Nobody ever asks speechwriters what they think. They ask the ministers, the policy makers, the economists, the pollsters, the voters, the journalists, but nobody ever thinks to ask the opinion of a speechwriter.
In fact you can be sure there is an AI mastermind out there plotting to eliminate speechwriters altogether. The Finnish political organisation, Suomen Mieli, took the bold step of asking me, a humble speechwriter, to account for why political speeches are not given the prominence they deserve and how this weakens our democracies. I’ve also added some modest proposals on what we need to do to restore political vitality to our countries.