London is not above the UK’s problems
So, last night London had it’s traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks at the South Bank and it featured the London Eye lit up in a way that vaguely resembled the European Flag (which actually...
Category: Politics
Kate Osamor and her council house
Recently the Labour MP for Edmonton, Kate Osamor, has come under criticism for still occupying a council property despite having a job that pays her a £77,000 annual salary. This is the same MP...
Yes, Brexit does have to come first
The past few weeks, I have noticed that there are two bitterly opposed camps when it comes to the importance of Brexit or other issues, particularly as regards the Labour party. One side seeks...
Stupid woman: sexist? Ableist?
Earlier this week Jeremy Corbyn was widely criticised in the media and on social media for supposedly mouthing "stupid woman" at Theresa May, the prime minister, during a parliamentary debate. Corbyn claims he actually...
Should this racist thug be behind bars?
A 29-year-old man who attacked a young boy because he thought he had bumped into his child's buggy while running for a bus received a suspended sentence (twelve months, suspended for two years) at...
Who’s really the “elite” here?
There was an anecdote I forgot to insert into my previous entry about the stereotype of the "liberal elite". Back in the early 2000s I was working as a van driver for a major...
Nothing ‘Priti’ about Patel’s ignorance
In an interview for today's Times, the Brexiteer Tory MP for Witham in Essex said that a government report, leaked to the Times, which said that the economic impact of a no-deal Brexit could...
What is and what isn’t ‘gaslighting’?
‘Gaslighting’ is a term coined fairly recently to refer to a kind of behaviour displayed by abusive individuals (particularly domestic and intimate-partner abusers) in which they use tricks to cast doubt on their victim’s...
Against the “liberal elite” media trope
A favourite claim of the alt-right, populist right, whatever you want to call them, is that their liberal opponents (whether they be in the Labour party, the Lib Dems themselves, the pro-European wing of...
Why the Daily Mail’s “volunteer army” should be resisted
Today, the Daily Mail launched a campaign to recruit a "volunteer army" to "help" the NHS starting next Spring, in conjunction with a "new social movement called Helpforce". The roles that volunteers are expected...
Is new FGM legislation really needed?
Last Friday a bill sponsored by Lord Berkeley, a Labour life peer (who was formerly a hereditary peer) to extend family law protection to girls deemed at risk of FGM, was derailed by Christopher...
So, you don’t want to call “Tommy Robinson” a thug…
This morning the Today programme on Radio 4 covered the story of Gerard Batten, the new leader of UKIP, hiring Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the former leader of the English Defence League, anti-Muslim agitator and self-styled...
Brexit, ignorance and lies
Last week, a draft agreement for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) was published; it was some 500 pages long and, as could have been predicted, really pleased nobody. It prompted two Cabinet...
On aesthetics and housing policy
Recently social media has been abuzz with comment on the new government housing 'tsar', Roger Scruton, previously best known as a philosopher and commentator for various magazines including the Spectator and New Statesman. His...
Why birthright citizenship should be defended
Last week it was announced that Donald Trump favoured ending the automatic American citizenship of anyone born in the USA, which a number of conservative politicians claimed was constitutional although it clearly violates the...
Pittsburgh and anti-Semitism in context
Last Saturday, a racist gunman attacked a synagogue near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and killed 11 worshippers, including four Holocaust survivors, a married couple and two disabled brothers in their fifties; also killed was a doctor...
‘Normalisation’ is real and has consequences
'Normalisation' is the idea that if the media gives too much exposure to extreme views or those without any basis in fact or science, they become the political mainstream and will come to be...
Truckers blocking London? Get real.
This morning I saw a longish interview on the BBC Breakfast show with some guy called Richard Tice, who was identified only as a spokesman for "Leave Means Leave". I didn't hear most of...
What really lies behind Trump, Brexit and “national populism”?
During the post Iraq War days (when Iraq was effectively if not in name under occupation), the pro-war blogger Norman Geras ran an article on what it called the Single Transferable Article About Iraq...
Transforming care? More like history repeating itself
Last night BBC's File on 4 programme was dedicated to how well the government's declared intention to get people with learning disabilities out of short-term mental health care and into the community where they...