Sunday 27 April 2008

The personalisation of politics

Montreal, Quebec: I have just been talking to an Italian colleague about the personalisation of politics in the context of the victory of Berlusconi in Italy. There are parallels with the Ken and Boris show in London.

It is almost as if disciplined political parties were a parenthesis in history which lasted for just a hundred years. Of course the British case is more complex than that. But the kind of celebrity politics we are seeing in London - the Greenwich Mercury carried adverts with one simple message: Vote Ken - may be a precursor of a trend. And the result would be even more disappointment for voters and greater political instability.

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