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Status anxiety

Fighting dirty

9 November 2013

9:00 AM

9 November 2013

9:00 AM

Why is local politics so much dirtier than national politics? Is it because the players are fighting over relatively trivial matters, like Oxbridge dons competing for college posts? As Henry Kissinger said, ‘University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.’ Or is it because local politicians are less likely to be exposed to the disinfectant of publicity? Well, I intend to remedy that.

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Toby Young is associate editor of The Spectator.

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