Homo sapiens are a funny old mammal: as a result of an evolutionary twist that is completely understandable, I think we have what I would constitute as a glitch. Our brains are adapted to view risk in pretty stark terms. Either the predator is there or it isn’t. It’s a binary equation to us poor, […]
Archives for August 2015
Holding the centre ground is straightforward: you convince swing voters you are the only party for them
Pretty much anyone who knows anything about politics agrees that the way you win general elections in Britain is by convincing everyone that it is your party that occupies the centre ground, and that, by extension, the other lot are too far towards one of the extremes. There is, of course, a great deal of […]
Lessons the AV referendum might contain for Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters
I recall being at a party organised by one of the main spokespeople for the Yes to AV campaign a couple of months after the referendum had taken place. One guy who was a friend of the host told me that in the end, he’d voted No. The reason he gave was this: “I’d like […]
The whole outrage at the House of Lords is a big sham
Yesterday, the government announced the dissolution list. This told us all the people who are becoming peers, getting knighthoods or other royal honours as a result of the general election coming and going. This is a ritual that accompanies every general election post-mortem. As a result of the list being published, another great British ritual […]
Anyone remember Ross Perot? The women-only carriages storm is minor compared to what’s coming Jeremy Corbyn’s way
A social media hurricane was unleashed in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s suggestion yesterday that the solution to women being harassed on public transport was women-only carriages. Let’s look at what Jeremy had to say before going any further: “My intention would be to make public transport safer for everyone from the train platform, to […]
Why fear is more powerful than hope in politics
Most people, other than the odd minority of those contending that Labour lost the general election because it was too right-wing, understand what happened in May 2015. Fear won the day. Many of us, buying into the polling until the very day of the election, crushed as a result when that exit poll hit us like […]
Will Corbyn ultimately destroy the far-left as many believe? Maybe, maybe not
As Jeremy Corbyn prepares to become leader of the Labour Party, a position that I’m sure at no point in his sixty-six years prior to a few weeks ago he ever thought he’d achieve, his rivals on the centre-left console themselves with this analgesic: this will allow everyone to see the far-left for what it […]
The Iran deal is such a no-brainer, opposition to it is incomprehensible
According to a poll, 58% of Americans are against the nuclear deal with Iran. Given it was pretty much the only realistic option available to the American government, on the surface of it this majority opinion is rather odd. Let’s run through the basics of the deal briefly: in 2002, the Americans obtained solid proof […]
Roger Avary and Quentin Tarantino: a case study on collaboration
Once upon a time, there were two guys who worked in a video shop in Manhattan Beach, California – a semi-suburban area a little south of LAX – named Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. It was here that they became very good friends and developed a working relationship. They both wanted to be in the […]
Will Corbyn attract UKIP voters back to Labour?
I was engaged in a discussion on social media this past week with someone who was passionately pro-Corbyn. When we got into voting for Labour as a topic, he told me he’d never voted for Labour before. In fact, at the last election he voted UKIP. I probed him further on this and he said […]