Politics needs rescuing as pessimism about its role and purpose increases. Does a saviour lie in Michael Oakeshott: the quintessential English pragmatist? Notionally influential for his conservative thinking, his doctrines of natural orders and civil society have echoes for today's environmentalists and communitarians.

In the centenary month of Oakeshott's birth, David Walker explores the values and beliefs which motivated this profound English thinker about politics, and what they tell us about the continuing paradoxes of politics and national life.