Sunday, August 2, 2020

Question the Powerful: Essays

Full Listing
Set out below is a complete list of the essays posted on the Question the Powerful blog. Click on the title to find out more. For a list of Henry Tam’s key writings (books and articles) published elsewhere, see ‘Henry Tam: Bibliography'.

No. 296 The Scientific v the Arbitrary
No. 295 Skin-Tone Negativity Syndrome (STNS)
No. 294 Left Without Words
No. 293 Priority One: Political Power
No. 292 The General Theory of Responsibility (part 3)
No. 291 The General Theory of Responsibility (part 2)
No. 290 The General Theory of Responsibility (part 1)
No. 289 The Impact of Communitarian Empowerment
No. 288 3 Steps to Democratic Consensus
No. 287 The Case for Regulation is Going Viral
No. 286 The Five-A-Side Model for Electing National Leaders
No. 285 The Toxic Spread of Authoritarian Intimidation
No. 284 Brexit Blues
No. 283 A Smokescreen called ‘Politically Motivated’
No. 282 The Path of Thoughtfulness
No. 281 Lessons for Democrats
No. 280 Remember, Remember, Vote Them Out in December: here’s a 10-point reminder
No. 279 Question Boris Johnson: an election special
No. 278 Proud to be Open-Minded
No. 277 The Politics of Saints & Sinners
No. 276 You Say You Want a Constitution
No. 275 Shameless Subversion: Con politics explained
No. 274 Where is the Jobs Manifesto?
No. 273 The Art of Political Criticism: an educator’s guide
No. 272 The Stoic-Epicurean Resolution
No. 271 What to do about Manipulative Authoritarianism?
No. 270 Key Lessons on Power Inequality
No. 269 Humpty Dumpty’s ‘Democracy’
No. 268 Ask Grayling: the politics of chaos
No. 267 Cooperation First: a new educational focus
No. 266 The Politics of Reckless Endangerment
No. 265 Policies for Renewing State-Citizen Cooperation
No. 264 Fool’s Paradise: the ultimate political resort
No. 263 Carry On Brexit
No. 262 The Politics of Forgivableness
No. 261 Con Politics & its 6 core tricks
No. 260 The War & Refugees Tax Programme
No. 259 Licence to Bill
No. 258 The Unholy Alliance
No. 257 Five Categories of Irresponsible Communication
No. 256 Mistaken Group Identity
No. 255 Democracy & the 2016 Referendum
No. 254 In Defence of Cooperative Communities: 7 points to note
No. 253 Four Threats of the Counter-Enlightenment
No. 252 How to Mind the Money Gap
No. 251 Democritus: an agreeable hypothesis about everything

No. 250 The Most Important Ideas to Teach
No. 249 The Xenophobic Curse: how the Right keeps getting it Wrong
No. 248 Neo-Humans & Sub-Humans
No. 247 Patriotism Subverted: Putin’s Strategy to Destabilise the West
No. 246 Big Egos, Small Print, & Zero Accountability
No. 245 Exposing the Affordability Con
No. 244 The Political Wing of Bad Business
No. 243 What Should Citizens Believe
No. 242: Society’s Identity Crisis (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 241: The Real Political Divide (Progressive Ethos)
No. 240: The Brexit Con (Brexit)
No. 239: The ‘Public Money Protection’ Act (Economics)
No. 238: Democracy on Life Support (Democracy)
No. 237: The Cooperators’ Dilemma (Cooperative Development)
No. 236: Four Deities & a Humanist (Ethics)
No. 235: What Voters Want (Democracy)
No. 234: Paradigm Lost (Progressive Ethos)
No. 233: Snakes on Power Ladders (Ethics)
No. 232: Unhappy Ending: the politics of secession (Global Politics)
No. 231: Exposing the Affinity Myth (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 230: What do we mean by ‘Civic Engagement’? (Community Empowerment)
No. 229: Cooperation: A New Order of Life? (Book review: ‘Victorian Agitator – George Holyoake: co-operation as this new order of life’, by Stephen Yeo)
No. 228: Tech’gemony: the crisis of human redundancy (Economics)
No. 227: Performance Enhancement & Fair Competition (Ethics)
No. 226: The Will of the People? (Democracy)
No. 225: Impartiality or Bias in Politics (Education)
No. 224: The Importance of Being English (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 223: Isn’t Profit a Tax on Workers? (Economics)
No. 222: From Russia with Brexit & Trump (Global Politics)
No. 221: National Alliance for Brexit (Brexit)
No. 220: Gambling with the UK’s Future (Brexit)
No. 219: The Rules-Freedom Symbiosis (Democracy)
No. 218: Left, Right, or Optimal? (Electoral Politics)
No. 217: To Share or Not To Share (Economics)
No. 216: 5 Simple Security Tests (Global Politics)
No. 215: The Art of Not Playing God (Ethics)
No. 214: Nationalism of the Puppet Kind (Con Politics)
No. 213: The Business of Advancing Values (Cooperative Development)
No. 212: Attlee & Bread (Progressive Ethos)
No. 211: The Cult of Thoughtlessness (Political Education)
No. 210: The Livelihood Challenge: 10 actions to consider (Economics)
No. 209: 2017: a precarious jobs odyssey (Electoral Politics)
No. 208: Three Wise Memos (Progressive Ethos)
No. 207: How Anger Trumps Anxiety (Electoral Politics)
No. 206: The Brexit-Trump Regression (Con Politics)
No. 205: Dr. Frankenstein, I presume (Con Politics)
No. 204: The Pathology of Marginalisation (Power Inequality)
No. 203: ‘Gains’, ‘Losses’, & Real Value (Economics)
No. 202: The Vote is Not Enough (Democracy)
No. 201: Automation, Immigration, & Civic Remuneration (Economics)

No.200: Give Collaborative Leadership a Try (Cooperative development)
No.199: The Politics of Deranged Generalisation (Con politics)
No.198: Keeping the Con in ‘e-CON-omics’ (Economics)
No.197: Dis-United Kingdom: 10 issues to watch (Democracy)
No.196: The Lawbreaker’s Mask (Con politics)
No.195: Education, Society & the Cooperative Gestalt (Education)
No.194: The Thoughtful Guide to Political Types (Electoral politics)
No.193: Terminate the Machines? (Economics)
No.192: 10 Ways to Subvert Legality (Power inequality)
No.191: Only Fools & Porsches (Con politics)
No.190: Moral Relativism & the Empathy Scale (Ethics)
No.189: A Strategy for Cooperators (Cooperative development)
No.188: There’s Something About Capitalism (Economics)
No.187: The Politics of Anti-Rationality (Con politics)
No.186: Flag, Freedom, & Family ... (Electoral politics)
No.185: Goodbye Utopia, Hello Synetopia (Progressive ethos)
No.184: Political Education with a Twist (Education)
No.183: Snide & Prejudiced: a tale of constitutional shenanigans (Con politics)
No.182: The ‘All-or-Nothing Fallacy’ of Polarised Politics (Democracy)
No.181: Synetopia: progress through cooperation (Progressive ethos)
No.180: Let’s Come Clean about Nuclear Waste (Environment & Energy)
No.179: Nietzsche, all too Nietzsche (Ethics)
No.178: Journey to the Real Centre of Politics (Progressive ethos)
No.177: Convert or Con Victim? (Con politics)
No.176: Plutocracy: a lesson for citizen education (Power inequality)
No.175: O Humanities, Where Art Thou? (Education)
No.174: The Public-Private Divide (Con politics)
No.173: Lifelong Learning & Everyday Governance (Education)
No.172: Left at the Identity Checkpoint (Progressive ethos)
No.171: Democracy at the Workplace (Cooperative development)
No.170: The Meaning of ‘Pro-Business’ (Con politics)
No.169: Money Can Buy You Votes (Electoral politics)
No.168: Remember: Together We Can (Solidarity & Diversity)
No.167: What’s in a Vote (Electoral Politics)
No.166: Thatcher, Europe & Referendum (Democracy)
No.165: Invasion of the Power Snatchers (Power Inequality)
No.164: Cooperation Unbound: a new model for democratic education (Education)
No.163: Politics & the Cooperative Gestalt (Cooperative development)
No.162: We are Spartacus – We are Syriza (Economics)
No.161: Davos’ Inferno (Power inequality [Satire])
No.160: Debunking Culture War (Progressive ethos)
No.159: Politics: what is it good for? (Education)
No.158: The Voter Vanishes (Democracy)
No.157: Between the Buddha & Camus (Progressive ethos)
No.156: The Con Identity (Con politics)
No.155: The Meekest Link (Cooperative development)
No.154: Revolution for Beginners (Democracy)
No.153: Six Degrees of Cooperation (Cooperative development)
No.152 The National Safety Fund explained (Welfare & Healthcare)
No.151: Experimentally Seeking Progress (Progressive ethos)

No.150: Keeping Democracy on its Toes
[interview with Jessica Crowe, Executive Director of the Centre for Public Scrutiny] (Democracy)
No.149: Question the Powerful: the political education project (Education)
No.148: QTP Resources for Political Education (Education)
No.147: We Are What We Eat [book review of Incredible! Plant Veg, Grow a Revolution: the story of Incredible Edible Todmorden, by Pam Warhurst and Joanna Dobson] (Community empowerment)
No.146: Politically ‘Incorrect’ or Morally Repugnant (Progressive ethos)
No.145: Cooperation Denial (Cooperative development)
No.144: Scapegoats United (Welfare & Healthcare)
No.143: In Solidarity or In Solitary (Global politics)
No.142: The Crook, the Bees, their Hive & its Haters [a fable] (Power inequality [Satire])
No.141: All Quiet on the Voting Front? (Electoral politics)
No.140: Rethinking Education [interview with Diane Reay, Professor of Education, University of Cambridge] (Education)
No.139: A History of the World in 500 words (Power inequality)
No.138: The Art of Exposing Emperors (Education)
No.137: Time for a Cooperative Government (Cooperative development)
No.136: Anarchy: Daydreams & Nightmares (Democracy)
No.135: Politics for Outsiders: an educational mission (Education)
No.134: Chinese Pride or Western Prejudice [book review of Chinese Whispers: why everything you heard about China is wrong by Ben Chu] (Global politics)
No.133: ‘Question the Powerful’: quincentenary of the 1514 watershed (Progressive ethos)
No.132: The Author Formerly Hated for ‘The Prince’ (Progressive ethos)
No.131: The Art of Nurturing Communities [book review of Community Research for Community Development, ed. by M. Mayo, Z. Mediwelso-Bendek, & C. Packham] (Community empowerment)
No.130: Who Needs Capability Assessment? (Welfare & Healthcare)
No.129: The Cooperative Gestalt (Cooperative development)
No.128: The Economics of Disability (Economics)
No.127: Who’s Afraid of Political Education? (Education)
No.126: How Do You Solve A Problem Like Syria? (Global politics)
No.125: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Teacher (Education)
No.124: The Reciprocity Test: Pros & Cons (Progressive ethos)
No.123: Bouncers for Cyber Clubs? (Freedom of speech and belief)
No.122: Downturn Abbey (Power inequality [Satire])
No.121: Anti-Social Enterprise (Con politics)
No.120: Oppose the War on Welfare (Welfare & Healthcare)
No.119: Chartist No. 6: the call for annual elections (Democracy)
No.118: Whose Money Is It Anyway? (Economics)
No.117: The Greed Tyranny (Con politics)
No.116: The ATOS Inquisition (Welfare & Healthcare)
No.115: Don’t Know Much About Politics? (Democracy)
No.114: Community Development at the Crossroads (Community empowerment)
No.113: The Power Hypothesis (Power inequality)
No.112: Communitarianism Revisited [co-written with Jonathan Boswell] (Progressive ethos)
No.111: No, Minister (Democracy)
No.110: Leave No One Behind (Progressive ethos)
No.109: Like to Teach the World to Vote? (Education)
No.108: Who’s Afraid of Father Christmas (Power inequality [Satire])
No.107: Tune into UN 194: the Sound of a Beautiful Resistance (Global politics)
No.106: Dreaming of a Dark Christmas (Education)
No.105: The Biggest Co-op of All (Cooperative development)
No.104: A Bomb for an Eye (Global politics)
No.103: The Crude, the Mad & the Ugly (Con politics)
No.102: A Message to America [from FDR] (Electoral politics)
No.101: The Powerful Can’t Hide [guest post by Ann Walker] (Power inequality)

No.100: Cooperative Problem-Solving: the key to a reciprocal society (Cooperative development)
No. 99: Who are the Wealth Creators? (Economics)
No. 98: Help Us Question the Powerful (Democracy)
No. 97: Unsure about the Start Our Children Get? (Family policy)
No. 96: Political OCD: is there a cure? (Con politics)
No. 95: The Targeting of ‘Troubled Families’ (Family policy)
No. 94: Your Power, Your Government (Democracy)
No. 93: Can the NHS Stay in the Race? (Welfare & Healthcare)
No. 92: Pyramid Hockey (Power inequality)
No. 91: Democracy’s Debt to Young People (Democracy)
No. 90: What kind of people are we? (Progressive ethos)
No. 89: Kuan’s Wonderland: a political fable (Education)
No. 88: Friends, Romans, Lend Me Your Euros (Economics)
No. 87: The Case for Cooperative Problem-Solving (Cooperative development)
No. 86: Where Next for Criminal Justice? [book review of Where Next for Criminal Justice, by David Faulkner and Ros Burnett] (Criminal justice)
No. 85: The Free Speech Conundrum (Freedom of speech and belief)
No. 84: I’m Super-Rich, Get Me into the White House (Electoral politics [Satire])
No. 83: Much Ado About Cooperating (Cooperative development)
No. 82: The Department for Wealth (Con politics [Satire])
No. 81: Welcome to the Premier League of Education (Education)
No. 80: Re-enter the Dragon (Global politics)
No. 79: Educating Fodder (Education)
No. 78: Santa & the City (Xmas Special) (Power inequality [Satire])
No. 77: Can Democracy Be Saved? (Democracy)
No. 76: What Next for the WEA? (Education)
No. 75: Corporate Flu (Con politics [Satire])
No. 74: Debt or No Debt (Economics)
No. 73: The Politics of Cultural Inclinations (Progressive ethos)
No. 72: Poor Circulation and Economic Disorder (Economics)
No. 71: The Lopsided Playing Field Power inequality)
No. 70: The Eton Redemption (Con politics [Satire])
No. 69: The Know-Nothing Executives (Democracy)
No. 68: The Nasty Media (Media)
No. 67: The Big Con (Con politics)
No. 66: A Tale of Two Strategies (Electoral politics)
No. 65: Left Disorientated? (Progressive ethos)
No. 64: The Joker to the Right (Con politics)
No. 63: Royal Family Values: a historical fact sheet (Power inequality)
No. 62: Memento Tory (Con politics)
No. 61: 68 places to change the Government’s mind (Electoral politics)
No. 60: From Wisconsin, With Love (Con politics [Satire])
No. 59: The Murdoch Empire Strikes Back (Media)
No. 58: SOS: Save Our NHS (Welfare & Healthcare)
No. 57: Beyond the Matrix (Con politics)
No. 56: Our Bacon Needs Saving (Progressive ethos)
No. 55: Deep Freeze Alert (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 54: An Interview with ‘Father Christmas’ (Power inequality [Satire])
No. 53: On Strikers & Own Goals (Unions)
No. 52: Paint it Red (Con politics [Satire])
No. 51: Anger Mismanagement (Con politics)

No. 50: Another Coup on Animal Farm (Con politics [Satire])
No. 49: Against Power Inequalities (Power inequality)
No. 48: A Mad Tea Party’s Brewing (Con politics)
No. 47: The Ultimate Horror Show (Con politics)
No. 46: In Praise of Mo Tze (墨子) (Progressive ethos)
No. 45: Ever Tried Homeopathic Democracy? (Democracy)
No. 44: Begging the Charity Question (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 43: The Denial Industry (Con politics)
No. 42: Mill, Dewey & Me (Progressive ethos)
No. 41: A Simple Equation (Power inequality)
No. 40: Interdependence Day (Global politics)
No. 39: The Fox & the BBC (Media)
No. 38: An Alliance to Promote Democracy (Democracy)
No. 37: Some Like it Thick (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 36: Pride & Tiananmen (Global politics)
No. 35: Know Thy Goal (Progressive ethos)
No. 34: King John’s Lesson for the G20 (Global politics)
No. 33: Powerlessness can damage your health (Power inequality)
No. 32: Year of the Invisible Ox (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 31: Unite or Perish (Global politics)
No. 30: The Pension Pirates (Con politics)
No. 29: The Anatomy of Change (Con politics)
No. 28: Axis of Stupidity (Con politics)
No. 27: The Freedom to Crash (Economics)
No. 26: Talk about Slavery (Power inequality)
No. 25: Thou Shall Make Money (Con politics)
No. 24: The Gene Code Lottery (Power inequality)
No. 23: The S Word (Democracy)
No. 22: The Good, the Bad and the Foreign (Progressive ethos)
No. 21: Between Nader and the Plastic Sea (Electoral politics)
No. 20: The Minorities Myth (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 19: Wheat from the Chav (Con politics)
No. 18: Where’s our American vote? (Global politics)
No. 17: Let them eat bullets (Welfare & Healthcare)
No. 16: The Alpha Male Syndrome (Power inequality)
No. 15: Variations on a theme of ransom (Unions)
No. 14: The Crisis of Civic Disengagement (Democracy)
No. 13: What’s wrong with being all-powerful? (Power inequality)
No. 12: Together We Can (Community empowerment)
No. 11: Long live the Con (Con politics)
No. 10: Give restorative justice a chance (Criminal justice)
No. 9: Weapons of mass confusion (Global politics)
No. 8: Of frogs and men (Environment & Energy)
No. 7: What exactly is pro-family? (Family policy)
No. 6: Why single out the freedom of discussion (Freedom of speech and belief)
No. 5: Belief is not enough (Freedom of speech and belief)
No. 4: Who’s against the Enlightenment? (Progressive Ethos)
No. 3: Aren’t they all Human Values? (Solidarity & Diversity)
No. 2: Why tolerate the Power Gap? (Power inequality)
No. 1: Is Redemption Possible? (Ethics)