If you didn’t watch the Johnson lie/excusathon, here’s a potted summary. Disappointingly, the King James Bible did not spontaneously combust at the touch of the former PM’s mendacious fingers, but the smell of burning boxer shorts was definitely in the air. The Privileges Committee’s questioning, under Harriet Harman’s quietly authoritative chairmanship, was a model of […]
In 2002, Theresa May famously said to the party faithful, “Yes, we’ve made progress, but let’s not kid ourselves. There’s a way to go before we can return to government. … You know what some people call us: the nasty party.“ Since regaining power, however, it does not seem as though the Conservative Party has been […]
Thousands of words have been said in reply to Lineker. It interests me that hardly anyone has looked closely at what terms and phrases were being used in Germany in the 1930s to see if they match (or not) what’s said today by Ms Braverman. I offered a list, meant only as a starter. Originally […]
The issue of BBC capture by government is serious. BBC capture by one of the parties is even more serious. But the worst scenario is what I think has actually happened: BBC capture by an extremist right wing fringe group that was no more than a weird sect within one party. The ERG / Brexiters […]
The aim of so much of the ‘commentary’ which blights today’s UK is to persuade people there is no legitimate public conversation to be had about morality or compassion. To persuade them that there is only “virtue signalling”, “wokery” and “sanctimony”. Once enough people accept that premise, you are in deep trouble. Think about it. […]
Traditional Conservative politics, as the name suggests, amongst other things, places a significant emphasis on the conservation of the tried and tested, the reliable, the traditional, and so on. Traditional conservativism prioritizes practical experience over abstract theorizing, and prefers gradual changes, organically developing and emerging from the local community, to sweeping changes imposed from above. For a […]
There was a moment recently when journalist Lewis Goodall made me cry. “The kind of crushing thing”, he said, “is what pulls them, like so many before them, to Britain. It’s the esteem they hold us in. They think Britain is different. They think Britain will treat them better”. It's poignant to think that, even […]
Many senior former Conservatives have warned us about the current state of their party. Philip Hammond wrote: “the Conservative party has been taken over by unelected advisers, entryists and usurpers who are trying to turn it from a broad church into an extreme right-wing faction. Sadly, it is not the party I joined.” Anna Soubry said […]
In fairness, it’s not an exceptionally observant point to make: anywhere you look, pundits are noting the unshakeable air of malaise around Westminster. It’s nothing compared to the death spiral of Johnson’s regime, or the barely-controlled hysteria of Truss’s brief reign of economic terror, but it’s there. The waters may be calm, but there are […]
The truth: Brexit offers no added value to Britain. Speaking to The Observer this week, the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, spoke common sense. “For me, for many of us, Brexit remains a nonsense,” he said. “Taking into account British national interest, there is no added value to being outside the Single Market and […]
Once upon a time, there were some men who made a lot of money from doing things that were wrecking the planet. They had known for ages that they were putting toxins in the air and water, causing global warming and damaging the health of their employees and the general public and the environment, but […]
This is a long post from Oct 2019, and some of what it says would have seemed seem hard to believe back then. But now? Now when we see cuts to public services, the increasing wealth gap, steady defunding of council services, the running down of the NHS and talk of the use of artificial […]
So, finally, Sunak found himself in a position where sacking Nadhim Zahawi was his only option. It really does not look much like an act of leadership and integrity and, as many have pointed out, it’s not every sacking letter that manages to combine “it’s clear there has been a serious breach of the ministerial […]
For many years, in the UK as well as other countries, progress across a wide range of issues seemed to be the natural order of things. Almost every year, the economy would grow a little and people’s real (inflation-adjusted) wages would grow with them. Almost every year, in other words, most people would become just […]
There must have been a time when the Conservative party stood for conserving things, for responsible stewardship and avoiding needless waste. I know for sure that’s what Conservative friends of mine believe in. Business-like decision-making, investing in our future. But like many Tory voters, my friends now feel abandoned by a party stripped bare of […]
If Alexander Darwall, the landowner behind the wild camping judgement, had actually been hired to recruit numbers to the right to roam cause, he could not have done a better job. 3,000 people made the effort to travel to the village of Cornwood, climb the roads and tracks to Stall Moor, stand together in the […]
This is an important summary of the situation from Jacob Öberg: Absolute must-read Brexit newsletter by Peter Foster which this week takes a shot at our ‘beloved’ Retained EU Law Bill (returning to the Commons) which is what Peter calls some ‘pretty crazy baggage’ from the outwardly sensible Sunak Government. Short recall, the REUL Bill […]
You will recall the brouhaha caused by the visit paid by Dorset police to two women hoping to attend a Chris Loder surgery in a nearby village. This Orwellian incident has gained extra significance with moves by the government to enshrine ‘pre-crime’ in the Public Order Bill, indicating a degree of paranoia about anyone who […]
Conservative MPs are systematically ripping off Green Party branding in their communications to voters – a new low for a party that is now clearly ashamed to be seen for what it is, writes Tom Scott. What would be your first thought if you received a leaflet like one of those shown above from a […]
Boris Johnson has been urged to make a stunning comeback to frontline politics “for the sake of Britain, Brexit and British people”, reports the Daily Express. The paper (I really can’t bring myself to call it a newspaper) says there have been, “surging calls for the former Prime Minister to make a sensational return, with many Tories warning […]
On Jan 8, Sky News launched its new Westminster Accounts project with Tortoise Media. Together they have created an interactive database which makes the information reported to the Register of Members’ Interests more easily accessible so that we can really see who is receiving what sums and from whom, whether it’s in the form of […]
So, the new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is worried that Britons are not numerate enough. He said he wants people to “feel more confident” when it comes to numbers and finances and plans to make maths compulsory study until the age of 18. Mr Sunak added that the UK must “reimagine our approach to numeracy” in […]
It would be easy to feel pretty despairing right now. After all, things have got steadily worse. We thought the NHS was at the brink in 2021. We had no idea how much further this callous government was prepared to push it, how much death and misery it would wilfully ignore, while pumping out propaganda […]
For the second part of our review, here are some articles which were read by hundreds rather than thousands. We think you might have missed some of them! We are particularly anxious that the passage of time and the power of propaganda does not wipe our memories of some of the terrible people who have […]
Our top ten reads for 2022 in reverse order. In at number 10, but thankfully NOT one to have had a go at being in at Number 10 (ho, ho), it’s that delightful ERG-er and Brexiter Sherryl Murray: At 9, a still sadly relevant piece on the abandoning of the clinically vulnerable to Covid risks: […]
A very happy Christmas and New Year to all our readers from the team at West Country Voices. We are going to take a bit of a break and detoxify (oh my, how we do need to detoxify!)from Westminster for a few days but urge you, if you have a few idle moments, to have […]
In the bars and tea-rooms of the House of Commons there is always gossip. So when, at times, the level of gossip diminishes, to be replaced by a proportionate increase in discrete whispering, every Westminster watcher will instantly sense that something is afoot. But what? To begin with, that is not at all easy to […]
After 12 years of Conservative government, the UK faces serious and rapidly growing problems on multiple fronts: 1) economically, 2) in terms of the financial, physical and mental health of the population and 3) in human rights and democratic safeguards. Last week we showed how far the UK economy is falling behind other leading economies and how its population […]
More than 30,000 people have read the story of the police visit to two women, and if you haven’t – you can catch up here! Fran Swan, of Fishpond, and Beverley Glock, of Lyme Regis, had registered for a public meeting for Chideock residents, which was held on Friday 25 November. They had to give […]
Our social contract – the ‘deal’ that makes us a civilised country – is under grave threat both practically and philosophically. And we are not talking about it. Practically, the UK is in a grave situation. We are in the midst of a serious cost-of-living crisis which will plunge over half of the UK population into fuel poverty […]