Dear Editor, ‘Culture wars’: the phrase seems to have originated in 1990s America but is now bandied about in many contexts. Events of this summer – 2023 – have opened a clear new front in today’s culture wars in the UK, by actually engaging Joe Public in the question of whether there is a climate […]
Sometimes the challenges facing those of us who would like the UK to remain a civilised country with a functioning democracy and a strong social contract seem daunting. This article suggests that we may be able to learn a lot from Greek mythology. The way Hercules killed the Hydra – a 10-headed venomous serpent – […]
Part I: pop on the galoshes of despair, and let’s wade into The Week In Tory ! Warning! Contains strong language… and how could it not? 1. Remember that time, ages ago, when Boris Johnson was found to be a liar, ditched by his party in a 354 to 7 vote, humiliated in front of the […]
The following Conservative MPs do not think Johnson is a liar or that truth and parliamentary democracy matter. They did not vote to support the recommendations of the privileges committee. Some may have had legitimate reasons for not voting: ill/paired etc Christopher Chope Chris Loder Richard Drax Conor Burns…knighted by the liar Johnny Mercer Derek […]
Now that he can officially be referred to as the liar he is, we call on Sunak to rescind Johnson’s shabby list of (dis)honours for cronies and fans, many of whom continue to show contempt for the work of the Privileges Committee and thus disrespect for our parliamentary democracy. Please sign this petition. Thank you. […]
Warning: contains strong language and adult humour! Here we go… 1. Let’s start with PartyGate, and joyless claymation ethics droid Rishi Sunak decided to sue his own inquiry for having the temerity to ask to see the things he always said it could see. 2. He said he wouldn’t hand over WhatsApp messages that are “unambiguously irrelevant” . […]
In his honours list published June 9, Boris Johnson has nominated seven new members of the House of Lords, a tradition granted to outgoing Prime Ministers (yes, even those who left in disgrace). In addition, Mr Johnson named six new knighthoods, including Jacob Rees-Mogg. (He had wanted to give his dad a knighthood, but reportedly […]
Flippant image, serious message. ‘When a person shows you who they are, believe them the first time.’ (Maya Angelou) On the one hand, it’s quite a relief to have some of the far right shed the final scraps of respectability and reveal their true, ugly selves. But, on the other, the abandon – even relish […]
This article looks at how far and how fast the Conservative Party has shifted to the extreme right, and what we can do about it: Leading Conservative Party members have been warning us for a long time about the extremist trends in their party; It is not just economic policies that have become extreme: they […]
For a change, I’m going to begin the latest edition of The Week In Tory with some news about Labour. Don't think this makes things any better, because it doesn't. I implore you, by all you hold dear, not to read this. Under Labour, NHS wait averaged 9 weeks. After 13 years in power, the […]
The results of the Council Elections are now in, and it is a good time to ask: what have we learned? Our take is that: The results were worrying for the Conservatives; but They were deeply worrying for democracy; so We can be confident about the next election but not complacent. The results were worrying for the Conservatives […]
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 […]
Traditional Conservative politics, as the name suggests, amongst other things, places a significant emphasis on the conservation of the tried and tested, the reliable, the traditional, and so on. Traditional conservativism prioritizes practical experience over abstract theorizing, and prefers gradual changes, organically developing and emerging from the local community, to sweeping changes imposed from above. For a […]
As the Conservatives continue their race to the bottom it is clear that they are in denial. They deny that Brexit was an act of stupidity and wanton self-harm. They deny that Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng caused a disaster. They will deny that ‘Levelling Up’ has died in a ditch. And they will deny […]
Many senior former Conservatives have warned us about the current state of their party. Philip Hammond wrote: “the Conservative party has been taken over by unelected advisers, entryists and usurpers who are trying to turn it from a broad church into an extreme right-wing faction. Sadly, it is not the party I joined.” Anna Soubry said […]
It seems to me that there is very little reason to have confidence in our current government. I mean, how can you have faith in anything they say, and what evidence is there to suggest that they can do anything competently? With this in mind, it is particularly alarming that Conservative MPs are voting through […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
If Alexander Darwall, the landowner behind the wild camping judgement, had actually been hired to recruit numbers to the right to roam cause, he could not have done a better job. 3,000 people made the effort to travel to the village of Cornwood, climb the roads and tracks to Stall Moor, stand together in the […]
I had made up my mind last night to write about lying before I read Chris Grey’s superb blog out today, December 16. I strongly recommend you read it, too. “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”― George Orwell I was provoked into addressing the issue by a clip of last […]
The American mid-term elections are over and the election denialists seem to be losing ground over there. We can hope this might set a trend, as there seem to be any number of causes based on denying at the moment. Denying the severity of Covid-19, or the science behind vaccinations or masks, or of the […]
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. […]
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 […]
On a recent episode of the unmissable podcast The Rest is Politics, hosts Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell discussed the Truss cabal’s extreme ideology and their obsession with Singapore – the ultimate libertarian ‘paradise’ – as a model to follow. At one point, Stewart asserted that the idea of Singapore-on-Thames becoming a reality was pure […]
Drink heavily, buckle up, and let's get started with a visit to the Tory Party Conference, where the most dense things in the known universe are packed into one room, and we all pray it reaches critical mass and explodes. Yet another #TheWeekInTory: 1. Liz Truss – ITV4 made flesh – got dressed up as […]
Russ Jones has done it again. Expect updates! 1. Our new PM, Margarine Thatcher, said she was “absolutely committed” to cutting tax for the rich 2. Then she cancelled tax cuts the rich 3. Truss boasted she was prepared to make unpopular decisions 4. But her decisions were unpopular, so she cancelled them 5. Truss […]
Second #TheWeekInTory in 4 days cos … oh god, you know why! 1. KamiKwarzi Kwarteng supports crypto so much, he’s turned Sterling into a new one called Shitcoin. 2. He fulfilled his promise to wipe out Stamp Duty by making it impossible for anyone to get a mortgage anyway. 3. These exuberantly stupid inanities had […]
Assuming Tim Shipman’s tweet is true, let’s do a quick #TheWeekInTory style tour of our (probably) new cabinet. It is a thrilling prospect. Liz Truss Margarine Thatcher. Gilead Commander’s wife who did three U-turns during her campaign, making Liz Truss a more effective opponent of Liz Truss than Rishi Sunak was. Is her own worst […]
