Sunday 5 May

Although what we really is a general election, the local elections have proved somewhat cathartic and predictably the Conservatives did very badly, losing the Blackpool South by-election with a swing of 26% to Labour, over half the council seats they contested (could be as many as 500) and losing ten entire councils including Redditch, RushmoreContinue reading “Sunday 5 May”

Monday 29 April 2024

Not surprisingly, the last few weeks have seen no let up in the pace of events on the political stage, most of them worrying and/or downright nasty: the escalation of the Middle East conflict and constant platforming of our over-promoted Lord Dave; the passage of the Rwanda Bill (despite the best efforts of the Lords);Continue reading “Monday 29 April 2024”

Sunday 7 April

If we thought we’d seen it all from this government in recent times (eg ever worsening performance from our PM; electioneering in plain sight involving alleged ‘doorstep’ exchanges and leaflets picturing King Charles; more examples of Tory corruption and gaslighting; continuing support for Israel despite genocide in Gaza; disgraced Blackpool South MP Scott Benton standingContinue reading “Sunday 7 April”

Monday 18 March

I am not alone in feeling that with each successive Tory lie, scandal, excuse and PR disaster, anger and unhappiness with this government are building to a crescendo which should result in a general election but which the PM has ruled out for May at least. While a number of Tories have privately admitted thatContinue reading “Monday 18 March”

Sunday 3 March

What a week, culminating in lots of pointless speculation about the forthcoming Budget when the main player, Jeremy (Pinocchio) Hunt, ‘can’t’ say in advance what will be in it but still colludes with the media by taking up plenty of air time. Needless to say, especially given all the big talk of recent months aboutContinue reading “Sunday 3 March”

Sunday 25 February

If you thought our politics were turbulent before, they’ve hit rock bottom now, the epitome being the debacle in the House of Commons on Wednesday and its continuing aftermath. The Conservatives suddenly started caring about democracy when they’ve done their best to wreck it over recent years and not everyone is buying the weak Speaker’sContinue reading “Sunday 25 February”

Sunday 4 February 2024

As the days pass things are looking worse and worse for Rishi Sunak: the Tories are doing badly in the polls; he hasn’t succeeded on any of his pledges from last year; the Rwanda Bill he’s nailed his colours to will face more challenges in the Lords; he’s been warned by the IMF about theContinue reading “Sunday 4 February 2024”

Saturday 20 January 2024

From a 2023 editorial in The Week, we learn that German politicians used the word Zeitenwende (meaning epochal shift) to describe the effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While that was well justified, it seems to me that in the UK we’re getting our own version in the form of the alarmingly deluded Rwanda BillContinue reading “Saturday 20 January 2024”

6 January 2024

New Year greetings to all! As we enter 2024, there’s no doubt that the starting gun has been fired on the general election, Rishi Sunak predictably trying to distract from Starmer’s key speech with the declaration that his ‘working assumption’ (odd choice of words when the timing is solely his decision) that it will beContinue reading “6 January 2024”