A well-known and liked journalist posted something along the lines of “Keir Starmer becoming leader of Labour proves I’m right in 1,000 words – off you go” on Twitter this week. The reason I bring this up is because I am about to do the exact opposite; Starmer becoming leader proves most of the things […]
Evaluating Keir Starmer’s initial shadow cabinet picks
Yesterday, the new leader of the Labour Party – and how good does it feel to say that, regardless of what you think of Starmer? – made his initial shadow cabinet picks. They were just the top jobs but they still give us some indication of what Starmer’s leadership is going to be like, at […]
Why the EU could be in for a rocky few years post-Coronavirus – and why that should make Eurosceptics on the right nervous
Since June 2016, a common trope on the right in Britain has been to big up any problems within the EU between differing member states as proof that the EU is about to crumble to pieces. This is happening now, with Leavers jumping on some Italians complaining about what they perceive as the EU’s poor […]
Why Boris and the government’s current bounce in the polls could be brief and what that will mean
In a time of crisis, the government’s poll ratings go up, everywhere in the world. “Rally round the flag” it’s called and it’s completely understandable: at a time when the government becomes necessary, possibly for one’s survival, people invest in that government doing the right thing. However, this has a time limit and is also […]
Here’s what Starmer needs to do when he becomes Labour leader – and as quickly as possible
Unless the granddaddy of upsets takes place, Keir Starmer will become leader of the Labour Party on Saturday. Word has it that it intends to try and clear out the worst of the tankies on day one. Great start. We will find out several things about the Labour Party in April. One, how many of […]
We have indulged the far right and the far left too much and for too long. Here’s how we stop
Up until the EU referendum result hit in June 2016, some level of centrism, loosely defined, was considered to be a political necessity for any party wishing to govern. Labour had picked Corbyn as leader and it was assumed by almost every political pundit that this would prove to be an electoral disaster (they were […]
Whatever else happens, Corbyn will soon no longer by Labour leader. That will be a huge positive
Corbyn was on the BBC yesterday, talking about how the government spending money to get round the coronavirus was his idea first and that essentially the Tories are now just nicking his style. Of course he was – what else was Corbz going to do? The merry trickster, always sure he’s on the right side […]
How long will the pretence of “real Brexit” happening on December 31st, 2020 be kept up by the government?
The government is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis at present, so one certainly cannot reasonably expect daily briefings on how the negotiations with the EU are going. For those of you who are interested, they are understandably not going at all; with the EU up to its neck in CoVid related problems as […]
Why a CoVid coalition government would be of long term benefit to Labour – and short term benefit to all of us
George Freeman, Tory MP for Mid Norfolk, used Twitter to call for a wartime coalition style government, bringing the Labour shadow frontbench in. He specified that this only be genuinely considered once Labour had “serious leadership” in a week and a half’s time, but it was still a Conservative Member of Parliament calling for a […]
How the Left is misjudging the CoVid crisis
After the 2008 financial crash, many people on the Left took to their blogs (and sometimes, their newspaper columns) to write about how the crisis would mean the end of capitalism, the rise of socialism and the triumph of left over right. We all know how that one turned out. The Left is making a […]