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
Ominous signs that an undead Boris Johnson may bounce back from his ignominious dismissal last year to joust for high office again are causing ripples of alarm. He’s being punted by the far right ERG, concerned that a ‘leftist’ Rishi Sunak may renege on hard-line Brexit policies. Since he withdrew, having been able to … Read more
Jair Bolsonaro, the defeated far-right Brazilian president, lurking in Florida is facing calls for his extradition after his supporters stormed the Supreme Federal Court and Congress buildings. A pro-Trumper and mutual backslapper, he’s described as a populist with fascist tendencies and he’s another of the Jupiter in hard aspect to Neptune types and was … Read more
The witless, uncharismatic Kevin McCarthy is struggling to gain his party’s votes to replace Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker with the Republican Party in disarray. His problem appears to lie with the Freedom Caucus, the most far-right and conservative bloc of the GOP, despite him having been – and remaining – a fervent pro-Trumper. … Read more
Labour and the Lib Dems, the opposition and third largest of UK parties, both look upbeat in 2023 with smatterings of success in 2024 or 2025 but not good beyond which seems odd given the sinkholes the Conservatives have created for themselves. The Liberal Democrats, 3 March 1988, have a lucky, confident, successful tr … Read more