The Political Compass
20 years
Joseph Stalin Mao Zedong Thomas Hobbes Margaret Thatcher Emma Goldman Pyotr Kropotkin Ayn Rand Friedrich Hayek portrait by Original uploader was DickClarkMises at en.wikipedia. Later version(s) were uploaded by Beao at en.wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:JohnDoe0007 using CommonsHelper.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Friedrich_Hayek_portrait.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Friedrich_Hayek_portrait.jpg

The Guardian rediscovers
The Political Compass

… but this time around, doesn’t name it!

Twenty years ago The Guardian, along with many international media, applauded The Political Compass. (This is great. The creators have updated the measure of political persuasion) Years later another Guardian writer commented To understand the appeal of UKIP, it helps to think about the four quadrants of The Political Compass and columnist Jeanette Winterson wrote This is a thoughtful and intelligent website that is worth a visit.

So imagine our surprise when, on 12 May 2021, a Guardian commentator, Lee de Wit, came up with an idea about politics needing two dimensions! Our very point, which we’ve been putting into practice for years with our electoral charts for the UK and other countries. Dominic Cummings is quoted along similar lines in the piece, apparently unaware that Boris Johnson long ago acknowledged our work and described it as ‘fascinating’.

The article is here.

and here are some of our reviews:

Take the Test

Find out where you stand on The Political Compass

Scottish Parliament Election 6 May 2021

This is a crucial election involving, no less, Scotland’s constitutional future and a likely collision course with the UK government. An impressive overall majority would make the Scottish National Party’s call for another independence referendum almost impossible to deny. Given the unpopularity of the Johnson government in Scotland and widespread opposition to Brexit, there is growing support for independence.

An Open Letter to Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Since you’ve been in the news, it seems timely to drop you a line. After all, it’s not everyone that gets a US holiday in their honour. You and Martin Luther King. The two of you could hardly be more different …

Iconochasms

Gandhi

The chasm between your icons and what you probably don’t know about them

The Population Bomb … And Much Else

Paul Ehrlich

The Population Bomb was a bombshell best-seller when it was unleashed in 1968. Author Paul Ehrlich, a renowned biologist, warned of the consequences of unchecked population growth and introduced the term Zero Population Growth (ZPG).

The population then was less than half of today’s figure, yet the issue is barely mentioned now in the media and public discourse. Despite our greater awareness of climate change, peak oil and other related hazards, why did population slip off the radar?

    Other Podcast Episodes

    Our growing list of interviews

    • Apocalypse Soon?
    • Christmas — The Political History
    • Slavery Today
    • How Fascism Works — The politics of us and them
    • Dr Ira Helfand on the heightened danger of nuclear war
    • Prof Paul Ehrlich on The Population Bomb … and much else
    • The Death Penalty and the Authoritarian Personality

      • Donate via Paypal

      Fukushima at Ten: Aftershocks, Lies and Failed Decontamination

      It’s now 10 years since the catastrophic triple meltdowns of reactors at Fukushima in Japan. As Joseph Mangano of the Radiation and Public Health project put it three years ago, “Enormous amounts of radioactive chemicals, including caesium, strontium, plutonium, and iodine were emitted into the air, and releases of the same toxins into the Pacific have never stopped, as workers struggle to contain over 100 cancer-causing chemicals.”

      There is news of the shortage of Fukushima health studies, big earthquakes (aftershocks) and typhoons rattling nerves …

      Composers’ Political Compass

      Beethoven (via www.goodfreephotos.com)

      Writers and artists have been generally more engaged in the big political debates of their day than composers, and their views are often more easily discerned through their works. So how well can we tell the positions of the great composers?

      Gardens and Politics

      What your garden reveals …

        Ideological Music
        from all Compass quadrants!