Boris Johnson is failing, and Tories are already sniffing around for a replacement. It used to be a shoo-in for Sunak, cos he’s been Mr Giveaway. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/20/rishi-sunak-warned-not-to-freeze-public-sector-pay-in-mini-budget But soon he’ll be Mr PayItBack, and his star will fall. So who’s next? Here are the runners and riders… Priti Patel, Home Secretary and Horcrux. Nurse Ratched […]
Priti Patel’s contempt for ethical standards is what put her in her job – it was never going to give Boris Johnson reason to sack her. When Dominic Cummings announced he would be leaving Downing Street, some excited commentators speculated that this might signal a fresh new phase in Boris Johnson’s government. “Will the departure […]
Not content with fiercely resisting calls to provide our poorest children with free school meals twice this year, the conservative government is charging headlong into a Brexit that risks all our school children going hungry in Brexit Britain. On Tuesday 17 November 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) released guidance on how schools should prepare […]
Hibernation has never seemed a more attractive prospect. Hunkering down in a dark, snug spot, away from the daily horrors in the news would probably do wonders for our mental and physical health. I’m tempted. I am sure you are, too. We’ve put out a lot of shocking stories of corruption, incompetence and bare-faced lying […]
A vaccine is on the way – hooray! Most people cheered when elated Pfizer and BionTech scientists announced their news last week, revealing that early results showed their vaccine to be 90 per cent effective against Covid-19. It was the first in a line of good news stories about possible vaccinations coming on stream. Will […]
Like many others I have spent all too many hours recently gazing at CNN, willing those voting numbers to change, and remove President Trump from the White House. In the process I have learned a great deal about the geography, sociology and politics of the United States, thanks to their excellent and informative coverage. This […]
Miles King reimagines Boris Johnson’s latest week. Imagine the scene. Our fearless prime minister is holed up in his flat above No.11 Downing Street, self-isolating. He’s fuming, having received a message from Dido’s fabulous test ‘n’ trace app that he has been exposed to Covid-19, again. The perpetrator of infection is none other than hard […]
Unpacking Johnson’s messaging about his need to self-isolate: Johnson’s messaging to colleagues by Twitter and WhatsApp after he was contacted to self-isolate demonstrates a Trump-like understanding of Covid-19.
The relief, and even joy, at Joe Biden’s win in the US elections has been somewhat tempered by the spotlight it has shone on something that has been lacking in our politics for years, but is now more obvious than ever by its absence. Respect. And by that I mean respect for the opposition. As […]
The going of Cummings: Whilst Johnson ponders the bigger picture, his Cabinet settles down to urgent business. At the end of the day, Dilyn the dog and Larry the cat reflect on what came to pass as Cummings and Cain left No 10 on a very special Friday 13th.
What an extraordinary week the first week of lockdown turned out to be. We have become so used to catastrophe with this ‘camorra’ of a government (a group united for nefarious or traitorous ends), that this week’s ‘eucatastrophes’ (sudden fortuitous events) will have come as a surprise. Perhaps you became a ‘mouse potato’, spending far […]
It is the Autumn of 2026. The general election of late 2024 produced historically low voter participation and resulted in no overall parliamentary majority for any single party. A Government of National Unity has now been formed, following a protracted period of bitter in-fighting amongst Tory MPs about the dire consequences of Brexit on the […]
“After many years of campaigning,” tweeted Priti Patel, “I am delighted the Immigration Bill, which will end free movement on 31st December, has today passed through Parliament.” She then went on to assert, “We are delivering on the will of the British people” – an extraordinary falsehood given that polling has consistently shown a higher […]
Is the fat lady really singing for Dominic Cummings? Twitter is sceptical. First there was euphoria. Then a 90’s movie reference to Gwyneth Paltrow’s head being in the cardboard box Cummings carried out of No.10 Downing Street, in what looked like a very stage-managed way. (The movie was David Fincher’s neo-noir, Se7en, by the way. […]
If the close-run election in America should teach us anything at all, it is that we have a much better chance of unseating this crooked government if we stand together. Whether you voted remain, like me, or leave, we have all become victims of what I can only describe as a coup. I like my […]
After writing to my local MP, James Heappey, about the threat to food and farming posed by US agricultural interests, I received his standard acknowledgement and holding reply. It contained, as usual, the lines “I receive a large number of emails each day and whilst we do aim to respond in the order that we receive […]
A hard-hitting thread was posted on Twitter yesterday by composer and broadcaster, Howard Goodall. He called it the “Bad News Advent calendar.” Brexit is going to make life doubly difficult for the thousands of people working in the performing arts, just when they are already seeing their livelihoods wrecked by Covid-19. This is not just […]
England desperately needs more trees, we are constantly told. And it’s certainly true that tree cover here is lower than most other European countries. The data must he handled with care though, when tree cover can include anything from eucalyptus plantations in Spain, to Sitka spruce in Scotland. Not all trees are of equal value. […]
For those of you not on Twitter we are pleased to reproduce Repubblica journalist Antonello Guerrera’s helpful compliation of highlights from Sir John Major’s barnstorming speech, 9 November, Middle Temple. Thank you, Antonello. BREAKING. Sir John Major: “Complacency and nostalgia are the route to national decline” “We are no longer a great power. We will […]
On Wednesday 11 November at 11am, I shall be standing by the village war memorial, leading the act of Remembrance. The memorial is beside quite a busy road, so the 2 minute silence will be subject to interruption, and in most years there are no more than 10 or so of us in attendance; this […]
If the events of the past few days have shown us anything, it is that, in the end, truth really must and will prevail. Big whoppers, small fibs – doesn’t really matter. A lie is a lie is a lie and spinning it as a half truth won’t wash. Let’s just consider the circled text […]
This article is reproduced by kind permission of The Federal Trust 70 years ago, on 4 November 1950, the European Convention on Human Rights was signed in Rome. The ECHR was a remarkable achievement. Like its better known cousin, the EU, it has become a foundation stone of post-war peace and stability in Europe. We […]
Despite the best efforts of the Lords, despite the emails and tractor protests and the efforts of the campaign to Save British Farming, only one of our region’s Conservative MPs had the guts to stand up for farmers and try to guarantee them a level playing field in any trade deals. ONE. Simon Hoare, MP […]
Greetings, everyone. We are enjoying a bit of Indian summer here with temperatures in the 80s, and far too many politicians invading our state. Now I had not really planned to write this article, but it just so happened that I received my Medicare summary notice today in the mail, and thought I would share some […]
We ran this article last week on Torridge Council’s decision to express its anger at the government’s decision to vote against protecting food and animal welfare standards in the Agriculture Bill. One of the passionate supporters of the motion proposed by sheep farmer and councillor, Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin, was the local Rural Dean and team vicar, […]
Late again! Originally intending to hibernate until after the US election, EuroDog had to come out of hibernation to comment on the PM’s latest U-turn.
Nigel Farage’s ‘new’ Reform Party is doing exactly what the far-right has always done: exploiting misery, chaos and toxic conspiracy theories. In 1919, with the world reeling from the impacts of the recently ended Great War and a devastating flu pandemic, Benito Mussolini was contemplating his future. As Denis Mack Smith writes in his History […]
I’ve been reading quite a bit by Fintan O’Toole, lately… talks on YouTube and most recently his book Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain. For me, he really helps my understanding of all things Brexit, the history of Ireland/Northern Ireland, and much more. I find he makes the ‘warp and weft’ of it […]
Government has adopted an annoying habit of leaking news late at night on Twitter, at the weekend, via one or two favoured pundits. Halloween was no exception, but instead of another frightener in the vein of ‘Lockdown – the Sequel’ slipped out earlier in the evening, this was good news. International Trade Secretary Liz Truss […]
The findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on antisemitism in the Labour Party have set social media ablaze. According to the report, the Labour Party is responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act (2010) relating to (1) political interference in antisemitism complaints, (2) failure to provide adequate training to those handling […]