I’m in Switzerland at present, learning all about how the British Leave vote screwed the Swiss. That’s not the only reason I’m here, just to be clear, but it’s an interesting aspect of being in Bern at the moment. As some of you may know, Switzerland had a referendum on whether to limit freedom of […]
The Chilcot report was the last thing the Labour Party needed at the moment
Labour, it is fair to say, is having some problems at present. Bitter infighting, a leader who has decided that parliamentary democracy and the rules that go with it are not his cup of tea, talk of a split – why not throw in the launch of a long awaited report on the Iraq war […]
As if Donald Trump running for president wasn’t bad enough…….enter these idiots
Everyone is going to have to face the fact that the leader of the free world after January 20 of next year could very well be Donald Trump. I have done what most people do when faced with a terrible reality: I’ve tried to rationalise it. I’ve told myself that perhaps the GOP will just […]
Could this person – not Trump, Hillary or Cruz – become the next president of the United States?
For those of you watching the US presidential primaries with horror/interest, here’s a question: why is John Kasich hanging in there still? He has almost 700 fewer delegates than Donald Trump, with only 733 of them left to play for in total. He’s almost out of mathematical contention – and he’s obviously out of any […]
Why are all the “leaders of the revolution” old white guys?
We are living through a period when the politics of outrage is all the rage. When large portions of the populace across the western world yearn – and sometimes even vote – for politicians who try and push the “Overton window” either to the left or right. Nigel Farage, Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn, Donald Trump […]
Here’s a situation that could even be worse for America than Trump as the Republican presidential nominee
Cruz beat Trump in Wisconsin this week, halting the runaway momentum of The Donald, at least for now. Trump is still reasonably ahead in terms of delegates – the question that looms into view now is what happens if he is unable to wrap up the nomination prior to the Republican Convention in July. If […]
Could Chilcot really stymie the Labour leadership coup?
It’s kind of an open secret in Westminster these days that Labour MPs whom after this week we could slip into the categories labelled “hostile” and “core group negative” (and perhaps those 17 MPs who didn’t even get categorised at all by Corbyn’s crew) are serious about attempting to defenestrate Jeremy after the EU referendum. […]
This is why all of our politicians aren’t very good these days
It is not hard to feel more than a little depressed about the current state of politics – or the current state of politicians. Last night I was reflecting about the possibility of Donald Trump becoming president of the United States of America, of Jeremy Corbyn being the only electoral option open in regards to […]
Migration crisis, summer 2016: how bad could it be?
The West has been in denial about Syria in many, many ways since the civil war there kicked off in the spring of 2011. In denial about its reasonable proximity, preferring to think of the conflict as being something happening far away, with no impact on Europe; in denial about the idea that because the […]
My bizarre experience with Russia Today
Sitting in the office yesterday afternoon, the phone rings. None of the guys are around so I pick it up. Someone with a very heavy accent on the other end asks for me by name. “Speaking.” “Oh. I was wondering if you’d like to be on our TV programme today.” “Which channel?” I thought she […]