To mark the final day in office of a unique prime minister, here are my definitive, expanded, 101 Johnson principles of government. 1 Accept responsibility for nothing. 2 Blame others for things that are your fault. 3 Take credit for things that aren’t your doing. 4 Preach unity and sow division. 5 Always speak with […]
Assuming Tim Shipman’s tweet is true, let’s do a quick #TheWeekInTory style tour of our (probably) new cabinet. It is a thrilling prospect. Liz Truss Margarine Thatcher. Gilead Commander’s wife who did three U-turns during her campaign, making Liz Truss a more effective opponent of Liz Truss than Rishi Sunak was. Is her own worst […]
Here’s a tribute with a difference to our outgoing prime minister, Boris Johnson. Well, I say tribute… a review, at least. Hum the tune of “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” as you read. The lyrics have been modified to reflect Boris Johnson’s “achievements” as Britain’s worst prime minister since World War II (according to a […]
Britain’s imminent energy Armageddon, and how to avoid it: in a long read, Andrew Levi warns that the scale and nature of the crisis is still widely misunderstood, and the measures needed to address it woefully underdeveloped. Brexit, a unique act of self-harm, worsens the UK’s situation. Without great good luck, only radical immediate action […]
We rarely publish unsolicited press releases but this is an important insight into the challenges farmers face. Truss or Sunak? When it comes to food, farming and the environment –what should be the top policy priority for the next PM? The race to become the UK’s next Prime Minister is almost over. As the two […]
Dear West Country Voices, Last week, Rishi Sunak said the government gave too much power to scientists during Covid lockdowns and was not honest about the potential downsides. His recollection differs from mine. I remember the anxiety I felt on a journey on a crowded Piccadilly line, on my way back to Dorset after a […]
The below is reproduced from a thread of tweets found here, published by a practising barrister. We are reproducing this here to share and raise awareness on this issue. Barristers who work in our criminal courts have voted for an all out strike on 5 September. This is historic, and necessary. A barrister explains why […]
The last, dark days of his premiership have shown that Johnson has only one care in the world: to salvage his own reputation, argues Tom Scott. When Boris Johnson insisted that he would stay on as a ‘caretaker’ prime minister, despite having lost the confidence of his own MPs, there were many who were sceptical […]
“Your government?! What a joke that is!” That was the sniggering reaction earlier this afternoon, albeit not in so many words, from our Danish neighbours in the Spanish village where we are spending a few weeks. OK, so it’s human nature to find it easier to recognise other people’s problems than to acknowledge our own, […]
What Emily Maitlis seemed to me to be saying in her Edinburgh lecture was that there are truths that need to be told that can be stated as facts without requiring rebuttal. A short thread to discuss this….. There is, for example, a phenomenon called climate change. No broadcaster need balance that opinion with the […]
Look, it has to be said, Mr. Rushforth is sorry about your poke bowl or whatever it is you have instead of a decent breakfast, but ever since word got out that a majority of Tory MPs, including our Prime (pork and cheese) Minister-in-waiting, Liz Truss, voted against amending a bill to stop water companies […]
I am fed up with Tory attacks on lawyers who defend people against injustice, discrimination, abuse and deportation using the laws parliament has created when they say nothing about those right-wing lawyers who spend their time attacking almost everything of value. This cover from The Mail today is typical of the attacks on lawyers. In […]
Danny Blanchflower had a longish discussion pn August 17 in which we agreed that the inflation that is dominating economic discussion about our economy at present is a passing phase. That does not mean it is not important. Far from it, in fact. But what it does mean is that when discussing inflation we have […]
A group committed to a crude, self-serving, brutal worldview, derived from the writings of 20th-century neoliberals, controls the cabinet and will likely continue to, says Andrew Levi. Its members are determined to transform Britain radically. They want a Hayek Brexit: a constitutional hijack. A road paved with bad intentions What are Charter Cities? And are […]
The Final Straw battle is won – but Pat’s fight against plastic pollution goes on, reports Jane Leigh. “It bothered me enough to make me decide I wasn’t just going to be cross, but actively try to do something about it.” Cornwall grandmother Pat Smith has made a name for herself as a plastic pollution […]
The ‘flash to bang time’ is one of those useful pieces of military shorthand that derives from the delay between the muzzle flash as a piece of artillery fires, and the bang as the shell arrives. From there, it has become an expression used to describe the delay between starting an activity and bringing it […]
The reserved Mr Rushforth is not the kind of person to blazon such things abroad, but his index finger is worn down to a stub and he is otherwise entirely used up and depleted, for he has been doing Liz Truss all week long. Mindful of her incipient pre-eminence to World Leader (as selflessly appointed […]
For many years now, I have had the habit of recalling Hiroshima on 6 August. Ironically, for people of faith this is the day when we recall the feast of Transfiguration, the occasion when Jesus on the mountain was revealed as divine in the presence of a couple of his friends. Over time this event […]
There are moments in the Comedy when Dante burns with righteous anger. One of them is his encounter with the simoniac popes. Strictly defined, simony is the buying or selling of spiritual gifts, offices or artefacts. A form of corruption, it’s named after Simon Magus, a first-century sorcerer who is said to have asked the […]
The Tory leadership election is offering the party faithful an image of a land about to flow with milk and honey, so good are the prospects arising from the so far unspecified benefits of Brexit. The reality is about as far from that is it can be. In reality, this morning we have news of […]
Politicians whose only response to desperate times is to resort to fantastical mythologising, scapegoating of imaginary enemies and suppression of protest should be seen as truly dangerous, argues Tom Scott. In June, the eminent historian of Nazism, Timothy Snyder, was interviewed by Ukraine’s Euromaidan Press. Professor Snyder, who has also written extensively about the threat […]
Truss has launched her so-called ‘plan for growth.’ This article shows that the likely impact of that plan is to redistribute wealth upwards at an increasing rate, impoverishing most of the UK population. The post-war period 1945-1980 was known as the Golden Age of Capitalism; the period from 1980-2015 was the age of Market Capitalism. […]
“Let me be clear.” It’s the politician’s go-to phrase when they’re in a tight spot and an indicator that a swerve, obfuscation or outright lie is incoming. And there we were again, as our Liz was being clear about her mess of a policy around regional pay. Truss is a serial offender at being “absolutely […]
Now that the ‘fellow of infinite jest’ is heading for the Prime Ministers’ Graveyard and others of his kind are vying for the crown, Mr Rushforth considers it only proper to offer this timely reminder to all concerned. “So shall you hearOf carnal, bloody and unnatural acts,Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters,Of deaths put on by […]
Dear West Country Voices, Is it true that a lot of the 160,000 Tory Party members who are now choosing our next PM will ‘spoil’ their votes by putting Boris Johnson’s name on their voting papers? The British people will not find out until after September 5, the closing date for this ‘private’ election. Parliament returns […]
A lot has been said recently about the fairness (or otherwise) of an electoral system that permits our next prime minister to be elected by the tiny minority of voters who happen to be members of a particular political party. Some have claimed that it would be more democratic if the final choice were left […]
How many people lived in fear in the summer of 1914, dreading what might happen? Come to that, what about 1939? People must have known that they were living on a precipice then, just as we are now. A disaster is about to happen, but there seems to be denial all around. The disaster that […]
Dear West Country Voices, Even if we aren’t remotely interested in sport, I think we can all rejoice unequivocally at the success of the England women’s football team in the European championships; it’s an achievement to be celebrated. I’m sure I’m not alone in being delighted at their win if only because they have done […]
On July 27 we hosted another of our informal discussions on a hot topic. There is nothing hotter right now than human rights, under assault from this government on multiple fronts and via multiple bills. We take our rights for granted at our peril. Key takeaways from our panel – Cal Roscow of Best for […]
The UK Government has a Bill of Rights bill which (at the time of writing) is in the Commons for its second reading. Many civil liberties commentators have expressed alarm about the Bill, suggesting that it risks watering down the rights of UK citizens. Are they right to be concerned about the Bill, or are they over-reacting? They are […]