Polish journalist and lorry-driver Tomasz Oryลski translated this short piece about Ukrainian truckers who are still going into the war zone with humanitarian help. Originally written for a Polish trucking magazine, we are very glad to be able to publish Filip’s piece here. It carries this important message: “By the way, as I was talking […]
In the first of a series of interviews with politicians, environmentalists, campaigners and creatives in our region, Anthea Simmons spoke with Ben Bradshaw at his constituency office on 4 March 2022. We got stuck into Russia immediately. Way back in 2016, Ben was one of the very first to question the role of the Russians […]
This article is a timely reminder of the politics of hate and division at a time when our own government moves to remove or dilute our human rights and as the Home Office goes through endless contortions to dehumanise and avoid helping the refugees from conflict in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria; and, of course, as Russia […]
Dr Sarah Wollaston left the Conservative Party to join the LibDems, leaving a rock-solid seat-for-life for some lucky Tory. The Conservatives needed a new candidate for the election that was to come later that year. Would they pick another local candidate, known in the community? Anonymous reveals the ‘interesting’ selection process. In 2019 the fate […]
๐ช๐ข๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฃ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ช๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐, Jon Danzig reminds us. Today – 8 March – is International Women’s Day, which for more than 100 years has celebrated the economic, cultural, political, and social achievements of women across the world. And 100 years is about how long it took women in the United […]
Tom Scott investigates the role played by the โwhataboutistsโ. If, like me, you have a lot of left-wing friends on social media you may well have seen posts from some of them asking what right people in the West have to condemn Putinโs war crimes in Ukraine, when western countries have themselves perpetrated war crimes […]
Editor’s note: the original source was Christo Grozev of Bellingcat: Last night, an alleged FSB whistle-blower letter was published that damned Russia’s military performance in Ukraine and predicted a disaster for the RU in the next weeks and months. I wasn’t sure if it was authentic – as Ukraine had previously leaked fake FSB letters […]
A richly scatological analysis of the parlous state of our domestic politics by multi-award-winning author, A L Kennedy. This article first appeared as Handgranaten gefรผllt mit Dummheit in Sรผddeutsche Zeitung I know, itโs mystifying. Popo, our killer clown, the dog turd on our national mantelpiece โ why is he still Prime Minister? The answers to that question reveal […]
You will have heard every minister interviewed in the media or standing up in parliament claim that we are doing more than any other country, that we are at the forefront doing everything we can for refugees, that we are leading the world in standing up to Putin and his horrific, illegal war. We aren’t…and […]
A large crowd gathered in Exeter’s Bedford Square to attend a pro-Ukraine vigil organised by Exeter City Council’s leader, Phil Bialyk. Phil has family in the Ukraine and during the course of his speech he spoke to his brother in Ukraine. Although we could not catch his words, that was one of many heart-rendingly emotional […]
I have written today about the government’s callousness towards Ukrainian refugees, cloaked in a nicey-nicey, flag-sporting charade of fake sympathy. The reality is that there is NO effort being made to offer sanctuary to men, women and children fleeing the war. Patel and now Torbay’s Kevin Foster have been gaslighting the British public, pretending that […]
Dear Sheryll Murray, I hope that you are well in these difficult times. I feel so utterly powerless to do anything so tragic.You, however, have power as part of our parliament. Please use your power to maximize help for Ukraine. I am very concerned and frightened by how much our country is mixed up with […]
This is a government that relies for its survival on big promises, three-word soundbites, gesture politics and the exploitation of situations it judges will boost its (flagging) popularity. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no exception. Set aside the huge story of Russian funding and influence in the Conservative party and the compromised approach to sanctions, […]
These words were spoken by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, on national TV on Wednesday evening, , 23 February 2022, hours before the start of the Russian invasion. The FT’s Max Seddon reported: โThe first two minutes of that speech were in Ukrainian. Zelensky updated the nation on the state of emergency and his contacts […]
This is Alexandr Dugin, a Russian philosopher, strategist, political analyst and author of a several books including Foundations of Geopolitics (1997), and who in 2014 called for the eradication of the Ukrainian identity, following disappointment that Putin did not come to the aid of pro-Russian insurgents. As I highlight some key elements of the book […]
Steve Bray will be familiar to anyone who watches the news or current affairs programmes. His anti-Brexit, pro-democracy protests have upset the government so much (touching endless raw nerves) that Priti Patel even tried to write a specific clause in the Policing Bill to outlaw his presence. You might wonder what he does each day, […]
Expressions of support for Vladimir Putin by various leading figures of the Brexit movement, and their connections with his mafia state, are coming back to haunt these โuseful idiotsโ, writes Tom Scott. In 2017, I worked with the Green MEP Molly Scott Cato on a website that examined the motives and connections of various leading […]
And we start with a two for one offering! Ed Dear Sheryll It seems you plan on keeping your loyalty to a liar, cheat and general criminal, who broke the laws that he himself set and then refused to do what you could bet your bottom dollar he would ask any other PM to do […]
Yesterday, in a speech of breathtaking hypocrisy, the prime minister stated an intention to “sanction Russian individuals and companies of strategic importance to the Russian state [in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine]; and we will make it impossible for them to raise finance on the London capital markets; and we will open […]
Dear West Country Voices, Boris Johnson has been a good thing for this country, and no, don’t worry, I haven’t gone totally insane after years of gaslighting and government lies, so please hear me out. He has been so awful that he has finally and fully shown that the current parliamentary system based on “gentleman’s […]
The European Union is based on the tripod of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, said the EUโs first vice president, Frans Timmermans, in this moving video. โAnd through European history we know that if we abandon one of the legs of the tripod, the whole tripod will topple.โ This is a lesson […]
Chris Grey, who blogs about Brexit and related matters, is someone well worth following. A recent post explored the fascinating links between the โpartygateโ scandals currently engulfing the Johnson administration and the ideas and individuals that drove Vote Leave. It raised again a central paradox of current politics โ that while Brexit and populism as […]
โHeโs not a complete clownโ says PMโs new press chief’. No. Boris Johnson is a completely dangerous clown. Boris Johnson is โnot a complete clownโ, his new communications director Guto Harri said this month adding, โheโs a very likeable character.โ Really? I would say instead that Boris Johnson is a completely dangerous clown, and nothing […]
Our latest edition has a focus on democracy and human rights. What follows is the rationale for putting this front and centre of our efforts to reach beyond the bubble and tell people what the mainstream media will or may not about the relentless undermining of these two vital pillars of a healthy society by […]
A summary from All the Citizens, a not-for-profit set up in the midst of the global pandemic โ with a mission to use impact journalism to hold government and big tech to account.ย The Judicial Review & Courts Bill went through a 2nd reading in the House of Lords on 7 February. In a powerful […]
The dismissal of (eg) John Major’s comments, on the grounds that he is a remainer, is one more reminder of how the shadow of the Brexit vote still casts a shadow over our politics. It hardly needs saying that there are many reasons to be concerned about the Johnson government. They have been obvious for […]
Dear Sheryll Finally, Brexit has created a job: quite a pointless and poisoned chalice of a job, Brexit Opportunities minister, due to the fact that there are clearly no benefits, but a job nonetheless. I am sure that will warm the hearts of all of those previously employed people who are on the breadline since […]
Dear Conor Burns, Yesterday I was shocked by the footage of Keir Starmer and David Lammy mobbed by hostile far-right thugs quoting Boris Johnson’s Jimmy Savile smears from Hansard โ and that’s saying something, because yesterday was also the day I was told my beloved father only has weeks to live and asked to sign […]
This same letter could be sent to the majority of Conservative MPs in our region who have failed to condemn Johnson’s appalling lie. Ed Dear Sheryll The shocking and disgusting attacks on the leader of the opposition by far right extremists today are the direct result of the widely debunked fake news that our so-called […]
