'Accepting defeat is Rishi Sunak's only hope of victory'

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Jump to category:

Philip Collins in The Times
Peter Fonagy in The Guardian
Rana Forhoohar in the Financial Times
Lucy Mangan for i news

published 2 October 2023

Accept defeat and the Tories could yet prosper

Philip Collins in The Times

Rishi Sunak is facing a "political paradox", says Phillip Collins in The Times – that "accepting defeat is the only vague hope he has of victory". The prime minister should "ditch the gratingly dishonest rhetoric of 'long-term decisions', which makes him sound both petulant and risible", and instead focus "on the only term he will get, which is the short term". The Tory leader needs a "concerted plan to minimise losses", rather than making a "futile wide shot at victory".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Words are one of humanity's most "powerful tools", writes Peter Fonagy for The Guardian, "and harsh language used against children can damage them for the rest of their life". Misusing words to "intimidate, shame and control may appear less obviously harmful than bodily threat", but a systematic review of hundreds of studies has found that verbal abuse can carry the "same risks", including low-self esteem, substance abuse, increased risk of depression and "even psychotic disorders".

The Writers Guild of America has just made "big progress" in constructing "guard rails" for the use of AI in the workplace, says Rana Foroohar in the Financial Times. Representing striking Hollywood writers, the union has struck a deal with studios that includes "new rules around how the entertainment industry can, and can’t", use the new technology. This is a "very big deal" as it shows not only that AI can be regulated but also how workers "are in a good position to understand how to curb it appropriately".

"Very, very few emotions" are "solely the preserve of mothers simply because they are mothers", writes Lucy Mangan for i news. "Most of them arise because we are – get this! – people under pressure." Yet "it suits everyone to assume or to pretend that mothers don’t or shouldn’t feel anger". This is "a tremendously efficient way of ensuring that nearly half the population has another barrier it must fight through if it wants to claim time or space or demand changes or improvements".

Explore More