It is looking increasingly bad for Labour in the two by elections to be held on February 23rd, i.e. next Thursday. The Tories have a small but steady lead in Copeland, and barring a herculean ground campaign on the day, Labour are almost certain to lose. Corbyn and his inner circle seem to have all […]
Archives for February 2017
2017 – where will all be at the end of it? Some predictions
For most of you reading this, 2016 was a terrible year. Perhaps there are some out there who believe the opposite is true: given Nigel Farage almost certainly figured 2016 was one of the best years ever ever, there must be at least a few of you in existence. Either way, now that 2016 has […]
The Right fools itself by thinking it doesn’t engage in dystopia porn
This morning’s Telegraph View column is entitled “Most Britons don’t share Ken Loach’s dystopian vision of his country“. I agree. In fact, of all the failings of the British Left over the last decade, perhaps the largest is a consistent over-egging of how bad certain problems are, resulting in a “cry wolf” factor when a […]
The Left has a choice: go communitarian or go liberal. You can’t do both
There is a particular strain of thought on the Left that I find really irksome – for lack of a better word, let’s call it “communitarian liberalism”. It is essentially utopian in outlook because it avoids several aspects of hard reality. And if ever there was a time for the Left to put aside non-achievable […]
If Labour hold Stoke Central, it will be down to sheer luck
The Paul Nuttall campaign has demonstrated again why UKIP haven’t been able to achieve breakthrough despite their popularity amongst certain portions of the population. They like to blame it on the First Past the Post system, which admittedly isn’t a help to them, but that’s cop out: UKIP are just really, really bad at campaigning. And […]
The British Left really, really need to stop parroting Trump
I write about Jeremy Corbyn a lot, pretty much all of it negative in the extreme, so I get a lot heat on Twitter from his supporters. I want to be clear right off that I’m not complain about this fact – I have to be able to take as good as I give in this […]
Can we now lay to rest Corbyn’s image as an “honest broker” once and for all?
When Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party, despite not liking his politics I thought it would be genuinely exciting to have a real maverick heading the opposition. I figured having someone who spoke their minds freely, a sort of Farage of the Left, would introduce an interesting dynamic into British politics. Not that […]
“Real fight starts now” – the words to be etched on Labour’s tombstone
At least that’s over. The Article 50 Bill has now passed through the House of Commons with a massive 300+ majority. It now goes to the House of Lords where, whatever happens, at least Jeremy Corbyn will not be intimately involved. I want to start by saying that I do not want the rest of […]
Review: a Tarantino double bill, “Hateful Eight” and “Deathproof”
I still vividly recall seeing “Pulp Fiction” for the first time in the cinema. I was 21 years old and had walked in there with high expectations; I exited with my head spinning, thinking I’d seen one of the greatest movies of all time. I say this as a preface to make note of the fact that I […]
Another day, another terrible day for the Labour frontbench
This is getting old. Just once, I’d like to be able to say that the frontbench of Labour had done something well. Actually, I won’t even set my standards that high – I’d settle for principled these days. But alack, you all know what I’m about to say. Sigh. I was in Portcullis House yesterday […]