Today is the last full day of the Trump presidency. It is easy to take his loss in November for granted, forgetting how likely his re-election seemed at the start of 2020 (and which the thinness of Biden’s wins in crucial states bears out). It is also easy to underestimate how much worse Trump’s presidency, […]
My thoughts on the Priti Patel bullying scandal – why I think the right should be careful with what they are doing here
I don’t think there should be much more to say on the Priti Patel bullying scandal. She broke the ministerial code – again – and therefore should have been sacked. That’s it; I don’t see that there is anything more to talk about on the issue. Yet I am seemingly alone on this one; I’ve […]
Here’s my prediction for the 2020 US presidential election
Today is the day politics nerds – and those who are deeply interested in the political fate of western civilisation – have been both anticipating and dreading for four years. The US presidential election. The chance for Trump to be judged on his presidency. For once, the hyperbole surrounding an election is fully justified – […]
Defending Robert Peston’s “The government is socialist” tweet
Yesterday, Robert Peston tweeted out a thread about how he saw the current Boris Johnson-led government as being socialist. Peston really went for it, describing Johnson as “more Castro than Castro”. As a result, people rushed to belittle his claims. What was interesting to me was that the ones who tried to substantially rebut Peston’s […]
A look back at Glen or Glenda – can the Ed Wood’s “masterpiece” tell us anything about the trans debate in 2020?
“It’s the longest hour on Earth,” is my brother’s capsule review of Ed Wood’s first feature, Glen or Glenda, a 1953 film that is about transgenderism/transvestitism. I have always found this and other critiques of the movie that describe it in such harsh terms unfair; noted American film critic Leonard Maltin once described is as […]
The Perugia story: an encapsulation of all that is wrong with anti-Tory politics in the current age
Yesterday, my Twitter timeline was awash with stories about Boris Johnson and a supposed trip to Perugia. The lovely city in Italy’s Umbria region had become the centre of a story that many people who should have known better swore would “bring down Boris”. It came from a story in Italian newspaper La Repubblica about […]
Why the left needs to steal this trick from the right to win again
I recently wrote on here about how, contrary to what appears to be a widespread assumption, I believe the right are starting to win the culture war. A lot of people on the right resist this idea, at least partly because it rubs up against their game plan, which is to win the culture war […]
Here’s the big problem with cancel culture
This morning on Sky News, the following exchange took place: KAY BURLEY: Tony Abbott is a homophobe and a misogynist. MATT HANCOCK: He’s also an expert of trade. If cancel culture worked to its intended aim, the Health Secretary would be worried for his job after that remark. Yet we all know nothing of the […]
Here’s how the Lib Dems should deal with Brexit from now on
With Ed Davey’s ascension to the leadership of the Liberal Democrats comes the question of what the party’s exact position on Brexit should be from here on out. Clearly, the Lib Dems are not in any danger of becoming some pro-Brexit outfit; yet there is still some doubt as to what the yellows should do […]
How Brexit fuelled Scottish nationalism in a much simpler way than is usually discussed
Scottish independence was roped into the effects of Brexit from the day after the EU referendum took place. It was said by many, myself included, that one of the reasons that the Scottish people had voted no in 2014 was because by leaving they couldn’t be assured of getting into the EU as a new, […]