Why is Labour’s leader, Sir Keir Starmer, “trimming” his party’s position on so many issues, and why is the response to last week’s by-elections (20 July 2023 – when Labour won a stunning victory in Selby & Ainsty and ran The Tories close in Uxbridge & South Ruislip), to trim even further?
Read more…What does it take to bring down a Prime Minister and what does that say about our political system?
Read more…I have struggled to understand this Prime Minister’s apparent mad rush to remove all COVID mitigations in a few days time. It appears irrational and defeatist.
It has struck me however that we have to allow for the possibility that he is not mad, irrational and divisive but is acting rationally in accordance with information that he has, but which he is choosing to not share with us – thinking that his usual bluster and boosterism will get him through the gathering storm.
Read more…There are numerous conspiracy theories about COVID from it all being a hoax to it being very real and a means to get us all microchipped.
But there is a simpler conspiracy – at least as far as the UK and probably the US are concerned.
The government has put those of us in England back into “lockdown”. It appears that the scientists have become apoplectic about the exponential growth in COVID cases and the impact on the NHS. Finally the Prime Minister has had to take notice after rejecting their advice for weeks.
And yet this is Lockdown Lite. So what is the purpose of this leaky lockdown?
Read more…In March last year (2019) I drafted but did not publish a post trying to get my mind around what one should do if totally convinced that the government is seriously misgoverning the country. Does your duty as a citizen over-ride your duty to our (imperfect) democracy?
I did not publish because I was troubled by the conclusions that I thought I was coming to and could not answer the challenge as to whether I would follow my own prescription.
The concerns that caused me to start drafting still remain. In addition we now have a government that is so seriously incompetent that fellow citizens are dying.
Read more…The Negotiations around the future relationship between the UK and the EU (I don’t think I can dignify them with a title such as “trade relationship”) seem to be heading to the buffers.
This provokes several what if scenarios which it may be interesting – even scary – to chew over.
Read more…We all are meant to like a good party – but we all know some atrocious ones. Last December (12 December 2019 to be precise) we saw the impact of a number of lousy parties. A rough headcount:
The problem with political parties is that they are groups of approximately like-minded people. And there lies a problem – for our politics and ultimately for the country.
Read more…My previous post, Prepping in COVID UK, was about the low level prepping that I and others have done to enable us to shield during the COVID pandemic. Similar precautions may also help should there be significant supply chain disruption following a no-deal exit from Brexit transition.
There is a further depth of prepping to explore – more in line with the sorts of prepping that some Americans do. As I said last time this feels a bit tin hattish and conspiracy theorist. But the last few years have shown that the comfortable (for most) political environment that we have lived in for many decades is not immutable. So some thought should be given to the darker consequences of prolonger extensive disruption.
Read more…
Outside the marginals 