‘He’s not a complete clown’ says PM’s new press chief’. No. Boris Johnson is a completely dangerous clown. Boris Johnson is “not a complete clown”, his new communications director Guto Harri said this month adding, “he’s a very likeable character.” Really? I would say instead that Boris Johnson is a completely dangerous clown, and nothing […]
Our latest edition has a focus on democracy and human rights. What follows is the rationale for putting this front and centre of our efforts to reach beyond the bubble and tell people what the mainstream media will or may not about the relentless undermining of these two vital pillars of a healthy society by […]
A summary from All the Citizens, a not-for-profit set up in the midst of the global pandemic – with a mission to use impact journalism to hold government and big tech to account. The Judicial Review & Courts Bill went through a 2nd reading in the House of Lords on 7 February. In a powerful […]
The dismissal of (eg) John Major’s comments, on the grounds that he is a remainer, is one more reminder of how the shadow of the Brexit vote still casts a shadow over our politics. It hardly needs saying that there are many reasons to be concerned about the Johnson government. They have been obvious for […]
Dear Sheryll Finally, Brexit has created a job: quite a pointless and poisoned chalice of a job, Brexit Opportunities minister, due to the fact that there are clearly no benefits, but a job nonetheless. I am sure that will warm the hearts of all of those previously employed people who are on the breadline since […]
Dear Conor Burns, Yesterday I was shocked by the footage of Keir Starmer and David Lammy mobbed by hostile far-right thugs quoting Boris Johnson’s Jimmy Savile smears from Hansard — and that’s saying something, because yesterday was also the day I was told my beloved father only has weeks to live and asked to sign […]
This same letter could be sent to the majority of Conservative MPs in our region who have failed to condemn Johnson’s appalling lie. Ed Dear Sheryll The shocking and disgusting attacks on the leader of the opposition by far right extremists today are the direct result of the widely debunked fake news that our so-called […]
In a recent edition of Conservative Home, my MP argued that now was not the time for a contest for leadership of the Conservative party, given the various, current national and international crises. “In the last Conservative leadership election, I did not vote for Boris Johnson. He subsequently sacked me from the Cabinet as he […]
In the early 2000s, I was strolling over a zebra crossing near Highbury Corner, in London, on my way home from work when I was almost hit by a bicycle. I immediately recognised the rider: it was Boris Johnson, and he was chatting away on his mobile phone while cycling right at me. Furiously I […]
This week Johnson created a lasting link between Starmer and Jimmy Savile. There’ll be people with no interest in politics whose inner voice, at the next election, will remind them of it. They won’t recall the detail but it will be enough to put them off voting Labour. Even the most fulsome apology from Johnson […]
This is a clear and powerful summary of the ‘levelling down’ of democracy in the proposed Elections Bill from Make Votes Matter, reproduced with their kind permission: What is the Elections Bill and what does it mean for our country? The Elections Bill was introduced to Parliament by the government back in July 2021, and […]
I have long been incensed by politicians, particularly members of the current government, claiming they know what the ‘public’ want and the ‘people’ think. The Prime Minister is an expert at this: perhaps the only thing he has expertise in, along with lying and hiding in fridges. I can’t think of one single occasion when […]
Today we watched a desperate and despicable display of faux contrition, empty excuses and insultingly evasive answers from Johnson. Sue Gray’s ‘update’ made it crystal clear that rules have been broken which means that Johnson has repeatedly lied to the House and to us. Twelve of the sixteen parties are now under criminal investigation. Twelve. […]
“We witnessed an attempted coup this week. A prime minister, who has very obviously broken the law on many occasions and who holds the people of this country in contempt, sought to stay in power aided and abetted by his party and the police.” Richard Murphy sets out the case for radical reform. The charge […]
Dear West Country Bylines, I have this to say to Sheryll Murray after she stood up to heap praise on Johnson at PMQs: Boris has now said he will stay and “fight on”. Who exactly is be fighting? Is it the bereaved families he laughed in the faces of by holding more parties in lockdown […]
Dear West Country Voices, Every day, sometimes two or three times a day, allegations arise that should trigger the immediate resignation of the man that the electorate chose to be the Prime Minister. I say the electorate chose, but actually the initial choice of leader, was made by the Conservative party membership and those sitting Conservative […]
Political speculation abounds on whether Johnson can survive. It is apparent that the consensus is that he cannot. But let me offer a word of caution. The assumption is being made that a man who has refused to comply with every convention in life that governs good behaviour will do the honourable thing and step […]
This is a record of our well-attended Democracy in Danger event on Thursday 20 January. Unfortunately the tape was not running for the introductions and so I paraphrase in this summary. Molly Scott Cato, (Greens) talked about her work to research and then to raise awareness of the rise of fascism in the UK. She […]
William Wragg, Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs (PACA) Select Committee, made an extraordinary intervention at the latest meeting of the parliamentary body that scrutinises, amongst other things, the Civil Service. He began the meeting by reading a statement about the whips bribing, bullying, and even blackmailing Tory MPs to withdraw their letters […]
Are you worried about the state of our democracy? Our electoral system? Pollution? The climate crisis? The threats to the NHS? Housing? Social justice? We know that most of our readers care deeply about the issues we cover in our articles. We also know that whilst people want to know the truth, the seeming tsunami […]
Dear West Country Voices, The Conservative party has clearly been in power for too long and has too much power based on significantly less than half of the votes cast in the last general election (an 80 seat majority based on securing a mere 43.6 per cent of the ballots cast in 2019). The recent […]
The success of a liberal democracy is dependent upon active, informed, citizens engaging in debate. We can all make a difference. We all must make a difference! There are many ways our voices can be seen and heard: How to contact your MP, Select Committees, the Lords, Councillors MPs Find your MP: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons Here’s a […]
A satirical commentary on the pigswill we’re fed by an MP’s social media. Feasting at the trough: ‘Babe’ BREAKING NEWS: The Conservative Party has made a significant investment in Facebook’s Metaverse. First amongst Devon MPs to stake his claim to a piece of alternative reality is, of course, the Captain of Complicity, the Superman of […]
The mammoth Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill(which includes such petty acts of spite and vengeance as proposing up to ten years’ incarceration for damaging a statue and the granting of police powers to seize Gypsy and Traveller homes) has been approved in the Commons before being passed for final approval in the Lords; except […]
Last week I wrote to my local MP Robert Syms. I explained the great sadness and upset I felt had been caused by the revelations of casual disregard of the Covid rules by those responsible for imposing them. While my family had been prevented from seeing dying relatives and attending funerals, they partied on. Back […]
Dear Conor, I am sorry that I have to write to you again so soon after the Owen Paterson debacle. Indeed, if truth be told, I’m also a little resentful. As well as trying to recover from the twin hits of Brexit and Covid on my career, I am also now an unpaid carer for […]
“This Bill threatens what we do peacefully because we believe in something.” Seasoned activists, people from a wide range of pressure groups, and individuals from all walks of life came together in Exeter on 15 January to show their resistance to the Bill with Priti Patel’s fingerprints all over it: the Police, Crime, Sentencing and […]
We know that Boris Johnson’s days in Number 10 are numbered now. We can’t be sure how many there still are. That his tenure will end well before the time of the next election is, however, seemingly certain. But my question is, so what? What then for the Tories, and us. The Conservative Party is […]
Dear Mr Parish, As long as laws are made in Parliament, then British people must have a legal right to protest them in Parliament Square. Democracy is not an ‘inconvenience’. Public opposition and dissent are among the hard-won rights that make our democratic system function. Seeking to limit noise levels so people cannot be heard, […]
On 16 November nine people were jailed for taking part in Insulate Britain’s road- blocking activism, including one person from our neck of the woods, the wonderful west country. The government managed to keep them out of jail before COP26 convened. It wouldn’t have looked good for climate activists to be jailed just before our […]