A new book by David Boyle entitled Scandal: How Homosexuality Became a Crime has just been published. It is about how a sex scandal in Dublin in 1884 led directly to homosexuality becoming a crime across the UK (sodomy was illegal already, but not any and all homosexual activity until the amendment passed in 1885 off the […]
Why the word “moderate” is so powerful in politics
I remember when I became totally convinced that Barack Obama was going to be re-elected president of the United States for a second term: it was in January, 2012, and I watched Newt Gingrich try and insult his rival for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney, by calling him “a timid Massachusetts moderate”. Every word in […]
Ted Cruz and Canada: why the Obama “birthers” thing has me more confused than ever
During the almost seven years of Barack Obama’s presidency of the United States of America, various people on the right of American politics have repeatedly tried to assert that he isn’t fit for office because he was, according to them, not born in the US but rather in Kenya. This has to do with a […]
If Labour take an anti-NATO position, it will be even worse for them electorally than an anti-Trident one
Post-reshuffle and post-Maria Eagle, Corbyn has no one involved in Labour’s defence review that he doesn’t see eye to eye with. The near-future of Labour defence policy now rests on the shoulders of Emily Thornberry and Ken Livingstone. If that didn’t give you a little shudder, nothing will. The latter of those two illustrious figures appeared on the […]
The odds of these things happening in 2016
After 2015 produced unpredictability on an epic scale, making guesses at what will happen this year has become tricky sport. So instead I have decided to look at a few possible 2016 events and gauge their likelihood. Wish me luck: 1. Corbyn ending this year on the backbenches There has been bold crystal ball gazing […]
My back pages: reflections on Hungary, Britain, liberal democracy and the European Union
The following is an original draft of an essay I did for the European Liberal Forum book, “Member State Violation Against Democratic Principles – What Can the EU Do?”, detailing my experiences in Budapest in the summer of 2015. As 2016 commences, I thought I might share it with you. In June of 2015, I […]
How the 2008 crash was the perfect political mirror image of the fall of the Berlin Wall
I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall very clearly. I was a few weeks shy of my seventeen birthday, and this momentous event felt as if it came out of nowhere. The Cold War had been the backdrop to my entire life up until that point; the idea that it was ending seemed unimaginable. […]
What Stop the War and Momentum need to realise is the rest of us are only trying to deal with reality
I was having another look at Isaac Deutscher’s outstanding biography of Trotsky over the weekend (having not peeked at it since my late teens) and was reminded again of the chaos surrounding the USSR in the period post-civil war and pre-Stalin. Essentially, Lenin and his inner circle realised something pretty awful: socialism doesn’t really work. Like, […]
Why people like Donald Trump are a real problem for liberalism in more ways than one
After Donald Trump said what he said about banning Muslims from America…..actually, as a point of order, let’s see exactly what Trump did say: “We need a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States while we figure out what the hell is going on.” The key phrase being “total and complete shutdown”, […]
Why I’m glad Tim Farron supports the Syrian airstrikes
The headline will come as no surprise to some of you who will know I have been arguing for intervention in Syria since shortly after the civil war there kicked off in 2011. I saw early on the dangers of an unstoppable, sectarian war in Syria, and although I obviously can’t claim to have foreseen […]