The Conservatives should return the £2.3 million donated by wealthy Russians since Johnson came to power. Britain should be displaying strength in the face of Putin’s despicable actions in Ukraine. Whatever influence that money may or may not have bought for Putin, it makes our government look compromised and weak. If, as claimed, it secured […]
Dear Mr Stride I have been following your twitter feed with interest over the last couple of days and see nothing about Ukraine – neither support for refugees, nor any opinion on the rising crisis. [Mr Stride has now shared a selfie on Twitter of him signing the Book of Solidarity. Ed] The UK’s response […]
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 gefüllt mit Dummheit in Süddeutsche Zeitung I know, it’s mystifying. Popo, our killer clown, the dog turd on our national mantelpiece – 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 […]
We have been given kind permission to reproduce this moving account of what Putin’s attempted invasion of Ukraine means for ordinary Russians. We have not edited or ‘corrected’ the text in the hope that you can hear the authentic voice of another human being, shocked and suffering under a madman’s regime. “I am horrified, I […]
Speech made at the Vigil for Ukraine outside Truro Cathedral on 27 February. Thank you all so much for coming here today to express your solidarity with the people of Ukraine. These are very dark times for Europe and for the whole world. We’re seeing a peaceful, democratic nation under violent attack by a fascistic […]
Many of us were inspired and heartened when Poland threw open its borders to Ukrainians fleeing the war on February 25, only 24 hours after the present phase of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. (We say “the present phase”, because Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s territorial integrity since 2014, with the annexation of the Republic […]
Dear Derek, I have skin in this game. My Mum was a young girl in Driebergen, Holland, in 1939 when the Germans came.She and hundreds of thousands of civilians packed what they could and took to the roads. You’ll have seen the harrowing photos of endless lines of haggard, terrified refugees, stretching as far as […]
Torbay MP Kevin Foster may think it’s acceptable to view Ukraine’s beleaguered citizens as the UK’s fruit and daffodil pickers of the future (see The tweet heartless Kevin Foster didn’t want you to see – West Country Voices). But more than 100 members of the public gathered today at the Ukrainian Cross on a country […]
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: “The 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 […]
Boris Johnson announced sanctions against Russia on 22 February in response to its invasion of Ukraine that made him and his government look like a laughing stock. Five banks and three oligarchs, each of whom had already been sanctioned in the USA for some time, will now face UK sanctions that are likely to have […]
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, […]
Carl lives in Cornwall and his MP is Sheryll Murray, Conservative. He has cause to write to her frequently… Dear Sheryll, Now that Russia has finally decided to invade Ukraine, a sovereign state and friend, Boris Johnson has announced his humorous (to the Kremlin at least) threats of sanctions against Russian interests. I believe he […]
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 ‘useful idiots’, 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 […]
When it comes to modern hybrid war, the propaganda is almost as important as the troop movements on the ground and the language has as much power as bullets. When it comes to hybrid war that Putin just waged against the West, Britain is already losing by giving up to Russia’s narrative, argues Tomasz Oryński. […]
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 EU’s first vice president, Frans Timmermans, in this moving video. “And through European history we know that if we abandon one of the legs of the tripod, the whole tripod will topple.” 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 ‘partygate’ scandals currently engulfing the Johnson administration and the ideas and individuals that drove Vote Leave. It raised again a central paradox of current politics – that while Brexit and populism as […]
“Carrero Blanco was blown up two streets away,” Isabel, my señora, mentioned casually on a chilly Madrid afternoon in December 1983 as we sat in her luxurious flat on Calle Hermosilla. “Have you heard of him? Ten years ago today, ETA blew up his car in Claudio Coello and it flew right over a church. […]
A thread on this article by @SteveBakerHW and what it tells us about the world view of part of the Conservative Party: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/time-to-step-up-negotiations-on-a-us-trade-deal-q6r65l9fq [paywall] On the face of it, the article is about enabling a trade deal with the US by accepting their regulatory standards (“it’s not for us to dictate how others regulate provided […]
With a massive Russian force encircling Ukraine, how should we interpret Putin’s intentions? One key thing to remember is the Russian president’s years as a KGB operative, writes Tom Scott. An adjective that often crops up in discussion of Vladimir Putin is ‘inscrutable’. It’s not just because of the Russian president’s typically stony-faced demeanour and […]
‘He’s not a complete clown’ says PM’s new press chief’. No. Boris Johnson is a completely dangerous clown. Boris Johnson is “not a complete clown”, his new communications director Guto Harri said this month adding, “he’s a very likeable character.” Really? I would say instead that Boris Johnson is a completely dangerous clown, and nothing […]
In 2020, I wrote in The Times that, if the pattern continued of the Johnson government refusing to be held to account, “corruption – both political and financial – will seep into the national bloodstream” Today you can smell corruption in the words and deeds of far too many of the Conservative Party. Not just […]