The pendulum swing of ‘progressive’ condemnation of disbelievers in their cause has run into another buffer over the backlash against banks closing accounts because they dislike the political views of a client. A highly critical No 10 has put in motion legislation to impose on banks free speech duties otherwise they could lose their licence. … Read more
Boris Johnson flouncing off in a narcissistic rage, spewing bile and blame in all directions, appears to have shot his bolt with only a few die-hards still bleating his cause. There will be three byelections when Tories’ polling numbers are down but the party on present evidence looks unlikely to tear itself apart. Though … Read more
Is the Conservative Party about to tear itself apart? Rishi Sunak held hostage by the far-right has no real authority over his Cabinet, caving in to pressure over the disastrous Suella Braverman, facing witch-hunt/ stitch-up yowls over the continuing Covid-party investigation of Boris Johnson. The electorate is distancing itself from the Brexit vote and is … Read more
Sinn Féin has further established itself as Northern Ireland’s largest party, beating projections to take 144 of the 462 council seats in local elections and securing control of six of the 11 councils. The DUP was beaten into second place though is reckoned not to be down and out. It has been boycotting the power-sharing … Read more
Dominic Raab, UK Deputy Prime Minister, has been forced to resign after an inquiry found he had acted with “unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct” in one of his previous posts. Despite accepting that he had to go, in a typically bull-necked response he attacked the inquiry as “Kafkaesque”, suggested certain civil servants were snowflakes who … Read more
The Iraq attack twenty years ago was an arrogant folly of gargantuan proportions which set in motion a cascading avalanche of ruinous effects across the Middle East and beyond. With no American plan for rebuilding after the defenestration of Saddam, the country fell prey to chaos, conflict, corruption and sectarianism. Iran was emboldened, the Islamic … Read more
A hapless politician seeks to rehabilitate his damaged reputation by writing a puff memoir of his days overseeing the UK pandemic response. The journalist he picked as co-writer has form for pulling deep, dark secrets out of the closet (see wiki) and despite a confidentiality contract has released 100,000 of his What’s App messages to … Read more
Will Rishi Sunak’s nerve hold over an agreement with Brussels to fix the Northern Ireland protocol or will he cave into “the malcontents, the reckless, the wreckers” of the DUP and right-wing, Eurosceptic ERG in his own party. That is Keir Starmer’s description. Columnist Matthew Parris, once in the Tory inner circle and now a … Read more
The stench of decay if not advanced death watch beetle and rampaging termites are afflicting the UK Conservative Party and government. Staggering from a litany of Boris Johnson misjudgements, misspeaks and dodgy financial dealings with yet more emerging vis a vis the new BBC Chairman and a potential conflict of interest as Boris negotiated a … Read more
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister since 2017, once revered as a progressive and a breed apart, a counter to populist, reactionary politics of Trump, Brexit, Boris et al, is to step down saying she has run out of steam. In recent times she has been increasingly criticised for her hard-line Covid policies as New … Read more