I’m really, really glad I’ve been to Montenegro. For a start, it is a visually incredible place, the mountains against the sea even more stark than in neighbouring Croatia. On a personal level, my general anxiety level decreased massively over the four days I spent in the country. However, first impressions of the place were […]
A tour around the Balkans – part one
I spent my Easter break travelling around Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Hercegovina. What I learned from my tour around the Balkans I think is interesting enough to relate to you all, and I want to do it while the impressions are fresh. For a start Croatia and Montenegro, but particularly Croatia as it is already […]
After the general election, liberals will have to begin to think about post-Brexit Britain in earnest
I wanted the country to vote Remain last year. I wrote about why I thought it would be a good idea at length. Alas, the country voted differently. This election gives the Lib Dems, a party campaigning on a second referendum (what amounts to an ability to block Brexit from occurring), a chance to gain […]
A lot of Labour voters in the north, Midlands and Wales won’t vote Tory. They’ll do this instead
The debate rages on in Westminster: will we see a large victory for the Conservatives come June 8th, or a massive one? A lot of Tories are cautious and seem to feel it will be the former – which only makes me think the latter more likely given they won’t be taking anything for granted. […]
Corbyn’s one move from yesterday which demonstrates how bad June 8th will be for Labour
Yesterday, I predicted mayhem for Labour, with the party looking to do worse than many pundits expect, ending up on between 100-120 seats overall. As if this prediction wasn’t bad enough, it might turn out in the end to be too rosy. This is due to the fact that one of Corbyn’s first thoughts after […]
Right, general election on June 8th, 2017. What’s going to happen? Some predictions
The moment some thought wouldn’t happen has arrived: an early general election. I myself put the likelihood of this happening in 2017 at a mere 20% in my book, so I am as stunned as anyone. Unless somehow Labour whips a vote against (and Corbyn has already publicly said Labour will vote for it tomorrow) […]
Why this talk from Tories about Cornish flags on licences could lead somewhere unintended
I know some of my readers will have been kept up nights of late worrying about the real problem of our age: what do we replace the EU flag with on UK driving licences once Brexit is complete? Of course, I could churlishly chime in here that we could just redesign the licences any way […]
I’m not a huge fan of Boris, but the latest criticism of him is just weird
Tim Farron came out in suppport of the US airstrikes inn Syria. Yet when Boris, the UK foreign secretary lest we forget, backed this up by walking away from talks with Lavrov, Farron said that Boris had made a mistake; even been played for a fool. I don’t understand this position at all. Look, as […]
UKIP may be dying – but could a viable opposition party emerge to the right of the Tories?
Douglas Carswell wrote in the Guardian yesterday about a party of opposition emerging to take the place of Labour – one that would ideologically be positioned to the right of the Conservatives. Of course, this being Douglas, the whole thing sounds like another libertarian fantasy; that the Left will suddenly collectively think somehow that socialism […]
A week in the life of Labour demonstrates exactly why they’re on course to lose hundreds of seats next month
I spent most of yesterday in the town of Budva, on a beach that in high season hosts wealthy Russians but in April we had mostly to ourselves. From the view in Montenegro, the machinations of the Labour Party look even more ridiculous than they do from my usual ringside seat in Westminster. John McDonnell […]