a New Jerusalem.

Politics has always been about emotions as well as reason and self-interest. Great politicians such as Winston Churchill have been able to stir our most profound feelings. Great political moments such as Nelson Mandela’s walk to freedom from Robben Island have moved people to their core.

Britain gets ever more difficult to understand. The familiar features of the place right now are the disappearance of political stability, emotional restraint, public order and its Rolls-Royce civil service. “The past is another country. They do things differently there,” was LP Hartley’s memorable opening sentence for his 1953 novel The Go-Between. In today’s UK that applies better to the present.

Politics has always been about emotions as well as reason and self-interest. Great politicians such as Winston Churchill have been able to stir our most profound feelings. Great political moments

Yet emotions can sometimes get out of control, and in so doing drive out reason and damage self-interest.

Politics has always been about emotions as well as reason and self-interest. Great politicians such as Winston Churchill have been able to stir our most profound feelings.

Artificial intelligence is on its way to becoming the greatest grievance-producing machine the world has seen. Economic revolutions have always been followed by powerful backlashes on the part of the aggrieved. In Britain, Luddites smashed the power looms that took their jobs in the 1810s and, in the US, populists raged against the giant companies that reordered their lives after the Civil War. Unless properly handled, the AI transformation will produce rebellions on a scale we have never seen b