“The Long Good Friday” is perhaps the quintessential British gangster film (it’s only real competition being “Get Carter”). Bob Hoskins plays the lead role, that of a London gangster who is trying to move into mainstream business. Along the way, one of his lackeys gets into trouble with the IRA, stealing some money off of them […]
I have no idea if there really is a financial crash imminent, but if it happens it will help the Tories, not the Left
Over the weekend, I read a fascinating article from Paul Mason about how not only is another financial crash a la 2008 just around the corner – it may already have begun. It was the usual Mason shtick: moments of genuine insight accompanied by gaping holes in logic. Let’s dissect Mason’s argument: the whole reason […]
So could the Commonwealth be an alternative to the EU?
This question comes up a lot on social media and I always have a very simple answer to it: no. However, the question does deserve a longer answer, explaining why exactly that is. Consider this as the sort of foreword to a longer piece that would explain everything in detail; this is my macro view […]
John Lennon’s bitterness v Paul McCartney’s: a tale of two songs from the 70s
John Lennon’s 1971 album, Imagine, is for most people the ultimate in hippy laidback aural wallpaper. High on vibes and life. Imagine all the people, sharing all the world. That’s why the 1988 documentary film, Imagine: John Lennon, is such an interesting document. The recording sessions for the album in question seem to mostly have […]
The overlaps between the American Republicans and the current Labour Party are now frightening
The Republican Party is in real turmoil at the moment. Although there is still time and hope within the ranks of their more sensible players that it will all come good in the end, at the moment they have two frontrunners in the presidential nominee race in Trump and Carson who are completely unelectable. However, […]
If you want to know what life would be like in a post-EU Britain, don’t look to Norway – instead just review Xi Jinping’s visit this month
In the wake of Cameron’s speech denouncing the “Norwegian model” as an alternative for Britain to EU membership, the Outers have all piled in to denounce the idea themselves. Odd, as they used to be quite taken with the notion of emulating that particular Scandinavian country’s way of trading with the world (as many a Bruges […]
The tax credits row reminds us how fragile the Tory majority actually is
As I said yesterday, the Tories have suddenly turned on the House of Lords. Everyone from Boris to the Chancellor have now come out with the line that the Upper Chamber should not stand in the way of the now to be stressed “elected chamber’s” wishes. But what the last week has really done, more than anything […]
Does the government actually want to lose this particular vote?
It’s all happening in the House of Lords this week. The Conservative Party, former stalwart guardians of the Upper House, have taken to highlighting the other place’s lack of democracy (it’s been that way for some time now, guys), with the whiff of “constitutional crisis” in the air (being talked about on this occasion, ironically, by […]
Just how likely are mass reselections of Labour MPs before the next election anyway?
The right of the Labour Party has been complaining since Corbyn became front-runner to be the next Labour leader that once installed, Corbyn would go about having any MP who doesn’t like him (i.e. almost all of them) deselected in order to make space for someone more, shall we say, malleable to the Corbyn plan. […]
Okay, the Cameron pig thing is getting old, and the Left would do itself a favour by halting its obsession with it
I was at Lib Dem conference when the whole Cameron/pig/college ritual story that we don’t need to go into detail about here since you all know what I am talking about broke. It was predictably the talk of Bournemouth. Myself, I had actually heard the whole story for the first time years and years ago, […]