If you’ve read this article in Sussex Bylines by Ginny Smith, you will know that what triggers me into action is someone attempting to silence or ‘pick’ on another, particularly a group. Last week Rishi Sunak told creatives to consider retraining. This is a man who worked for the investment bank Goldman Sachs after graduating, […]
On 1 October, the UK2070 Commission published its latest report, ‘Go Big Go Local; a new deal for levelling up the UK’. We can compare the ambitions of this report with the speech of the prime minister at the virtual Conservative Party conference and whether the government shares to any extent at all the idea […]
As Richard Corbett noted in his recent Yorkshire Bylines article – ‘The government’s attack on Magna Carta undermines the foundation of our constitution’ – the iconic Magna Carta is over 800 years old but still has analogies and resemblances to the present day. Boris Johnson himself has many similarities with reputedly the worst king in English […]
I’m feeling optimistic about the United States of America. Which is not something I have been able to write for some time. It also might seem a touch naïve when night after night we see people on our screens expressing their extreme loyalty to Donald Trump. I even saw a TV clip last week where […]
So Boris Johnson is in trouble with the Tory Party, principally for his handling of the covid restrictions, but also with a section of his party over the internal market bill. Will he stay or will he go? Will he go willingly, or will he be pushed? As Richard Corbett comments, this issue arises again […]
You might not think that you would ever settle down to read a short article on investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) procedures. You probably didn’t think the UK would Brexit. You might also be bitterly thinking of how the nation no longer wants to Brexit, but is now stuck with it. But please, stay with […]
On Monday, the second reading of the covert human intelligence sources (criminal conduct) bill passed in the commons. The bill, if it becomes law, would provide extra legal protection for agents of the state who commit crimes whilst undercover. Organisations such as Amnesty International and the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign have expressed their concerns […]
The International Bar Association (IBA) is a worldwide body, founded in 1947. It is the global voice of the legal profession. Bar Associations of lawyers from across the world are members. The IBA investigates national issues of distortion and miscarriage of justice. Respect for the law is a world concern. It was logical therefore that […]
If we in the West seem currently beset by terrible problems, spare a thought for those inhabiting post-Soviet space where currently social tensions, political conflicts and outright war exist in at least seven of the 15 former Soviet republics. In Belarus, the stand-off between Lukashenko’s increasingly thuggish administration and the opposition continues, with hundreds of […]
If ever there was a case for proper devolution – that is, a settlement with appropriate powers, decision-making, and accountability at either city or regional level – then news today that an announcement of further lockdowns for the North of England is expected within days has just made the strongest of cases. Despite gestures towards […]
Make sure they know about votefromabroad.org As a US citizen who has lived in Sheffield since 1999, I would like to make sure my fellow Yorkshire Yanks know that we are all LEGALLY ENTITLED to vote in the November election – which is probably the most important US election in our lives – and that there’s […]
Response to Richard Corbett’s recent article on Magna Carta and the Yorkshire barons Magna Carta is an iconic historic document, regarded by many as the foundation of the English constitution and the rule of law – in other words, the idea that the actions of governments (whether monarchies or democracies, and no matter how powerful) […]
As Johnson’s latest slogan was unveiled as ‘build back better,’ it fleetingly occurred to me that perhaps the Conservative Party does not comprehend that it has been running the country for the past ten years, arguably, well and truly into the ground. Therefore, this latest three-word slogan is potentially an attempt to distance itself from […]
People living in Yorkshire and across the UK are signing up to a national campaign to change the voting system for the benefit of voters everywhere, writes Sarah Hudspith. They’re passionate supporters of Make Votes Matter (MVM), the movement for proportional representation. MVM was started in 2015 by a small group of campaigners fired up […]
It is being reported that the EU is getting ready to call Johnson’s bluff. Bloomberg say the EU has no plans to offer any concessions to the UK ahead of next week’s 15 October deadline set by the prime minister. This follows Barnier’s visit to Berlin yesterday where he met with Angela Merkel and German […]
There is a widely held view that the North of England is a Brexit stronghold and indeed, in the EU referendum, just under 58 percent of voters in Yorkshire and Humber, 58 percent of voters in the North-East and 53 percent in the North-West voted Leave. The continuing enthusiasm for Brexit in the northern ‘red […]
Editor’s note: the original version of this article stated that Philip Davies MP helped his colleague Christopher Chope filibuster the upskirting bill. This was incorrect and Davies in fact supported the bill. We apologise for any upset this might have caused and have amended the article to reflect his record more closely. In my life […]
What’s your favourite charity? Oxfam? Amnesty International? Maybe you keep your spare change closer to home, helping out the Air Ambulance or the Big Issue seller. Either way, the financial accounts of Eton, Harrow or Yorkshire’s own Pocklington School are unlikely to be high on anyone’s list of deserving causes. Rattling a collection tin for […]
“If only the left could be more united” – a dozen columnists lament each year, whilst proposing Lib-Lab electoral pacts, progressive alliances, or a “new En Marche-style centre party to unite the left”. The political fragmentation of the British left is often cause for concern, particularly when faced with the monolith that is the Conservative […]
Note: This article has proved so popular that Yorkshire Bylines has now added it as a permanent feature and we will continue to update the index as the impact of Brexit begins to make itself felt across the country. See it HERE. As before if you know or hear of jobs being lost and attributed […]
What now for the American election, after the announcement that Donald Trump and his wife have tested positive for Covid-19? In many ways, this was a long time coming, given that Trump refused to wear a mask. But he was not alone in this among world leaders. He, Boris Johnson, and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, […]
The long-awaited flooding summit will convene at last on 8 October, following a concerted effort by Dan Jarvis, Barnsley MP and South Yorkshire mayor, and the Yorkshire Post. However, in what is a travesty for the rest of the region, the summit is for South Yorkshire and not the whole of Yorkshire. After being pressed […]
“I am your president of law and order” – Donald Trump, June 2020 After Jacob Blake, who was African American, was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests erupted. Donald Trump then visited the town, where he made it obvious he was on the side of the police: “I have to say this to the […]
As the trade talks continue in Brussels, Britain’s desperation to enter the so-called “tunnel” is becoming all too clear. The Guardian reports that the UK government has this week tabled no fewer than five new draft negotiating documents containing legal texts on fisheries, the level playing field, law enforcement and judicial cooperation, civil nuclear cooperation […]
The government wrote to voluntary sector organisations on 18 September to say it is restarting evictions of asylum seekers in England and will consult with the devolved nations before starting them again in the rest of the UK. As reported in the Independent, “Individuals who have claimed asylum and had their cases refused will begin […]
Kirklees Council has recently agreed to build a new library in Birkby, just outside Huddersfield. I cast my eyes over the council report and saw some positives on the environmental standards. It said they would incorporate an air-sourced heat pump and a sustainable urban drainage system, but the big downer was when the report proudly […]
Two political power heads, one ideology – both politicians possess a naïve and passive understanding of Covid-19, while testing and PPE issues have plagued both countries. Luckily, many state governors, as well as the first ministers of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, have had more freedom to enact their own policies that contradict their top […]
We all know of the Magna Carta, an iconic historic document, regarded by many as the key foundation of the rule of law in England and beyond. Its influence can be seen across the globe, a copy is enshrined in the US Capitol building in Washington, America, and it is even referenced in United Nations […]
On 28 September, Channel 4 News revealed that it had obtained a data cache used by Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, which contained evidence that the campaign had sought to use digital technology to deter 3.5 million black Americans from voting, by targeting them with tailored, negative ads. While digital tools and social media platforms […]
As the test and trace fiasco unfolds there is more unwelcome news: we may be two years off a mass vaccination programme for the whole country. The i reported yesterday that the mass rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine in the UK could be delayed for two years by the government’s failure to get to grips […]