We are in the middle of an age in which the “liberal metropolitan elite” are the whipping boys for any and all things wrong for the ills of western society. Who even constitutes the dreaded “LME” changes seemingly day by day. Once upon a time, it was strictly the political elite: MPs, people who worked […]
Archives for November 2016
The Right cannot be anti-business and yet expect business to stay onside forever
I’ve noticed a trend amongst a particular yet large section of the Right in Britain since Trump won. It is something that actually started after June 23rd came and went, but that the Trump victory has made a lot stronger. It is a triumphalism based on a set of perceived centre-right values that has not only changed since May […]
How it is humorous to watch previously pro-House of Lords politicians backtrack on the Upper House
Back in 2012, I worked for an organisation on the forefront of trying to help the then live Clegg Bill to change the Upper House from the current appointed House of Lords into an elected second chamber become law. So I was in the front row for all of the speechifying done by MPs around […]
Why this stuff involving Farage and the American executive is so frightening
As everyone knows, Donald Trump met with Nigel Farage before Theresa May, or indeed, any other British politician of any kind. We know this for sure because the proof was in a photograph, taken in a gold plated lift, a demonstration of the trans-Atlantic kinship between the sort of/kind of headcheese of UKIP and the leader […]
Foreign nationals in prisons – an issue more of the moment than you might think
Across Europe, 21.7% of the prison population resides in cells not located in their country of origin. This ranges greatly from country to country. Luxembourg, perhaps understandably given it is a very small country in the middle of Europe, has a prison populace that is mostly foreign – 72.7% of all those incarcerated in Luxembourg […]
Far from “taking back control” it feels like Britain’s fate is now in the hands of Donald Trump
Theresa May has given a speech today about how Britain needs to become a leader in global free trade. These are welcome words. But I really wonder how this will play out, particularly with the United States. Members of May’s government are trying to put a positive spin on Trump getting elected, citing Obama’s disinterest […]
No, Donald Trump is not a liberal or a centrist – unless those terms have lost all meaning
We’ve had many “unexpected” people try and claim that Donald Trump is actually one of their bunch, and further, has been all along. And the guy hasn’t even been president-elect for a week yet. Embarrassingly, both sides of the Labour Party have got in on the act. View Emily Thornberry and her “Jeremy is like […]
What I really think could happen in Syria now that Trump is US president
What Donald Trump said on the campaign trail in regards to foreign policy (actually, all policy areas for that matter) was mixed and often contradictory, so it is hard to know what he will and will not do as president. However, most of what he said on the Middle East was reasonably consistent (by his […]
This is the real reason Trump won the election
Most of the world remains stunned that Trump could have won the presidential election. Theories abound: some of the few pundits who were correct beforehand said Trump would win because of a key group of indicators; some said you could read it in the behaviour of the markets. But Trump winning conforms to a much simpler prediction […]
Corbynistas declaring that Trump’s victory means Corbyn could be prime minister need to come back to reality
In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory, some on the British Left were seeking a silver lining. I’m sure it didn’t take them long to find it. Everyone said Trump couldn’t win because of the polls – everyone says Jeremy Corbyn can’t win because of the polls – Jeremy Corbyn is going to be prime […]