Back in 2012 and 2013, I shouted long and hard about how the West needed to militarily intervene in Syria. I figured if we didn’t, hundreds of thousands would die and five years later we’d still be seeing mass slaughter of human life inside of Syria. As someone who objected to the Iraq invasion, I […]
For what is supposedly a ridiculous idea, a lot of people seem really put out by all this new centrist party gossip
News came out this week that a nascent centrist party is in the works, guided by 50 million quid and a rich chap named Simon Franks. Hands up: I’ve known all about this for several months now. In fact, I know of several such schemes, all of them uncoordinated with each other, all of them […]
Here’s one small ray of sunshine for Remainers
I have said again and again that Brexit is very, very, very likely to happen next year. Also, that far from the hard Brexit scenarios imagined by most, I think the UK government will fold on almost everything (as they have done up until now) and come to a deal that is essentially continued membership […]
Why inequality in Britain, particularly regional inequality, is almost certainly going to get worse – even if Corbyn becomes prime minister
While there are huge differences of opinion about what caused the country to vote for Brexit, almost everyone concedes that regional inequality and inequality in general had something to do with it. When you look at the regional disparity in terms of Remain and Leave votes, this becomes indisputable. Yet leaving the EU isn’t going […]
The centre of British politics has no great shinning hope. Or does it?
I had a Twitter conversation with a journalist about David Miliband earlier today. His point was that DM was nowhere near as great as centrists claim; that he speaks in a language not dissimilar to his brother, distant and overly wonkish. I joked that “he’s the best there is available. And he’s not even available”. […]
Simple question: what the hell is everyone thinking at the moment? A dissection of the last 24 hours in politics
Something that gets lobbed at liberals these days is that the reason we feel so befuddled is because politics has been inverted by Brexit and Trump, and that our confusion is simply us feeling what everyone else felt for several decades. I’ve tried to empathise with this position as much as possible, partly to understand […]
Why does the Labour frontbench find anti-Semitism so hard to actually deal with?
It was Rebecca Long-Bailey’s turn. The hapless shadow BEIS secretary (just typing that now gave me a shudder) was the latest to be wheeled out to make some grandiose yet ultimately content free statement on behalf of the Labour Party on the subject du jour, namely how a). anti-Semitism was no longer going to be […]
Why, after the last week, I don’t think Labour can possibly win a general election
I should caveat that headline a little, since I’m now out of the game of predictions: as things stand, I just don’t see how Labour can possibly win a general election. We live in volatile times, and things can change very quickly, of course. Corbyn could quit and then Labour turns itself around in record […]
Why the Cambridge Analytica story leaves me uneasy, aka what’s wrong with the “web of douchebags” theory
The Guardian story around the supposed “dark arts” performed by the company Cambridge Analytica is still going strong. It has apparently caused a massive dip in Facebook’s share price amongst other things. I’ve reflected a lot on the story and read every article I can find about it, both in Britain and in the American […]
Here’s another problem a second referendum on EU membership might present
While most of the political world is engaged in the culture war around Brexit, I like to have fun thinking of all the possible constitutional and other assorted crises it might throw up. I thought of one last night that has to do with a possible second referendum scenario. Whatever anyone tells you, Theresa May […]