The Slow Newsletter

Good afternoon. Welcome back to Tortoise’s weekly Slow Newsletter.

The Rules

Beyond the turbulence happening in government over the past few days, there’s a bigger question to gnaw at: democracy is clearly in trouble in the UK; who can fix it??

Last month, Tortoise’s Democracy in Britain survey showed that about half the country had lost faith in the political system; roughly a third of people say the country needs a strong leader who doesn’t need to consult Parliament. Last week, Tony Blair’s Future of Britain conference began with polling on the public’s view of where we’re heading: 69 per cent of people said they think the UK is heading for a period of decline.

At Tortoise, we keep coming back to The Rules. How do we bridge the power gap, how do we restore the promise across the generations, how do we change the economic map, how do we tackle big problems over time, how do we get technology to serve us (not the other way round), how do we change the lineup of who’s in charge, how do we make democracy work for us?

On Thursday, as the resignations were coming thick and fast, we gathered in our newsroom for The Rules – Tortoise’s Democracy in Britain Summit. We were? joined by people who not only understand the problems, but have thoughts on how to fix them: Anand Menon, James Kanagasooriam, Gina Miller, Darren McGarvey (AKA the musician Loki), Mete Coban, Osaro Otobo, Peter Kellner, Jamie Susskind. You can catch up on the whole thing here.

On a slightly separate note: if you’re not quite sure what to make of Boris Johnson’s confession that he met Russian oligarch and ex-KGB officer Alexander Lebedev without officials present, I very much recommend listening to Londongrad. Paul Caruana Galizia’s investigation into the Lebedevs’ ascent to the top of London’s establishment reveals how easy it was for Britain to be bought.

The Darwin job

Now, to take our minds off all the chaos – it’s time for a caper. It’s one thing to steal a priceless object; another to put it back; whodunnit?

When Cambridge University announced earlier this year that Charles Darwin’s notebooks, which had gone missing 20 years ago, had been safely returned, gift-wrapped with a “Happy Easter” note to the librarian, the university library breathed a sigh of relief. Case closed. But Ellen Halliday and Claudia Williams thought the mystery had only just begun: who would take books, which included the “Tree of Life” sketch, that couldn’t obviously be sold; who would risk being caught returning them, and why – guilt, regret, feat? To find out, listen to this week’s Slow Newscast: The Darwin Job.

That’s all for this week, have a great weekend.

Katie