This was not the election we thought it would be. An election night that was supposed to be a walkover for the Democrats, not just for the White House but also for the Senate and individual elections at state level, has instead become tortuous and drawn out. Even if – as seems likely – Biden […]
One of the last legacies of the period of military dictatorship in Chile is about to disappear. Last week, in a landslide referendum victory, 78 percent of Chileans voted to rewrite the Pinochet-era constitution. This comes a year after the outbreak of mass protests, sparked off by demonstrations in Santiago against rising public transport fares. […]
It should not have come to this. The European Union had hoped a future trade deal with the UK would have been signed and sorted by mid-October, when EU leaders were meeting at a European Council in Brussels. But that deadline, like so many others in the Brexit process, came and went; meaning EU negotiator […]
How long can the prime minister’s senior adviser cling on? There is a growing rebellion in Tory ranks against the latest lockdown measures, with leading Tories including Sir Desmond Swayne and Iain Duncan Smith in the vanguard. Even the chair and vice-chair of the powerful backbench 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady and Charles Walker, have […]
There is a golden thread that passed through the life of David Shutt who passed away on Friday 30 October 2020, aged 78, following a short illness. Golden because that was the colour in which he fought his many elections as a Liberal and then a Liberal Democrat and golden because of the bright and […]
As America enters the week of the most important presidential election in living memory, it is poignant to consider the changing face of that great nation and, how this may play out in the election itself. America is not as white as it used to be and this could affect the outcome. In general, non-white […]
With the US presidential election tomorrow, and millions of votes already cast through early voting and absentee ballots, in an election cycle fraught with fears about voter suppression and the weakening of American democracy, a speech given by Democratic candidate Joe Biden that centres democracy at home and abroad has taken on greater meaning. On […]
Hello friends, I’m here today to speak about the shameful and disgraceful and very shameful and utterly disgraceful issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party and how I had nothing to do with it. Any political party, workplace, church, synagogue, fascist rally or average household in Islington will have its fair share of antisemitic racists. […]
The news that a cross-party group of MPs has launched a legal action against the British government’s refusal to investigate Russian interference in UK democratic processes should come as no surprise. Nor should the fact that the group includes no Tory MPs, since they and the party have benefited from an awful lot of Russian money. […]
Dr Anna Jerzewska is the founder and director of Trade & Borders, a consultancy business advising on the complex issues of international trade. On Thursday she held an all-day webinar with customs authorities from Belgium, Holland, France and Ireland. Among the issues discussed were the traffic management problems raised by Brexit and for which […]
An attack ad was recently aired against Chancellor Rishi Sunak, criticising him for his wealthy lifestyle, hedge fund background, and public relations team. It was warmly welcomed across the Twitter left. This may not be the most popular opinion, but I think that it was a bad attack, mostly because it was short-sighted. Attacking a […]
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis, the man responsible for our withdrawal from the EU between 2016 and his resignation in 2018, has revealed once again that he simply does not understand Brexit. He is, as my mother would have said, as dim as a Toc-H lamp (Google it). The Haltemprice and Howden MP tweeted almost […]
Classics is often at the heart of Boris Johnson’s political brand, and particularly his admiration of the orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. In April of this year, he got in trouble with the historian Dame Mary Beard after misquoting the statesman, and previously he has referred to his use of Ciceronian rhetorical techniques. Comparing ancient […]
With just a week to go until Election Day, things don’t look good for President Trump. His approval rating has still never topped 50 percent (the first president since polling began to have a continually negative approval rating) and he looks set for an historic loss against his Democratic rival Joe Biden. But this narrative […]
If election history has taught us anything, it is probably to not blindly believe the polls. Currently, Joe Biden, the democrat candidate, is leading in national and state polls, and is set to do well in swing states like North Carolina, Iowa and Michigan. But polls will not win Biden the presidency, and there are […]
Businesses in the UK are being urged to prepare for Brexit, but the misinformation peddled by the leave campaign in 2016 and since, is making the government’s task that much harder. Soothing words from the prime minister claiming we will “prosper mightily” after a no-deal Brexit, have led many to think that trading on World […]
It is very difficult to predict whether the British government will be able to adopt any coherent position within the final Brexit negotiations that will be acceptable to both the EU and the Conservative Party. There are distinct political attractions for Boris Johnson in allowing a ‘no deal’ Brexit to occur by default, simply because […]
City editor Alex Brummer awarded the first Yorkshire Bylines ‘Turner’ prize Of all the newspapers in Britain, the Daily Mail, under brooding editor Paul Dacre, was front and centre of Brexit. Over the years it pumped a lot of malicious anti-EU invective into the debate, stirring up totally irrational myths about Britain somehow being subjugated […]
Today it was announced that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is due to update the Job Support Scheme, which replaces furlough in November. This will give support to Tier 2 businesses that have seen demand collapse without being formally required to shut. But as Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy […]
Johnson’s deadlines come and go like ships that pass in the night. There have been so many that the rules of supply and demand have reduced them to the political equivalent of junk bonds – worthless. The passing of the latest one last week was another sure sign that Johnson is not willing for the […]
One of the things about democracy is that you have to accept the result when you lose. We all know that Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election in the United States and Boris Johnson’s Conservatives won the 2019 general election in the UK. Except, of course, for one tiny little point. In both of […]
Today, speaking in the House of Lords second reading of the internal market bill, my fellow Green peer Jenny Jones will be focusing on the aspect of the bill that has attracted the most attention – the insy, teeny, tiny (as the government would have you believe), breaking of international law. The rule of law […]
It used to be a Mexican standoff but now its nearer to home – in Manchester. Leaders in Greater Manchester, including Mayor Andy Burnham, have rejected a move to England’s tier 3 alert level (very high). At the heart of their resistance are demands for better financial support from central government. And as ever, it […]
A local campaign group, Sheffield for Europe, has complained that Miriam Cates, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, is refusing to engage with her constituents, and not responding to their queries and concerns. Mary Seneviratne, chair of Sheffield for Europe, said: “An MP is elected to represent all their constituents, and should be available to meet […]
From Boris Johnson’s statement on Friday we can see the developing narrative that the government intends to adopt in the coming days, as Brexit reaches its unhappy denouement. The prime minister said that from the outset we wanted “nothing more complicated than a Canada-style relationship” – shorthand for CETA, the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement signed […]
As the UK and the EU edge fractiously towards a ‘thin’ free trade deal, with varying levels of suspicion, mistrust and rancour on both sides, it might be a good time to step back and take a longer-term view of Brexit.
Dear Prime Minister, I thought I’d write to you, sooner rather than later, as I’ve little confidence of your remaining a resident of number 10 for too much longer. First let me reassure you as to the purpose of my correspondence. The last time I wrote to a sitting prime minister was just before I […]
The prime minister’s latest deadline came and went yesterday with no free trade agreement in sight and the resolution agreed by the European Council not only ignored it completely but called on the UK to “make the necessary moves to make an agreement possible”. Last night his spokesperson at No 10 said Mr Johnson, “noted […]
Yesterday was D Day, the deadline that Prime Minister Boris Johnson set for an agreement with the European Union (EU) on trade. But as reported in the Huffington Post on Wednesday, it seems that it has now slipped, leaving that absolute immoveable deadline as – well – moveable. Apparently, Johnson will make an assessment after […]
As we head for a second lockdown here in Yorkshire it’s hard not to reflect on the abysmal decision by the government to brief details of the lockdown to national newspapers before putting the measures to local leaders, or even members of parliament. Just when the government needs the North most, Boris Johnson appears to […]