Tag Archives: Politics

To win next time, Labour must overcome its Midland problem

Posted on June 12, 2017 by

Theresa May is utterly humiliated, forced to rely on the Democratic Unionists for a majority. Jeremy Corbyn has exceeded all expectations. Far from losing ground, Labour made a net gain of 30 seats – not just in the north and … Continue reading →

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The big surprise of this election campaign? Not how badly Theresa May has fared, but how well

Posted on June 7, 2017 by

A screeching U-turn on long-term care bills. Uninspiring, robotic TV appearances – and several non-appearances at leadership debates and Today programme interviews. An inability to think on her feet, answer unscripted questions from the public, show herself as a team … 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

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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One place where the Trump presidency may do no harm? Cuba

Posted on January 25, 2017 by

I’ll leave aside – for now – his misogyny, racial prejudice, egotism, and contempt for democracy and the rule of law. I will even cast my eye away from Michael Gove’s fawning interview in the Times at the beginning of … Continue reading →

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Think out-of-town shopping centres are a thing of the past? Take a look at Rushden Lakes and despair

Posted on December 4, 2016 by

The river Nene – the slowest-flowing river in England, and its tenth-longest – meanders through Northamptonshire past water meadows and dozens of former gravel pits, long ago flooded and now a nationally important habitat for wetland birds. Northamptonshire’s an underrated … Continue reading →

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Five reasons why cutting the number of MPs from 650 to 600 is a bad idea – and one silver lining

Posted on October 1, 2016 by

Constituency boundary changes don’t just matter to map anoraks or political obsessives (I’m a bit of both). And the proposals won’t just mean a cull of MPs: they will reshape our politics by disenfranchising millions of voters. With no suggestion … Continue reading →

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

Posted on September 9, 2016 by

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 →

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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

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

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

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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