In the aftermath of the Sousse massacre, David Cameron has spoken a fair amount about the tragedy, both in the House and in public. On Radio 4 the other day, he was talking about Daesh (I’m refusing to call them ISIS or ISIL ever again, except in the context of a quote – they aren’t […]
Archives for June 2015
Both Tsipras and David Cameron demonstrate that referenda are generally cop outs
Faced with having to either go against what he rather foolishly promised prior to becoming the elected leader of his country, or take said nation to the brink of and possibly over and into disaster, Alex Tsipras decided to fudge it. It was a good fudge, as these things go, I hasten to add: politically, […]
The Monkees give you “Head” – a celebration of career suicide
In March of 1968, the last episode of the TV show “The Monkees” aired in America. The rock group that had been assembled by a television studio for the purposes of the programme alone, had lost its raison d’être. The group’s commercial potential, in terms of both selling albums and singles as well as attracting […]
When Cameron campaigns to stay in the EU, how will the right wing press handle it?
I’ll start off by saying I usually find most attacks on the right of centre press by the Left to be over the top and silly. The idea that they conspire in a room together about how to keep the “establishment” clutching the reigns of power; the fact that the word bias is thrown at […]
Why I’ve written a lot more about the Labour leadership contest than the Lib Dem one
I have been chastised by many a Liberal Democrat on social media platforms for writing about the race to be Labour leader so much. Why don’t I talk about the Lib Dem contest half as much? First, why I enjoy writing about the quest for the Labour top job: from an objective political viewpoint, it’s […]
Michael Howard Syndrome explained, as the Independent poll on Labour leadership throws up some interesting numbers
The Indy has hired polling company ORB to do a survey on the Labour leadership contest. It has a large sample size at 2,000, so for those of us who are already nerdily watching the proceedings, the results were revealing. First, the more predictable stuff: Burnham is seen by the largest number of respondents as […]
Kraftwerk were brilliant – that’s it really
I would have called this article “Kraftwerk were the greatest band of the 70s”, but I’ve already passed that accolade onto someone else. Fair enough as well – still, being the penultimate musical outfit of an entire decade is pretty cool. And Kraftwerk deserve it as well. Let’s get the basic bio shite out of […]
Daily Telegraph story on Burnham’s private sector “experience” highlights the problems Labour might face from the Right during this parliament
Right, first off, the Telegraph story referred to in the headline: a Rosa Prince smear-a-thon which shows up Burnham’s claim to understand life outside of the Westminster village by revealing that the private sector experience Andy had previously talked up involved a marketing business that was run by his wife – not himself at all. […]
Will a Grexit help or hurt Cameron?
In terms of the European Union and its history, today will probably be a day for the books, whatever happens. Either a deal between Greece and the EU will be struck at the 11th hour, saving the day for all involved; or, Greece will have set the stage for leaving the Euro and then who […]
Labour will never be able to out-UKIP UKIP on immigration. It needs another message
“Of course we need to win back Labour supporters who voted Tory in May , but if we are to win we also have to understand why so many Labour supporters voted Ukip,” Tom Watson told the assorted faithful at a deputy leadership event held in Dagenham very recently. Only calling them the faithful seems […]