I am becoming increasingly convinced that Marine Le Pen will win the French presidential election in April of next year. Part of this feeling is undoubtedly Brexit/Trump echoes – but it’s more than that. One, the mood in France has been affected by the terrorism inflicted on it over the last couple of years and […]
How it is humorous to watch previously pro-House of Lords politicians backtrack on the Upper House
Back in 2012, I worked for an organisation on the forefront of trying to help the then live Clegg Bill to change the Upper House from the current appointed House of Lords into an elected second chamber become law. So I was in the front row for all of the speechifying done by MPs around […]
Foreign nationals in prisons – an issue more of the moment than you might think
Across Europe, 21.7% of the prison population resides in cells not located in their country of origin. This ranges greatly from country to country. Luxembourg, perhaps understandably given it is a very small country in the middle of Europe, has a prison populace that is mostly foreign – 72.7% of all those incarcerated in Luxembourg […]
I still don’t understand Labour’s Brexit policy. Here’s my best attempt.
When Keir Starmer was made shadow secretary for Brexit, I was pleased. Finally, Labour would get serious about the topic of our times. Yet while Starmer has been impressive in the House, his appointment has still not been enough to halt confusion in regards to the Labour Party and its approach to Brexit. The most […]
If the Supreme Court upholds yesterday’s ruling, it will actually be the best thing imaginable for Theresa May
The government were disappointed by the High Court ruling yesterday that stated parliament needs to be the one to trigger Article 50, not the government via Royal Prerogative. While May needs to make as big a show of disappointment about this in public as possible, in private she may be very glad about the decision […]
It isn’t the “Westminster elites” who are trying to keep the UK in the customs union – it’s these folks
In the wake of the whole Nissan thing, we’ve had Labour asking for transparency on “the deal” and Nigel Farage, predictably, crowing about how the dreaded “political elites” are going to “betray Brexit” by keeping the UK in the European customs union. While I applaud Labour asking about the Nissan deal in the abstract, it […]
Why I wish there was a pro-Heathrow candidate standing in Richmond Park
I suppose I shouldn’t care so much about this given I don’t live in Richmond, but I wish there was a pro-Heathrow candidate standing in the by election, now to be held on December 1st. It feels wrong that there isn’t. Labour could do the honourable thing and run a pro-Heathrow candidate. There are plenty […]
The Heathrow problem and how it may foreshadow Brexit
The decision to approve Heathrow airport has been “taken” by the government. The reason for the quotations in the last sentence is what has me worried – not about airport expansion but rather about Brexit. The cabinet has decided as a whole that Heathrow should be allowed to expand. Only there is apparently still a long […]
Does the Brexit process pose an unavoidable constitutional crisis?
The answer is probably. There are ways in which Brexit avoids extreme constitutional difficulties, but they are becoming trickier to spot. First there is the nations problem. This has been overplayed in the media, but is still a real issue. Putting aside Scottish independence concerns, it appears that it’s already nailed on that Northern Ireland […]
This was the problem with the EU referendum – and how that problem led us to where we are now
There’s been a lot of talk about the nature of democracy of late in Britain. It has been shaped by the idea that to oppose the referendum result is inherently undemocratic – it’s the will of the people, goddamnit, is heard a lot now, particularly from the Conservative side of the House. What it has […]