Section: Politics

The Conservative capture of the BBC and why it matters

Jim Grace

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 view through the Overton window must be changed, and fast

Anthea Simmons

This week, under cover of darkness, 100 mature trees were felled in the centre of Plymouth, ripping out the green lungs of a city which had pulled itself up out of the ashes of WWII. In fact, these were the very trees planted to celebrate the city’s rebirth. This act of environmental vandalism has so […]

Tories: always spurious reasons to scrap human rights.

Jon Danzig

Once again, the Conservatives are threatening to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. But they’ve been threatening that for many years – and never for good reasons, only spurious ones. Always. Today, the Tories seem ready to jettison our 70-year alignment with the European Convention if that gets in the way of their despicable […]

Important corrections to Anne Marie Morris’s ‘newsletter’

Anthea Simmons

Newton Abbot MP, Anne Marie Morris, has released her weekly column. It was so packed with untruths and gaslighting statements that it just had to be unpicked. “The UK has been an independent nation for three years this January”. Hmm. It was already an independent nation, actually. Think the word you are looking for, Anne […]

Rishi Sunak is in trouble…

Martin Day

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 […]

Nobody gave informed consent for Brexit

Jon Danzig

Nobody gave ‘informed consent’ for Brexit. That’s because, in the 2016 referendum, the electorate was not sufficiently informed. On the contrary, we were grossly misinformed. Legally, informed consent means that consent has been given with full knowledge of: ▪ the risks involved,▪ the probable consequences,▪ and the alternatives. – During the referendum, we were not fully aware of all […]

The question they couldn’t answer: what does LEAVE mean?

Jon Danzig

𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗙𝗘𝗕𝗥𝗨𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟲: Here’s a question for you, I wrote in my report of February 2016: ‘𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲?’ No, me neither. But that’s what those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU were expecting voters to do – vote to end our membership of the […]

What is the market fundamentalist agenda?

Mark E Thomas

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 […]

Why the EU referendum was invalid – by former Brexit Secretary

Jon Danzig

The EU referendum was fundamentally flawed according to criteria set by ardent Brexiter and former Brexit Secretary, David Davis, on how referendums should be “done properly”. In July 2016, the Tory MP and then Chief Brexit Negotiator in Theresa May‘s new government, Mr Davis lauded the result of the EU referendum as fair, legal, and democratic. But […]

Ken Clarke. The only Tory MP to vote AGAINST triggering Brexit

Jon Danzig

From 31 January to 1 February 2017, MPs debated the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill on whether to trigger Brexit (the Article 50 notice). MPs overwhelmingly backed the bill, supported by the Labour leadership, by 498 votes FOR, to 114 AGAINST. Ken Clarke was one of the 114 MPs. He was the ONLY Tory MP […]

Secrets and lies

Anthea Simmons

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 […]

Why is this happening to us?

Mark E Thomas

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 […]

Raw nerves: challenging Leave voters in a rural community

Simon Chater

Note: Names have been changed to protect identity. Ed. After seven years of abuse and apathy, I’ve called time on my local campaign against Brexit. Beyond the bubble They call it reaching “beyond the bubble”. The key to successful campaigning, say social media experts, is to win over new groups of supporters beyond those naturally […]

The plague of corruption

Richard Murphy

Richard Murphy has never been enamoured by corruption. His dislike of everything to do with it motivated the work he did on tax havens and the abuses that they permit. He has little more liking of corruption within government either. And it seems like we are plagued with it, again. For those old enough to […]

Credible allegations of Russian interference in Brexit

Jon Danzig
Putin

The UK government has been asked by the European Court Of Human Rights (ECHR) to respond to ‘credible allegations’ of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum. The case was brought by a group of cross-party MPs: Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Alyn Smith MP of the Scottish National Party (SNP). They lodged the claim with the international court based […]

You believe in parliamentary sovereignty? Prove it. We urge all MPs: support Amendment 36 to the REUL Bill on 18 Jan or, better still, throw the whole bill OUT

Jacob Öberg
House of Commons

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 […]

Greenwashing the sewage party

Tom Scott
Tory leaflets posing as Green

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 […]

Please show this to anyone who thinks Johnson should come back as PM

Jon Danzig

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 […]

What is it with Brexiters and lies? Video

Jon Danzig

Has the UK given more military aid to Ukraine than the EU? This is an investigation into a Brexiter’s claim about aid to Ukraine – 4-min video from journalist, Jon Danzig. A former advisor to NATO and the Ministry of Defence, Professor Gwythian Prins, claimed on BBC Radio 5 live that the UK has given […]

2023: time for anger to be channelled and truth to triumph

Anthea Simmons
2023

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 […]