What running the room taught me about the questions people are willing to answer.

Chairing an economics argument rather than making one, which turns out to be a different skill.

Where I first met the Prime Minister, in a room that disagreed about what the rule of law is for.

Declassified documents on separation, and how contingent it all looks once you can see the room.

A week in two Chinese cities, and the first real test of how much of my Mandarin worked outside a classroom.

Philosophy, politics and economics taught as one subject rather than three.

One day, and the first time I heard reserves described as intergenerational commitments.

An hour on foreign policy, delivered to a room that mostly already agreed.

The only entry here where nobody was speaking to me. I stood and watched.

A building I had read about for years, and which is smaller and busier than it looks.

Six months drafting a bill, and the first time I understood that a principle lives or dies in a subsection.

Sitting in the chamber where the laws I write about actually get passed.

Geopolitical uncertainty, explained by someone who has to plan around it.

Where I learned that a budget is mostly a list of things someone decided not to fund.