Tag Archives: Europe

Labour is falling into Johnson’s trap. If only it had backed May’s Brexit deal in January

Posted on October 19, 2019 by Alex Grant

I am writing this as Members of Parliament are gathered in Westminster, on the first Saturday since the Falklands conflict of 1982, for yet another “make or break” day of reckoning on Brexit. MPs have just voted narrowly to pass … Continue reading →

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Don’t believe what Donald Trump says about Sweden. Immigration works well there

Posted on July 21, 2018 by Alex Grant

In the third and final part of a series of posts about modern Sweden (parts one and two can be read here and here), I look at immigration, and the crime problems that many neo-cons claim it has caused. The … Continue reading →

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Sweden, a land where consumer has never been king

Posted on July 15, 2018 by Alex Grant

In the second part of a three-part series of posts about modern Sweden (the first part can be read here), I look at Sweden’s weather, its inhabitants’ supposed shyness, and how Swedish consumers fare when it comes to buying alcohol … Continue reading →

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Sweden: how a ‘dull country’ is still worth living in

Posted on July 14, 2018 by Alex Grant

In the first of a three-part series about modern Sweden, I look at what twentieth and twenty-first century writers have to say, and how the reality of life in Sweden compares to the euphoria or opprobrium that it often provokes. “I … Continue reading →

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If Macron wins it proves that despite five years of terror, France can resist the siren calls of fascism. I’m not sure Britain could

Posted on May 6, 2017 by Alex Grant

Imagine that a terrorist had shot dead four police officers, in two daylight attacks on the streets of Winchester and Southampton, a few months before the 2012 Olympics. After a few days at large he attacks the playground of a … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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