When our Government Turns on its Own People, We Will Need the ECHR to Protect Us

I thought this ‘Byline Times’ article was well worth highlighting. We have, I fear a government that is exactly turning on its own people – something that many used to consider – in their naïveté – entirely unlikely and to be simply the prerogative of some ‘developing’ states. It turns out that the UK is… Read more

First Prime Minister ever to be found guilty of lying to the Commons…

…And repeatedly. And in spite of being awarded a quarter of a million of government money for lawyers to act in his ‘defence’ the lying was too obvious for mitigation. This is the Johnson legacy – for which he will certainly go down in history. Meanwhile, the ‘i’s Ian Dunt has demonstrated Johnson’s dissembling and… Read more

The infection is defeated in Parliament at least…

Johnson giving a resignation honour to his hairdresser was the first Trumpian news of yesterday. Johnson never dresses his – (whereas Trump seems to have someone else’s) and now there is the most dishonest and misleading statement from Johnson on a par with Trump stating he is an innocent man… Johnson conveniently forgets that the… Read more

The Conservatives have perfected the Gish Gallop

I never knew there was something called ‘Gish Gallop’ (thank you Sean – of this parish). It is helpful to realsise what it is: The Gish gallop is a rhetorical technique that involves overwhelming your opponent with as many arguments as possible, with no regard for the accuracy, validity, or relevance of those arguments. For… Read more

Journalists should be better at calling out misinformation

An interesting article from the New York Times shows how Finland is teaching its schoolchildren to spot misinformation. This will be a consequence of years living next to the Soviet Union and being subjected to its propaganda. These days when provided through social media it is probably a lot more difficult to spot as the… Read more

Undermining local democracy

The think tank IPPR North has called out the government’s levelling up agenda for the sham that it is. But not only does the government’s levelling up budget take no account of inflation – it spends central government money with local authorities which is helicoptered in from on high – without clear terms and when,… Read more

How the enclosures happened

I thought George Monbiot had a very good short twitter thread here in which he suggests: On the court ruling that terminates wild camping rights on Dartmoor: This is how landrights have been seized for centuries. Because the written title didn’t precisely specify these rights, they are deemed not to exist, though they are long… Read more