As one who grew up in Canada, I was heartened to see this week’s election got some attention in the UK. Most of this seemed to revolve around those on the centre-left praising the fall of Harper and the rise of Trudeau Jnr. While I can agree with them that seeing the back of Harper is […]
Archives for October 2015
Tom Watson, the trade unions and the next Labour leader
There was an article in the Evening Standard last night regarding the unions choice for next Labour leader. In case you didn’t see the feature, I shall not keep you in suspense any longer: apparently they want Watson to be next in line should Corbyn “fail”. Most of this conjecture is based around Len McCluskey and […]
Britain isn’t after a left or right-wing government – it just wants one that works
A tale of two things from last week, one good, one bad for the Labour Party. I start with the good news. Some research suggests that 71 marginal seats currently held by the Tories contain significant numbers of people who will be adversely affected by the cuts to tax credits. In a week in which […]
One of the great unrecognised film genres: the Yakuza film
Yakuza are Japanese gangsters, but that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. In real life, the Yakuza are the inheritors of the Tekiya and Bakuto groups that existed in Edo-era Japan; at least, the rituals of those groups found their way down to the modern day Yakuza (such as the large scale tatoos that adorn their abdomens). […]
I hate to admit it, but Michael Fabricant does have a point here
After Corbyn’s second go at Prime Minister’s Questions, Michael Fabricant, the man many of you might know as the Tory MP with the interesting hair, took to social media to comment. “This ‘Jackie from Abbots Bromley says’ technique is very time consuming. What about back-bench MPs who can’t get in? Corbyn can ask the question without […]
This is the only way anyone but the SNP can win in Scotland again
The SNP ride higher than ever in the polls – some have them as high 60% for next May’s Holyrood election. There appears to have been very little “Corbyn bounce” for Labour, at least thus far. It begs the question: how will anyone but the SNP win in Scotland ever again? Part of what must […]
I think I’ve finally found the silver lining to the Corbyn era
How Jeremy Corbyn will handle the whole “Britain is a constitutional monarchy” thing continues to roll on as an ongoing concern. As the leader of the opposition, Corbyn has been invited to a banquet Her Majesty is holding at Buckingham Palace; he was apparently thinking of sending someone in his place. Instead, he’s decided to […]
Corbyn’s second PMQs previewed: the problem with kindler, gentler politics is…
Today is Jeremy Corbyn’s second crack at Prime Minister’s Questions. Coming at a time when the Labour Party are having an internal squabble about….well, everything really, it would a grand moment for Jeremy to inflict some damage on the PM. But we are pretty much guaranteed that won’t happen. Mostly due to what we saw […]
I’m starting to think the new shadow cabinet resembles the old one – but on amphetamines
John McDonnell has now decided, rather infamously, that Osborne’s fiscal charter isn’t kosher after all. At Labour conference, the shadow chancellor said he would commit Labour to vote for the government’s fiscal rules. He fudged things a lot, saying that while Labour would go along with the chancellor’s basic idea of balancing the books, that […]
As the In campaign launches this morning, I reflect on the age of referenda
The Out campaign launched last Friday (well, one of the Out campaigns anyhow); today, it is the In campaign’s turn. It goes without saying that I wish them all the success and luck in the world. Britain since 2010 has gone from being a country that almost never had referenda to one going through an […]