Rafael Lawrence Behr (born 7 June 1974) is a British journalist and author. He has been a political columnist and leader writer at ''
The Guardian'' since 2014. He has appeared as a commentator on the
BBC,
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...
and various political podcasts. His work has also appeared in
''Prospect'' magazine, ''
The Times'', ''
The Sunday Times'', ''
The New York Times'' and ''
The Irish Times''. In 2023 he published his first book, ''Politics, A Survivor's Guide''.
Early life and education
Rafael Behr was born in
London to
South African parents of
Lithuanian Jewish
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas o ...
heritage. He has one older brother. He attended
City of London School for Boys and
Merton College
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ch ...
, Oxford, where he studied
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
Russian. He took a master's degree in Russian politics and literature at the
University College London's School for Slavonic and East European Studies.
Journalism
Before writing his column at ''The Guardian'', Behr was political editor of the ''
New Statesman''.
He has previously been chief leader writer and online editor for ''
The Observer'' and a foreign correspondent for the ''
Financial Times'', covering the
Baltic States
The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
and
Russia. In 2014, Behr was named political commentator of the year at the 2014 Comment Awards. In 2019, he was shortlisted for the same award.
In his career before journalism, Behr worked as a political risk analyst reporting on the countries of the former
Soviet Union.
Since 2020 he has presented ''Politics on the Couch,'' an occasional podcast about the psychology of politics.
Views
In his book, ''Politics: A Survivor's Guide'', Behr identifies himself as sympathetic to social democracy, liberalism and centrism. Behr was a strong supporter of Britain's membership of the
European Union and has been critical of
Brexit and the Conservative governments that implemented it. He was also critical of
Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party after 2015.
Personal life
Behr lives in
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, on the south coast of England, with his wife and two daughters.
References
External links
Rafael Behr's personal websiteRafael Behr , The GuardianRafael Behr , New StatesmanPolitics on the Couch podcast
British political journalists
The Guardian journalists
The Observer people
Living people
1974 births
{{UK-nonfiction-writer-stub
British Jews