“Not a government patsy” is one description of Sir Tim Barrow, shoehorned in at speed to the post of UK Ambassador to the EU. He’s a career Foreign Office diplomat, a “seasoned and tough negotiator” according to Downing Street; a “pragmatic problem solver” who is prepared to give the “unvarnished truth” … Read more
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s tortured relationship with PM Theresa May has ratcheted up another notch with his undiplomatic (and oh so true) comments about Saudi Arabia and the devastating effects of its military interference in the Yemen. He had been ruffled by being the butt of her jokes in speeches and has … Read more
The media, having got it monumentally wrong about Trump, is now in full burble-mode second-guessing the whys and what comes next. There is one sensible piece from Gary Yonge in the Guardian: “He [Trump] represents the incoherent, inchoate and ill-informed rage against the fallout of neoliberal globalisation that has found a home in … Read more
Politics everywhere seems to be logjammed and uninspiring (to put it mildly). In the UK, PM Theresa May’s steady pair of hands has morphed into – Is there actually a plan in there? Her Government chart, 13 July 2016 5.44pm London is certainly secretive with an 8th house Sun and control-freaky from all accounts … Read more
The Great Repeal Bill is Theresa May’s response to anxious UK citizens floundering in uncertainty about what comes next after the June 23rd referendum vote for Brexit. It will revoke the European Communities Act, given assent 17 October 1972, in preparation for the UK joining the then EEC on Jan 1 1973. The EC … Read more
The beleaguered UK Child Abuse Inquiry set up by Theresa May on 7 July 2014, announced at 4.40pm London, now on its fourth chairman, is in trouble again. The lead lawyer, Ben Emmerson, is ‘considering his position’ after an alleged dispute with Professor Alexis Jay, the new head, over the remit for the Inquiry. … Read more
Diane James, the new UKIP leader, 20 Nov 1959, is certainly an intense, tough, no-compromiser with a Sun Mars in Scorpio square Uranus, though perhaps a touch overly impulsive and forceful. She’s evidently a good media performer which makes sense of a confident Jupiter Mercury in Sagittarius sextile Venus in charming Libra. But there’s … Read more
The unwieldy juggernaut that is the EU has now fished out another arch-federalist to be a Brexit chief negotiator. The appointment of Guy Verhofstadt, ex Belgian PM, is sending shudders down UK spines, being shoehorned in for the European Parliament, to add to the woes of having Michel Barnier, the hardline French chief negotiator … Read more
Hardliner Jean Claude Juncker has given his state of the union address to the EU, saying it faces an existential threat and battle for survival against nationalism and populism; and aiming a few spears at the UK along the way. [Juncker is the most powerful office holder in the EU as President of the … Read more
The squabbling Brexiteers in the Cabinet are about the only sign of movement in the great unknown of the decoupling from the EU that lies ahead. PM Theresa May, from all accounts, will micro-manage the process but there’s no hint of the hows and whens. And apart from the odd fly-swat seems content to allow … Read more