Category Archives: Uncategorized

Politicians should get out of Westminster for its restoration – and stay out

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Alex Grant

News that the Palace of Westminster will be out of bounds for six years for the £4bn mother of all restorations has provoked a stream of predictable responses. A strange coalition of metropolitan Guardianistas like John Harris, nationalists and devolutionists … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Brexit Mean Brexit?

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Alex Grant

Hours after the EU referendum result came in Boris Johnson stood at a podium stating how much stronger Britain would become, and staked his claim to be Prime Minister. Just a week later, on June 30th, he was gone from … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brexit is not a working class revolt, or a resurgence of racists. It was an Oldie rebellion, pure and simple

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Alex Grant

One Saturday morning a few weeks before the referendum there were two Vote Leave stalls on the streets of Thrapston, the Northamptonshire market town a few miles from my home. I was in a hurry, buying eggs and vegetables at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The demise of Boris Johnson – the Quintin Hogg of our times – shows that the age of Balliol superiority is now over

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Alex Grant

The spectacular collapse of Boris Johnson’s Prime Ministerial hopes earlier today have a striking historical parallel. Boris is not – and never has been – the Donald Trump or Winston Churchill of contemporary British politics, or even the Falstaff or … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How working the night shift alongside European migrants made me more determined to vote to stay in the EU, not less

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Alex Grant

For two months in the run-up to Christmas 2015 I worked the night shift at a Royal Mail sorting office in Peterborough. Media commentators are often quick to appoint themselves as experts on the labour market, but most have never … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A month on, Sadiq Khan’s victory in London no longer looks mould-breaking. In fact it’s a welcome return to politics as usual

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Alex Grant

A month on, how mould-breaking does Sadiq Khan’s election as mayor of London feel? Yes, it was a historic moment: the first time that a Muslim was elected as mayor of a western capital city. The message it sends to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Of all the places: in praise of Northamptonshire, the middle of everywhere

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Alex Grant

German has a good word – unheimlich – for this eerie feeling: when something mysterious or unfamiliar somehow makes uncanny sense. Over the last year I’ve felt it in the most unlikely of places: Northamptonshire. Let me explain why. Nearly … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Inside the planning committee: it’s not enough to say it’s all fair and impartial. You have to show it is, too

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Alex Grant

What goes on at Town hall planning committees these days? In theory it works like this. A committee of about a dozen councillors, politically balanced to match the composition of the council as a whole, assesses planning applications based on … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

My old snapshot from 1991 shows how the London skyline has changed utterly – and how it has stayed the same

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Alex Grant

Sorting through some old photos in my cellar a few months ago I came across a snapshot of the London skyline I took, as a callow 17-year-old, in the autumn of 1991. Out of curiosity, in late 2014 I went back … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader may be frightening indeed. But Corbyn as Party Martyr would be even worse

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Alex Grant

I like Jeremy Corbyn. I met him once on a dark railway platform in Blackpool, catching a train back to London towards the end of a Labour conference in the early noughties, and we got talking. Although I was a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment