Blog
Matthew Taylor
Interesting piece in today’s FT by David Runciman, who spoke here recently on his excellent book ‘Political Hypocrisy’. Exploring the unpopularity of political leaders in Britain, France and Japan and contrasting this with the popularity of Alex Salmond in Scotland and Kevin Rudd and Australia, Runciman argues that the key variable lies in is Government responses to globalisation. Given the ambivalence, fringing in to hostility, of the public to globalisation’s impacts, Runciman suggests that Prime Ministers and Presidents need to look like they are fighting back. Whilst Brown, Sarkozy and Fukuda look as thought they are simply adapting to, or tinkering with, globalisation both Salmond and Rudd portray themselves as fighting against an external foe – in Salmond’s case England and in Rudd’s China.
