Comment is Freed

The results of the US midterms dismayed Israel’s government and enthused Iran’s. For Tehran, they represented a vindication of its war strategy. They absorbed whatever the Israelis and Americans threw at them while demonstrating their ability to hit back, threaten Gulf states and disrupt the global economy.

A version of this article originally appeared in the Times Literary Supplement. It is a review of two new books: The Real Nigel Farage by John Sweeney and The Rise of Reform by Nick Tyrone. But I used it as an opportunity to look at Farage’s fall from grace and Reform’s political struggles. I have revised and updated the piece for publication here. Most commentary on Nigel Farage, over his career, has started from the assumption he is popular.

Politics, policy analysis, and foreign affairs from Sam and Lawrence Freedman Over 93,000 subscribers By subscribing, you agree to Substack's Terms of Use, and acknowledge its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy. “I love the taste of crunchy policy analysis in the morning, and nobody does it better than the Freedmans.”...” “Come for Lawry, who'll make you feel smart about the idiocies of war; stay for Sam, who'll make you feel smart about the idiocies of British politics.

We’re delighted to have a guest post today from John Kingman, who has written for us before, and Baroness Shriti Vadera. They are publishing a series called The Growth Papers, in association with the School for Government and the Policy Institute at King’s College London, setting out what it would take to put the UK onto a meaningfully stronger growth path. The first paper was on devolution and the series will cover competition, AI, planning, energy and universities.

Politics, policy analysis, and foreign affairs from Sam and Lawrence Freedman Over 93,000 subscribers By subscribing, you agree to Substack's Terms of Use, and acknowledge its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy. “I love the taste of crunchy policy analysis in the morning, and nobody does it better than the Freedmans.”...” “Come for Lawry, who'll make you feel smart about the idiocies of war; stay for Sam, who'll make you feel smart about the idiocies of British politics.

Israel went to the polls last Tuesday and it is the turn of the United States next Tuesday. The differences in the two elections are self-evident. Compared with the US, which has favourable geography and does everything at scale, Israel is tiny and part of an unstable region. For its elections, it has adopted an almost pure form of proportional representation based on lists. This encourages multiple parties and can make it almost impossible to form a government, as we can now see.

Politics, policy analysis, and foreign affairs from Sam and Lawrence Freedman Over 93,000 subscribers By subscribing, you agree to Substack's Terms of Use, and acknowledge its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy. “I love the taste of crunchy policy analysis in the morning, and nobody does it better than the Freedmans.”...” “Come for Lawry, who'll make you feel smart about the idiocies of war; stay for Sam, who'll make you feel smart about the idiocies of British politics.

Politics, policy analysis, and foreign affairs from Sam and Lawrence Freedman Over 93,000 subscribers By subscribing, you agree to Substack's Terms of Use, and acknowledge its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy. “I love the taste of crunchy policy analysis in the morning, and nobody does it better than the Freedmans.”...” “Come for Lawry, who'll make you feel smart about the idiocies of war; stay for Sam, who'll make you feel smart about the idiocies of British politics.

Admiral SirTony Radakin retired as Chief of the Defence Staff, the head of the UK armed forces, a year ago. His tenure as CDS, from 2021-25, spanned four Prime Ministers, Russia’s full illegal invasion of Ukraine and the events in the Middle East following 7 Oct 2023. (He is pictured above, 2nd left, on a visit to Kyiv). In this extensive interview we covered a lot of ground, providing many insights into recent policy-making and current security challenges.

It would be so much better if we could address the challenge of defending Ukraine against Russian aggression without also having to deal with Donald Trump and the psychodramas surrounding him. But sadly that is not possible. We have been reminded over the past week that while Ukraine is far less dependent upon the United States than it was in January 2025, it still needs intelligence and capabilities that only the US can provide.