Category: Politics

International Women’s Day holds a message for all: never give up

Jon Danzig
the Suffragettes' colours in ribbons

𝗪𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡 𝗞𝗘𝗣𝗧 𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗘, Jon Danzig reminds us. Today – 8 March – is International Women’s Day, which for more than 100 years has celebrated the economic, cultural, political, and social achievements of women across the world. And 100 years is about how long it took women in the United […]

Putin’s fingerprints are all over Brexit

Jon Danzig
Putin

We should be supporting the EU, not Putin’s Brexit, argues Jon Danzig. Brexit has Putin’s fingerprints all over it. We’ve been increasingly suspicious of this for some time, but the evidence is mounting. Motive is the key incentive for any crime. There have never been any benefits for Britain from doing Brexit. Not even one. […]

Saving his own skin: Mr Mangnall and the squandering of leadership

Jim Funnell
Anthony Mangnall paper

In late February 2022, as bloody, terrifying war broke out in Ukraine and refugees fled their country, constituents across Totnes and South Devon received an unwelcome gift through their door: a four page newspaper full of puff pieces all about Anthony Mangnall MP. Produced by Mr Mangnall and his team, the headline cringingly announcing: ‘Anthony […]

From Frome to the front line

Richard Paul-Jones
Polish currency

“We don’t need stuff, we need cash” says the Mayor of Rabka Frome has a direct link to the war in Ukraine – and a way for you to help Ukrainians fleeing from the terror. Frome is twinned with three European towns. It is a four-way twinning, with representatives of three towns each visiting the fourth on […]

Why do we still have a clown for a PM?

A L Kennedy

A richly scatological analysis of the parlous state of our domestic politics by multi-award-winning author, A L Kennedy. This article first appeared as Handgranaten gefüllt mit Dummheit in Süddeutsche Zeitung I know, it’s mystifying. Popo, our killer clown, the dog turd on our national mantelpiece – why is he still Prime Minister?  The answers to that question reveal […]

Ukraine: hypocrisy, gaslighting and delays from the UK government

Editor-in-chief

You will have heard every minister interviewed in the media or standing up in parliament claim that we are doing more than any other country, that we are at the forefront doing everything we can for refugees, that we are leading the world in standing up to Putin and his horrific, illegal war. We aren’t…and […]

Cornwall stands with Ukraine

Tom Scott
Stand with Ukraine vigil, Truro

Speech made at the Vigil for Ukraine outside Truro Cathedral on 27 February. Thank you all so much for coming here today to express your solidarity with the people of Ukraine. These are very dark times for Europe and for the whole world. We’re seeing a peaceful, democratic nation under violent attack by a fascistic […]

Helping Ukrainians fleeing war – or not. How do you define a family?

Sadie Parker
Meme of Johnson between two Raphael cherubs s

Many of us were inspired and heartened when Poland threw open its borders to Ukrainians fleeing the war on February 25, only 24 hours after the present phase of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. (We say “the present phase”, because Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s territorial integrity since 2014, with the annexation of the Republic […]

Cornwall’s answer to Foster’s fruit picking offer

Jane Leigh
Ukrinian Cross Mylor Bridge

Torbay MP Kevin Foster may think it’s acceptable to view Ukraine’s beleaguered citizens as the UK’s fruit and daffodil pickers of the future (see The tweet heartless Kevin Foster didn’t want you to see – West Country Voices). But more than 100 members of the public gathered today at the Ukrainian Cross on a country […]

Vigil for Ukraine: Exeter

Editor-in-chief
Ben Bradshaw speaking at Exeter vigil for Ukraine

A large crowd gathered in Exeter’s Bedford Square to attend a pro-Ukraine vigil organised by Exeter City Council’s leader, Phil Bialyk. Phil has family in the Ukraine and during the course of his speech he spoke to his brother in Ukraine. Although we could not catch his words, that was one of many heart-rendingly emotional […]

The tweet heartless Kevin Foster didn’t want you to see

Anthea Simmons
Kevin Foster MP for Torbay

I have written today about the government’s callousness towards Ukrainian refugees, cloaked in a nicey-nicey, flag-sporting charade of fake sympathy. The reality is that there is NO effort being made to offer sanctuary to men, women and children fleeing the war. Patel and now Torbay’s Kevin Foster have been gaslighting the British public, pretending that […]

Actions speak louder than flags

Anthea Simmons
Johnson in front if UK and Ukraine flags

This is a government that relies for its survival on big promises, three-word soundbites, gesture politics and the exploitation of situations it judges will boost its (flagging) popularity. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no exception. Set aside the huge story of Russian funding and influence in the Conservative party and the compromised approach to sanctions, […]

President Zelenskyy’s speech to the Russian people

Editor-in-chief
President Zelenskyy of Ukraine in battle gear

These words were spoken by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, on national TV on Wednesday evening, , 23 February 2022, hours before the start of the Russian invasion. The FT’s Max Seddon reported: “The first two minutes of that speech were in Ukrainian. Zelensky updated the nation on the state of emergency and his contacts […]

The Foundations of Geopolitics: Putin has been doing it by the book

Anthea Simmons
Aleksandr Dugin

This is Alexandr Dugin, a Russian philosopher, strategist, political analyst and author of a several books including Foundations of Geopolitics (1997), and who in 2014 called for the eradication of the Ukrainian identity, following disappointment that Putin did not come to the aid of pro-Russian insurgents. As I highlight some key elements of the book […]

What should sanctions look like?

Richard Murphy
street art of Putin in a skip

Boris Johnson announced sanctions against Russia on 22 February in response to its invasion of Ukraine that made him and his government look like a laughing stock. Five banks and three oligarchs, each of whom had already been sanctioned in the USA for some time, will now face UK sanctions that are likely to have […]

I see you, Sheryll Murray – a day with Steve Bray outside Westminster

Nicola Tipton
Banner: 'self-serving liars are destroying our democracy'

Steve Bray will be familiar to anyone who watches the news or current affairs programmes. His anti-Brexit, pro-democracy protests have upset the government so much (touching endless raw nerves) that Priti Patel even tried to write a specific clause in the Policing Bill to outlaw his presence. You might wonder what he does each day, […]

Carl Garner is spot on: Russia, Johnson and defence

Carl Garner
Biliard balls with the white on the spot

Carl lives in Cornwall and his MP is Sheryll Murray, Conservative. He has cause to write to her frequently… Dear Sheryll, Now that Russia has finally decided to invade Ukraine, a sovereign state and friend, Boris Johnson has announced his humorous (to the Kremlin at least) threats of sanctions against Russian interests. I believe he […]

Tough times for Putin’s fellow travellers in the UK

Tom Scott
Dressing table with a Putin commemorative plate

Expressions of support for Vladimir Putin by various leading figures of the Brexit movement, and their connections with his mafia state, are coming back to haunt these ‘useful idiots’, writes Tom Scott. In 2017, I worked with the Green MEP Molly Scott Cato on a website that examined the motives and connections of various leading […]

It’s not a Ukraine crisis – it’s a Russian invasion

Tomasz Oryński

When it comes to modern hybrid war, the propaganda is almost as important as the troop movements on the ground and the language has as much power as bullets. When it comes to hybrid war that Putin just waged against the West, Britain is already losing by giving up to Russia’s narrative, argues Tomasz Oryński. […]