Some Thoughts

After nearly every UK parliamentary by-election there are 24 hours of discussion in the commentariat about ‘the lessons to be learned’ and then it’s business as usual. Richmond Park has interest because the result is indeed an upset. One lesson needs to be drawn by Mr...

Barring an upset of a magnitude even greater than the shocks and surprises of 2016, the next President of France will be François Fillon. A veteran politician and former Prime Minister, his triumph in the Republican primaries was in itself a surprise to many...

These are the Left’s hard times. In the period since the Second World War popular support for democratic socialist parties in Europe was usually around the 40% mark. In France and Italy lower, because until the late 80s or 90s the left vote had to be shared with the...

Commentators refer euphemistically to our age as being ‘post factual’, with facts becoming irrelevant in our political discourse. There is nothing new in politicians being economical with the truth, but the use of the big lie as political propaganda dates from...

Politics can sometimes seem to be in a settled state for years. The successive Ascendancies of Mrs. Thatcher and Mr. Blair were in many ways times of great solidity; durable political structures with governments having gained clear mandates from the people, carrying...

I have nothing but respect and admiration for Hilary Benn, Ed Miliband, Anne Soubry, Ken Clarke and Nick Clegg in their campaign for a degree of democratic control over the Brexit mandate and subsequent negotiations. That the government and media are now calling up...

An unelected leader, by-passing parliamentary democracy, a junta divided, a devalued currency, a return to inflation with a vengeance, foreign investment frightened away, the balance of payments deficit at historic highs, crippling public and stratospheric private...

It’s here. With the photo prove...

Our Prime Minister has a way with words; ‘Brexit means Brexit’ – the acme of meaninglessness; ‘the Golden Era’, although inexplicably this has now slipped  out of usage; and ‘No running narrative on Brexit’, which is code...