I’m certain a lot of you reading this will not have ever played the game known as dodgeball; in fact, I would bet that if you have even heard of the game, it is only through the Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughan comedy motion picture of 2004, or through South Park. The game is thankfully easy to […]
Would May’s government really fall if the vote on the deal was lost?
Corbyn and McDonnell have long hoped the twists and turns of Brexit would not just end Theresa May’s premiership, but lead to another general election – one which they presume they’d win. This is now becoming a thing amongst Tory MPs as well. Tom Tugendhat, a rising star – as much as there are rising […]
What is with the pro-Russian thing on the Left? Where did it come from and where is it going?
Beyond any shadow of a doubt, the dissolution of the Soviet Union into a number of independent nation states, and with it a transition within Russia from a fully centralised socialist economy to a capitalist one, was carried out appalling poorly. Simplifying the story for brevity’s sake, the immediate post-Soviet government, for all intents and […]
Why is May trying to get all of the Withdrawal Bill amendments through in one day? It can be for one of these three reasons
There are many in Westminster questioning Theresa May’s decision to hold one day of debate, with all of the votes inclusive, on the 15 Lords amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill – and many feeling sure they have the answer to that question. Here are the only possible reasons she is doing it this way: […]
Just how “socialist” are Corbyn, his followers and his policies? And how much should that worry us all?
Corbyn, like the rest of the current British hard left, presents himself as incredibly radical at times, yet at others as essentially moderate in approach, depending on the intended audience. He gets away with this in much the same way Donald Trump manages to land his wild vacillations: by throwing everything at the public so […]
This is why anti-Semitism really runs so deep on the British Left – and why that makes it so hard to stamp out
On April 17th, 2018, after much discussion within the Labour Party on the subject, a debate was had in the House of Commons around the topic of anti-Semitism in British politics. And while it was officially about that, it was really about anti-Semitism within the Labour Party. There were several poignant speeches from Labour MPs […]
How Theresa May not promoting from within could lead to her downfall
Tom Tugendhat is giving a speech today about foreign policy. For those of you who do not know, Tugendhat is a Tory MP, elected at the 2015 general election. He is also chair of the Foreign Affairs select committee. It is a strange time for select committees in that they are staffed with a greater […]
Onward: why and how Brexit is the elephant in the room for liberal Tories
A new think tank called Onward will launch itself this evening. It’s pitched itself as a Tory think tank, but I warmly welcome it. I get the sense that they want to push the Conservative Party back towards a more classically liberal direction of travel, away from the “citizens of nowhere” shtick that has marred […]
Forget about Corbyn, I’m worried Theresa May is playing the long game now
I find myself often trying to figure out what Theresa May is doing these days. As in, what is the strategy she is pursuing exactly, not just in terms of Brexit, but everything else too. One must begin by recognising that most of her premiership is about Brexit and roll from there. Instead of laying […]
Labour Live flops: why you should never overestimate your popularity in politics
In case you are unaware, the Labour Party is holding a pop concert in north London (the party itself describes it as a “one-day festival of music, art and politics that brings together our incredible movement”) on June 16th. Hear The Magic Numbers, Rae Morris, and Owen Jones (not singing, but ranting, one assumes) and […]