Asked by Laura Kuenssberg if he had any friends who were Tories, Keir Starmer answered: “Yes, of course I do.” He went onto explain that when his father died in 2018, at the height of some of the Brexit battles in parliament, several Tory MPs spoke to him about the loss of his father, trying […]
Archives for January 2020
Another underrated musical artist that may change your life: here is MF DOOM and his story
Over the six years I have written this blog, I have on occasion told you to tune in to some obscure musical act for what I have taken to be your own spiritual good. My article on Jandek converted one bloke who wrote to me subsequently to say that he “obsessively listens to Jandek most […]
As if there wasn’t enough in the way already, here’s an added impediment to any party beating the Tories in any general election held within the next fifteen years
The Tories have a lot going their way. They are going to do a boundary review that will make the new constituencies more Tory and less Labour friendly (and way less Lib Dem friendly, if such a thing can be imagined). The government looks like it is going to make ID mandatory at polling stations. […]
Here are the three things the left gets wrong
I’ve written a fair bit about why the left lost and what the right gets correct so as to make it harder for the Left to win. Today, in light of the Labour leadership contest, I’d like to talk about three changes to the way the left operates that I think are vital if they […]
As ever, this is the big, overriding problem for the Liberal Democrats
I haven’t written anything about the Lib Dems since the week following the general election. This is because I haven’t been able to think of anything positive to say and no one wants to read about how the Liberal Democrats are completely screwed. However, having turned this over in my mind during the past few […]
Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t the worst ever Labour leader – this guy was
A lot of journalists who were never particularly predisposed to Jeremy Corbyn and his strange cult of personality are dancing on his leadership’s grave, even while he is still technically in situ. Many of them are pronouncing Corbyn Labour’s worst ever leader, almost as if this were so obvious it needn’t be explained. Now, many […]
How a key element of Blairism has made a roaring comeback within the Labour Party, even being used by the left
I feel like I should write about something happening in politics other than the race to be the next Labour leader. Yet I can’t help myself; the whole thing is such a fascinating clusterfuck, I cannot turn away. Barry Gardiner’s 24-hour challenge. The spectacular falling apart of Rebecca Long-Bailey’s campaign – that has still not […]
Why Brexit will continue to be a problem for Labour for the foreseeable future
One of the more interesting moments already in the nascent race to see who becomes the next leader of the opposition was when Jess Phillips appeared to suggest that Labour could campaign to rejoin the EU, if the conditions were right – and then, a few days later, appeared to retract this possibility. What the […]
A review of “Rise of Skywalker”, a look at McDonald’s new business model, then melting into a rant about society
Took the kids to see Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker yesterday afternoon. Before I tell you about the movie, I need to talk about what happened immediately afterwards. My son was thirsty and there was a McDonald’s across the road from the cinema. I figured it was the easiest and quickest way to get him […]
What the Corbynistas and the centrists they despise have in common
If I had been in a coma for the last month and when I awoke could only judge by Labour/FBPE/Lib Dem Twitter what the result of the general election had been, I would assume that we’d had a hung parliament and that the Tories had caved in and opted for a second EU referendum to […]