I was 17 when the 90s began; 27 when they ended. I remember the decade pretty clearly as a result. Looking back, if I was asked for the two defining pop cultural moments of that ten year stretch, I would nominate the death of Kurt Cobain on April 5, 1994 and the airing of the final episode […]
Archives for July 2017
Is Brexit reality finally hitting in Northern Ireland?
“DUP vows to block Dublin bid to make Irish Sea post-Brexit border with UK” shouted a Daily Telegraph headline yesterday, above a story about how the Irish government thinks a seamless border between north and south will be impossible – because it will be, and that has always been obvious to any objective viewer – and how […]
This is what we’re in for over the next few years: Labour plays Brexit tennis
After Corbyn said his bit about single market membership equalling being in the EU and then Gardiner going full on Peter Bone on everyone, then the Carwyn Jones led uproar that contradicted all of this perfectly, we’ve now had the counter-counter-attack. Or is it the counter-counter-bluff? I don’t know, let’s try and piece it all […]
Why this latest shift in the Brexit debate could have a profound effect on UK politics
Two things inspired this article. One, Corbyn and Barry Gardiner’s suddenly fierce Euroscepticism being given a free voice (and the subsequent kickback from numerous figures within Labour as a result) and two, an article in the Spectator by Ed West entitled “I’m a Leaver who would be happy for a second referendum“. They are perfect […]
Labour’s position on Brexit is becoming extremely, unbearably tiresome
I’ve written a lot about this already, I realise. Yet the problem not only persists, it is getting much, much worse by the day. It is hard for me to rationalise how a lot of Labour supporters are rationalising this all themselves; harder still for me to understand how pro-EU Corbyn supporters manage to square […]
Why Guns N’ Roses are the most overrated band in the history of popular music
The approaching 30th anniversary of Guns N’ Roses 1987 album, “Appetite for Destruction”, and the accompanying fanfare around this event, has pushed me to my limits. I don’t think I have a larger media related pet peeve than the overhyping of the cultural relevance and musical significance of GN’R. I was a teenager in 1987; I remember […]
What I learned from “Love Island” last night
Before yesterday evening, I had never watched “Love Island” before. In fact, the only reason I really knew of its existence was through articles like “Why is Love Island so Tory?” in the New Statesman. But my wife’s younger sister is in town, and she wanted to watch it last night, so there we all […]
Liam Fox on Radio 4: how Brexiteers have become like bad ex-boyfriends
Liam Fox was on Today today, talking the good talk about how leaving the EU will be a piece of cake, everything will be rosy, come what may. Interestingly, he would only say that the UK could “survive” a no-deal situation – so the whole thriving outside of everything has been dropped even by Dr Fox these […]
The fact is, this isn’t a choice between May and Corbyn, and May must know that already
‘Tis summer reception season in Westminster; the time of year when magazines, newspapers and think tanks crack out the Prosecco and pray that most of the cabinet turns up. One of them this week saw the prime minister issue a stark warning to her colleagues: “No backbiting, no carping. The choice is me or Jeremy Corbyn – […]
The UK faces a constitutional crisis, any which way it turns
The UK is in the midst of a constitutional crisis that isn’t being talked about in its essence nearly enough. It landed upon us June 24th, 2016, once the result of the EU referendum was known, and has deepened since. The United Kingdom is governed through an unwritten constitution that had managed to avoid any […]