The statistics keep coming. 14 years of Tory rule leaves us with eight per cent of pensioners failing to eat regularly because of heating costs and other bills. Nine kids in any state school class of 30 are living in poverty (defined as family income below 60 percent of the national average). The Government has allocated […]
People’s primary organisers side-step party HQs’ attempt to block their new grassroots movement to unite the progressive vote. South Devon Primary is a community initiative to unite the progressive vote around a single opposition candidate at the general election, healing the division which time after time hands victory to the Conservatives. The primary took place […]
No-one outside of a diminishing band of party bureaucrats believes our political and democratic system is working. Of course, the charade continues; of PMQ’s, of who’s up and who’s down, of polls and predictions. But this, in the phrase of Colin Crouch, is a post-democracy, a democracy in name only in which the game is played […]
When I look back over the last eight years, one image dominates: September 2019, and Paula Sherriff ‘s pleas to Johnson to tone down his language – language being quoted back to her colleagues in death threats – is dismissed as ‘humbug’ It wasn’t the day the ugliness started – heaven knows there’d been enough […]
Getting the Budget right is a critically important part of governing well. If the Budget is well-formulated, it gives space to address the real issues; if it is not, then whatever promises politicians make, they will not be able to keep. Frequently, Budget analysis in the media does not look at it this way and […]
Dear Editor, As I watch the Channel 4 documentary ‘The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson’, I despair at how such a totally unsuited and unsuitable person was given free rein to wreak such havoc on our country. I remember how, many years ago, a couple of friends said it would be good if Johnson […]
One could almost sense an epic eye roll and audible sigh rippling across the land, when news broke that the government was pulling a vote on banning MPs accused of violent and sexual offences from the parliamentary estate, due to objections by Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) and Philip Davies (Shipley). What could be more sensible […]
The founders of the South Devon Primary, a community initiative to choose one progressive candidate to unite behind at the general election, are delighted to announce that Dr Hannah Bunting will be chairing two of the seven Town Hall hustings being held over a two week period from 2 March to 16 March. Dr Bunting […]
Dear Editor, What is happening to our nation when MPs need bodyguards? What are the influences that have created such an unprecedented decline in what we are told by some is still a world-leading democracy? Yes, we must acknowledge that the mainstream press and TV and social media have played a deeply significant role in threatening the foundations […]
Many of our readers will, by now, be familiar with the concept of the political primary: a process designed to resolve the tragedy of seats with an overall progressive majority yet predicted to return a Conservative MP (on a minority vote) because the progressive vote is split. The idea being pioneered in South Devon (formerly […]
Two by-elections are scheduled for 15 February 2024: one (in Kingswood) triggered by a member of parliament resigning, and the other (in Wellingborough) as the result of a recall petition – to succeed, such petitions have to be signed by more than 10 per cent of eligible voters. Constituents have the right to ‘recall’ their […]
Simon Jupp, the MP for the constituency centred on Exmouth, but who is standing as a candidate for our area in the election, is putting out this brochure in Colyton (sent to me by a resident) claiming to be the ‘local MP’, although in fact that is Richard Foord. Inside, he also claims to be […]
Truss is promoting an agenda that explicitly permits the powerful with a grudge to abuse anyone they wish with impunity. I should be grateful to GB News. They appear to be the only news organisation that was willing to carry verbatim extracts from Liz Truss’s speech to the so-called Popular Conservatives yesterday. They report her as […]
Dear Editor, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the NHS is falling apart. Doctors are striking, but the government say their salary demands are unaffordable. I don’t what the roads are like where you live, but round here there are huge potholes that risk taking your wheel off. But the county council have no […]
In many elections, the key issues are living standards and the state of the economy. In the UK today, voters are (rightly) concerned that their living standards are lower today than they were in 2010 and that public services (especially the NHS) are in crisis. These valid concerns can however obscure an even more fundamental […]
Brace, brace for the first ‘The Week In Tory’ of 2024. Also, please read the information at the end, which my publisher insists I add, and which helps to pay for my dog to eat things (other than rotting pigeons he finds on the field). Ta. 1. Boris Johnson, once voted “worst PM ever”, heroically volunteered […]
Enough is enough. Time to stop the destruction of the fabric of our society. Brexit has been the unmitigated failure it was always destined to be. Ideologues, fantasists and proto-fascists are taking the country in a disastrous direction. Corruption is rampant. Sickness and poverty are rife. Victorian diseases of poverty and malnutrition are back – […]
When you wake up on the morning of 5 November, you can reasonably expect fireworks during the evening. This year, they may arrive somewhat earlier, if it turns out that the United States has just elected Donald Trump for a second spell as president. Add to the mix that the UK may also be in […]
Many of our readers will, by now, be familiar with the concept of the political primary: a process designed to resolve the tragedy of seats with an overall progressive majority yet predicted to return a Conservative MP (on a minority vote) because the progressive vote is split. The idea being pioneered in South Devon (formerly […]
Health warning: much or all of this will make your blood boil. Use your vote to secure health benefits. The only way we can get our blood pressure down is to get these liars, crooks, charlatans and incompetents out of office asap! What follows is a list of just a few of the dreadful things […]
Each new year brings hopes and fears – hope for good changes, fear that bad ones might arise. Mostly, we hope things will improve for family and friends who are struggling but worry about how events outside their control will prevent progress. All our personal futures are bound up with the wider world, so here […]
Welcome back, readers, to our scorching series where we’ve previously dissected the 2010, 2015, and 2017 Tory manifestos. Today, we turn our critical eye to the 2019 Tory manifesto, continuing our journey through a decade of Conservative rule marred by unmet promises and political chaos. Our previous analyses have laid bare the stark reality of a party struggling with […]
Let’s plunge deeper into our Tory manifesto autopsy, turning the spotlight on the 2015 General Election – the critical juncture that set the stage for the Brexit saga. Yesterday, we picked apart the 2010 manifesto, revealing a trail of unfulfilled promises. Now, we examine 2015, the year the Conservatives not only consolidated power but also […]
Welcome, folks, to an unvarnished, no-BS analysis of the past 13 years under Tory rule. As we teeter on the brink of another election, it’s high time we cut through the political fog and see what’s been really going on. We’ve been under the Conservative thumb since 2010, and boy, has it been a rollercoaster. […]
Imagine being angry about small boats, wanting to see refugees shipped to Rwanda, and not knowing what Labour’s policy was. Mightn’t you read this tweet as a message that Labour, in power, would promise to send more people to Rwanda? Like much Labour material, it’s clever drafting – designed to send different messages to people […]
One of the south-west’s MPs has been in action on BBC Question Time, defending the increasingly expensive refugee exchange scheme officially known as the UK-Rwanda Migration and Development Partnership, or the Rwanda Plan for short. Johnny Mercer, MP for Plymouth Moor View, was given free rein to waffle on about what has become the current […]
So I’ve been thinking about what the Tories are going to offer at the next election, and I think I’ve worked it out. 1: CUT MIGRATION Brexit stopped the migrant-returns agreement, and their brilliant Point Based System led to far more immigrants than what it replaced. So basically, their big policy is: undo their last […]
As the reality of the libertarian Freeport experiment unleashed on Plymouth and South Devon comes to weigh heavily on the shoulders of South Hams Council, the Task & Finish Group internal report (which will be discussed in Council Executive on Thursday 30 November) highlights issues of substantial concern. I unpack the concerns in detail in […]
Editor’s note: paragraphs in this font are direct quotes from council documentation It is fact that South Hams Council made no public consultation on the Plymouth & South Devon Freeport. It is fact that a Task & Finish Group was set up to scrutinise the risks and benefits of the Freeport agreement- AFTER a partnership […]
If the world’s super-rich were to hold a conference, their anthem might well be Pink Floyd’s Money, track 1, side 2 of their Dark Side of the Moon album. The beneficiaries of globalisation and the internet might hear talks on tax avoidance from offshore bankers, attend seminars on ways to influence national governments, participate in […]