Best of the Spectator Spectator Out Loud: Gavin Mortimer, John Campbell, Mark Piesing & Daisy Dunn
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Jan 27, 2026 Daisy Dunn, classics scholar and cultural writer, celebrates 40 years of Poems on the Underground. John Campbell, historian and biographer, explores Lord Haldane’s reforms and lasting relevance. Gavin Mortimer, journalist and author, reports on the EU–Mercosur deal and the fierce response from French farmers. Short, lively conversations on poetry in public spaces, political reform, and international trade tensions.
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Mercosur Sparks Rural Backlash
- The EU's Mercosur deal ignited French farmers' fury over perceived lower South American standards and threats to livelihoods.
- Gavin Mortimer highlights mass protests, roadblocks and political fallout that could boost euroscepticism ahead of elections.
Personal Toll Of Agricultural Decline
- Mortimer recounts a local farmer's resigned reaction after a nearby farmer's suicide and his view that politicians know nothing of farming.
- He describes farmers offering intercepted South American meat to charities or throwing it away as protest tactics.
Haldane's Five Governing Principles
- John Campbell distils five Haldanean principles for modern governance: bold reform, education, cross-party cooperation, professional civil service and subsidiarity.
- He argues these ideas could reshape defence, education and devolution today.
