Thirty-three years ago today, on 9 November 1989, the people of Berlin – east and west – joined together to dismantle the wall that had cruelly separated their city for almost three decades. It was a momentous event that led to the downfall of the Soviet communist regime, followed eventually by applications to join the European Union by […]
Does anyone honestly believe that this shambles of a government has any democratic legitimacy right now? Has Rishi Sunak given any indication that he is upholding his promise to deliver a government of ‘integrity, professionalism and accountability? Gavin Williamson…known bully and enforcer via blackmail techniques. Sacked on not one but TWO previous occasions by earlier […]
Our first past the post system may have the advantage of familiarity and simplicity, but it is serving us very ill. The current government enjoys a massive majority in the Commons, allowing it to ram through legislation that damages our democracy, our human rights, the environment and so much more… and all despite securing only […]
As US midterm election results are still coming in overnight, a myriad of thoughts/feelings are cascading in my brain right now…Did the democracy-defending Democratic party pull a rabbit out of hat throughout the US? I was imagining a decisive landslide, unlike the US mainstream and Murdoch-funded media. So many purple (mixed red Republican and blue […]
Dear West Country Voices, Harry S Truman famously had this sign on his desk pointing out that as, President of the USA and the man in charge, he should take responsibility for stuff that goes wrong. If only this was true here in the UK. The first of this year’s three Prime Ministers now earns […]
This will be the first Remembrance Sunday that we have commemorated since 1945 while two major European nations have been at war. Yes, there have been the tragic civil wars in former Yugoslavia, but this is the first time that one European nation has driven its tanks across the border of another, uninvited. It is […]
A few months ago, doing my daily trawl through the headlines of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo online, I spotted among the front-page headlines: “Xavier Gisbert: “Las leyes educativas llevan años sin aportar nada a la enseñanza de idiomas“. (‘For years the education laws have contributed nothing to language teaching.’) I’ve known Xavier since the […]
Devon for Europe took their ‘democracymeter’ to the centre of Newton Abbot, gauging public opinion on the state of affairs in Westminster before going on to deliver a letter to the constituency MP, Anne Marie Morris, asking her to support calls for a general election. Newton Abbot has always been a tough gig, and the […]
Babe – the pig with the unerring snout for pigswill – returns for a satirical sojourn in the Sunlit Uplands and a political sketch. As the year moves into its closing phase, there’s never been a better time to root through the fallen fruit and leaf litter of Anthony Mangnall’s autumnal tenure as Constituency MP […]
Yesterday I sent this tweet, in dismay at hearing Nigel Farage’s voice, once again, on the radio – in this case BBC World at One. I wondered afterwards if I’d been right. So I listened again, to see what it is about Farage I find so dangerous, and ask whether I was reasonable to suggest […]
It can only be a matter of time before you get to hold the reins of power. The only possible way this cannot happen is if the current increasingly fascist regime finds a way to halt elections altogether – maybe by engineering a state of emergency, having pushed millions of decent people out of their […]
Sunak needs the ballast of the far-right and is curiously-led by the angry wasp that is the ERG – currently supporting the unfathomably unpleasant Suella Braverman. Sunak has said nowt. Just perfunctory praise for the most bafflingly re-appointed Secretary of State in political history. Attacking asylum-seekers with firebombs is terrorism. Terrorism. This goes unmentioned across […]
Maybe we should review all the false language that has been used by the Tory Party over the last twelves years as they have been dismantling the country? Part 1: ‘Brexit Benefits’ & ‘Brexit Dividend’: Ok, so this was supposed to be an incentive for people to relinquish all the genuine benefits of EU membership. […]
Suella Braverman is under severe pressure to resign as her story falls apart and a pattern of behaviour emerges. Sadie Parker spells out why she must, must go… If Rodgers and Hammerstein were invited to write about the political soap opera of British politics this past few weeks, they might be tempted to re-write the […]
Indeed, the word ‘Brexit’ was only invented in 2012, and until the referendum, most people didn’t know what it meant. (Now it’s in the Oxford English dictionary.) An in-depth study by the Migration Observatory showed that: The volume of press coverage mentioning ‘immigration’ or ‘migration’ declined from 2006 to 2011 before rising each year from 2011 to mid-2015. […]
Rishi Sunak is not the first prime minister from an ethnic minority – Benjamin Disraeli was ahead of him by 154 years. Tom Scott draws out some fascinating parallels. Politicians like to think they’re making history but, with some exceptions, they are seldom much interested in history more than a few years old. Still, one […]
On Friday I joined a small group of Devon for Europe supporters at a “flash protest” in Totnes. Anthea Simmons, our campaign manager, delivered a letter to MP Anthony Mangnall demanding his support for a general election. We also ran a “democracymeter”, asking passers by to answer questions about the state of our nation by […]
By the end of 2024, all mobile phones, tablets, and cameras sold in the EU will have to be equipped with a USB Type-C charging port. And yes, that includes Apple’s iphones too. From spring 2026, the legal obligation will extend to laptops. In addition, all devices that support fast charging must have the same charging […]
Third time lucky. Or is it fourth? Who cares. Doubtless, King Charles will have had another ‘dear, oh dear’ up his well-pulled sleeve. Vividly staking his pro-Brexit bent and trumpeting the exit, sans non-withdrawal agreement, in the spring of 2019, was Sunak’s blueprint. Unswervingly, he went on to claim ‘proximity to a market’ as harmful. […]
On Monday evening, as Rishi Sunak was being welcomed at Conservative HQ as the latest new party leader and Prime Minister, a group of Devon For Europe activists gathered in Exmouth to campaign for an immediate General Election. Outside East Devon MP Simon Jupp’s off-the-beaten-track office, in a very fresh sea breeze, we set up […]
So, Rishi Sunak has today been crowned the second ‘unelected’ Tory Prime Minister in as many months. Is the country ‘Ready for Rishi’? Well, the country has no choice. The new Prime Minister has been anointed by just 194 Conservative MPs. We don’t get a say. Although in the UK we don’t directly elect a Prime […]
The bonfire of EU law, long threatened by extreme Brexiteers, is coming to the House of Commons this week. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will introduce sunset clauses for more than 2,400 laws, meaning they will automatically cease to have force at the end of 2023, whether they have been replaced with domestic legislation […]
We liked Marcus’s Twitter compilation of crimes and misdemeanours and thought you would, too. A useful aide-memoire… Will the Conservatives REALLY choose this self-obsessed serial liar and incompetent? Please note that there are a few typos which could not be corrected by us. Please excuse these! and let’s not forget the Russia connections! even the […]
My blood is boiling. What is there to say about a political party which has absolutely trashed this country’s reputation, cratered the economy, run-down the NHS, increased poverty, increased social inequality, broken the law, taken Russian money, implemented corrupt practices to favour their cronies and donors, presided over the avoidable deaths of tens of thousands, […]
Cometh the hour, cometh the man (or woman)? If only. The Tory leadership contest threatens another selection of lightweight, venal, self-interested candidates wholly unsuitable to lead our country through its current crisis. Liz Truss’s public appearances to promote her campaign over the summer or to defend her suitability since taking office were puddle-deep in content […]
𝗪𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗔 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗫𝗜𝗧 Truss begone. Tories begone. Brexit begone. Most of the country never wanted you. Only 37 per cent of the electorate gave their positive support for Brexit in the referendum. That’s hardly a majority. Many people directly affected by the outcome of the referendum were denied a vote. That’s […]
Dear Mrs Murray, On Monday, the following petition was debated in Westminster Hall: Call an immediate general election to end the chaos of the current government Call an immediate general election so that the people can decide who should lead us through the unprecedented crises threatening the UK. More details: Sign this petition 645,670 signatures Unsurprisingly, […]
The first is a timely reminder of the role played by the Brexit-supporting, Conservative-backing right wing media: The second is very possibly Led by Donkeys’ most important work to date: And the third, highlighting the dreadful legacy of Brexit and emphasising the ideology behind Truss et al: Finally, here’s an extract from a video of […]
I have been thinking. Maybe the collapse of Truss’s voodoo budget is even more important than people realise? “But it is huge!”, you cry, “biggest story since the fall of Boris!” Yup – I think it may be bigger than that. Way bigger. Here is what I am thinking… The Brexit train had many passengers; […]
If I was asked to sketch a typical Tory minister, they would probably look a lot like Jeremy Hunt. That probably means there’s something reassuringly establishment about JH which is doubtless settling a lot of the country right now after the financial shocks of the last few weeks. But who is the new chancellor? Look […]