The recent John McDonnell speech in Liverpool, on ‘Borrowing to invest’ suggesting City financiers can no longer prescribe government financial terms seems to be Labour really setting out who is in charge: The days of the City dictating the terms to the rest of the country are over. The finance sector will be brought in… Read more
Sovereignty – thy name is Brexit…
I thought the wonderful, and cruel logic of this letter worthy of wider attention. It might provoke one or two wry smiles but it also demonstrates all too clearly the idiocy of Britain’s current position… Sovereignty may be a zero sum game, but no man is an island. Indeed all of John Donne’s poem speaks… Read more
The household fallacy
It’s election time and the household fallacy is back in vogue. On Radio 4s “Any Questions” this week a lady asked (more eloquently then my version, go to 14.45 minutes in), how are we supposed to teach our children about counting their pennies when politicians are promising to spend on this, that, and t’other? The… Read more
Significant Others, the Glorious Twelfth and Northern Ireland
A Historical Introduction Winter General Elections are rare and December ones rarer still. The 2019 one is to be on the (Glorious) 12th of December. In NI the Glorious 12th is a reference to the Battle of the Boyne, rather than the start of the grouse shooting season. The last two December GEs were in… Read more
Brexit health dangers writ large
This post is – even more than usual – unashamedly political. But I’m afraid this clip below demonstrates beyond all doubt how a US trade deal would be so dangerous for the UK. Yes the US is an ally. Fine, but exactly how much must we be required to limit our resources for medication to… Read more
In touch or not?
Jo Johnson has tweeted this and Tom Kibasi of the IPPR has suggested that his daily newspaper reading suggests he is not in touch with his constituents. It is, of course, an arguable case. But to me, it is much more likely that in reading this trio of newspapers – the FT, The New York… Read more
Bullsh*t bureaucracies
There is an interesting short video below where David Graeber’s ‘Bullshit Jobs‘ and the NHS meet. What I take from it is that whilst bureaucracy helps to separate power and responsibility, it is the preserve of educated middle classes (so called) who feel decidedly uncomfortable in their bullsh*t jobs. But of course, paying them off… Read more
Billionaires don’t add up
I have encountered an article from the Daily Express and I don’t often link to them – this is, I’m fairly certain, a first – discussing Emma Barnett’s Radio 5 programme, in which the Labour MP for Brighton Kemp Town, Lloyd Russel-Moyle, suggested that there should not be any billionaires in Britain. Shock, horror and… Read more
Investigation of Vote Leave seeking legal advice from CPS
It is, I think, worth highlighting that Open Democracy has just disclosed that: After nearly 16 months of investigating Vote Leave, the Metropolitan Police Service handed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service last month. The initial formal referral by the police means they are now seeking legal advice from the Crown Prosecution… Read more
The Irish Times nails it…
In case you haven’t seen it there is a marvellous and entertaining article by Fintan O’Toole in the Irish Times. I admit it doesn’t tell us much we don’t already know about the disaster that is Brexit, but it is marvellous because of the power of its prose. I quote just a taster… In Johnson’s… Read more
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