Open Europe have released a report outlining what a Brexit would look like economically – and from any sort of Eurosceptic standpoint, it’s not pleasant reading. It outlines four scenarios post-Brexit; they range from economically catastrophic to economically slightly positive. And the one in which Britain fares the best involves deregulating everything and having essentially […]
The truth about party funding in this country: an “expose”
Last night, Dispatches finally aired their special programme on the sleazy, behind the scenes world of how our political parties are funded. The whole thing had been heavily trailed in the Telegraph over the last few weeks. Actually, nothing about it shocked me at all and in fact, what it really demonstrated more than anything […]
The SNP and “progressive” politics: in any Westminster government involving the Nats, it’s the English poor who would suffer
Alex Salmond was doing the rounds this weekend, talking about the inevitability of a Labour minority propped up by the SNP as the government post-May 7th, and hinting around what that would entail. That’s his wont, and I wouldn’t expect him to be doing anything else at this stage of the election cycle, the zombie […]
The Blonde Obstacle
It was amazing how much my quest had turned into a real life version of “Code of the Clan”. In the final ten minutes of the movie, Ling has to leave China to go into India for his final confrontation (just as I was about to leave Germany for Belgium). In India, he was to […]
The five Stonesyest Rolling Stones songs
History lesson for all of the youngsters who have wandered over: the Rolling Stones were (or rather, are, excuse me) a rock n roll outfit who formed in London in 1962. Amazingly, they appear to still be together, at least from a legal entity perspective if little else. At their best, the fusion of Mick […]
The Penguins of Madagascar – a review
I saw this in the cinema when it came out – with my daughter, obviously. I should mention that the only time I go to the cinema these days is to watch kids movies for obvious, parent with young children reasons. So I’m pretty picky about them now. Anyway, I’m using the DVD release of […]
Len McCluskey’s sideways compliment to the Liberal Democrats, aka does he think talking about this stuff really helps Labour?
Yesterday, Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, thought it a good idea to talk about just what the unions might get up to should the Tories win the general election. It essentially involves striking no matter what. This is all in response to the Tories looking to create laws around strike thresholds. Namely, that at […]
Why the Tories gagging of the civil service is a bad idea
The Tories have introduced some changes to the civil service code this week I have a feeling they rather hoped would fly under the radar. The changes mean that any civil servant who is caught speaking to the press without the written consent of a minister could face the sack. This is very bad for […]
The five greatest hip hop acts of the 20th century
Hip hop was invented sometime around 1975 by a DJ in the South Bronx who called himself Kool Herc. His idea, like all brilliant ones, was essentially simple. He played mostly funk tunes at his gigs, and he noted that the bit of every song people seemed to like the most was the drum breaks. […]
My thoughts on Budget 2015
First of all, budgets this close to the general election are kind of meaningless anyhow. Particularly in this age of hung parliaments. I mean, even if we get another Lib-Tory, there will almost certainly be an “emergency” budget in the summer. So what’s the point? Historically, they are opportunities for the governing party to present […]