James Paul Lusk

A boy asks his mother about grandparents he never knew. He learns how they died at the hands of the Nazi state. So starts a curiosity about politics – about the conditions that unleash violent oppression, or offer the means for people to govern themselves in liberty. The search carries him to Uganda under General Amin, to nomads in the deep west of Sudan, to English cities sweating through slum clearance and riots. Along the way he wins Oxford’s politics prize, publishes research on citizenship and housing, and becomes a Christian. He writes policy and guidance on community empowerment, and trains neighbourhood leaders seeking more control over homes and services. Truth shall make you free (John 8.32)? Such hope remains.