I write about Jeremy Corbyn a lot, pretty much all of it negative in the extreme, so I get a lot heat on Twitter from his supporters. I want to be clear right off that I’m not complain about this fact – I have to be able to take as good as I give in this […]
Can we now lay to rest Corbyn’s image as an “honest broker” once and for all?
When Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party, despite not liking his politics I thought it would be genuinely exciting to have a real maverick heading the opposition. I figured having someone who spoke their minds freely, a sort of Farage of the Left, would introduce an interesting dynamic into British politics. Not that […]
“Real fight starts now” – the words to be etched on Labour’s tombstone
At least that’s over. The Article 50 Bill has now passed through the House of Commons with a massive 300+ majority. It now goes to the House of Lords where, whatever happens, at least Jeremy Corbyn will not be intimately involved. I want to start by saying that I do not want the rest of […]
Review: a Tarantino double bill, “Hateful Eight” and “Deathproof”
I still vividly recall seeing “Pulp Fiction” for the first time in the cinema. I was 21 years old and had walked in there with high expectations; I exited with my head spinning, thinking I’d seen one of the greatest movies of all time. I say this as a preface to make note of the fact that I […]
Another day, another terrible day for the Labour frontbench
This is getting old. Just once, I’d like to be able to say that the frontbench of Labour had done something well. Actually, I won’t even set my standards that high – I’d settle for principled these days. But alack, you all know what I’m about to say. Sigh. I was in Portcullis House yesterday […]
Labour are now in the odd position of needing May to fabulously succeed – their future depends on it
During the 2010-2015 parliament, Ed Miliband’s Labour was in the slightly uncomfortable position of wishing the Coalition’s cuts bit hard enough to get people to reconsider their vote last time around; in other words, they had to hope that the people who usually support them were in line to suffer enough to repent. But political […]
Why any attempt by Labour to form a “progressive alliance” is doomed to failure
News reaches us that the Labour Party are trying to come to some sort of arrangement with both the Lib Dems and the Greens in Stoke Central in an effort to keep Paul Nuttall out of parliament. This tells you that Labour really do think they will lose the seat to UKIP in a few […]
Given the makeup of parliament and the Labour leadership, I don’t see the point in the EEA legal challenge
I have written on the topic of Labour and the Brexit proceedings a great deal lately, so I’ll try and make this one brief. Even I’m getting sick of talking about it; yet given how important this is for what remains of progressive politics in this country, it is still vital to catalogue every detail. […]
Why is John McDonnell still pretending that Labour are fighting against a “reckless Brexit”?
John McDonnell was on the Today programme this morning, discussing Labour’s position on Brexit. Why he agreed to do this is unknown (Diane Abbott, showing her much greater political nous, steered clear of both the vote and the aftermath), but there he was, trying to make sense of Labour’s position on Brexit. He, like everyone […]
Yesterday’s second reading of the Article 50 bill was both sad and bizarre. How did we get here?
If I were Gina Miller, I’d want my time and effort back. The courts ruled in favour of parliament having a say in the triggering of Article 50, only for parliament to give over one of the most tepid, passive sessions in its long history. It were as if the House of Commons was having […]