Political leadership comes in different forms. Even focussing very narrowly on the American left, Elizabeth Warren has spent her career building technical regulatory solutions to consumer problems such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, whereas Bernie Sanders’ appeal has been advocating big, transformative ideas, building strong public support for policies such as a Green New... Continue Reading →
I know a little bit about football. I’m by no means an expert, and would certainly perform worse than any of the 92 managers of Football League teams were I to take their jobs. But I know a little bit. For instance, if a football manager announced his intention to play without a goalkeeper, then... Continue Reading →
Boris Johnson is a liar – it’s the thing that we can be most certain about when it comes to our current Prime Minister. He has twice lost jobs specifically for lying – first for inventing an academic's quote about 14th century royalty when working at The Times (leading the academic - his godfather -... Continue Reading →
The problem with Brexit is that it has never been clearly defined. The messaging put out by the official Vote Leave campaign during the referendum reassured voters that we would still be in “a free trade zone stretching from Iceland to the Russian border” after Brexit. This is the European Economic Area, membership of it... Continue Reading →
Apologists have argued that, as Parliament closes down for conference season during September and October, only six days' debate will be lost. This is inaccurate as, while the headline business of the House of Commons shuts down for conference season, other methods of scrutiny including Select Committees and the House of Lords continue. These will... Continue Reading →
* The Northern Ireland - Republic of Ireland have a 'soft border'. This is partially because a lot of people live in one country and work in another, partially to fudge the conflict over whether Ireland should be united - to calm tensions. * If the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is... Continue Reading →
One of the many downsides to Brexit is that it will leave the UK in a weaker position when negotiating trade deals with other countries. According to the Financial Times, Japanese negotiators are demanding more favourable terms from the UK than they agreed to in the recent Japan-EU treaty. American Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross... Continue Reading →
Brilliant news - Tommy Robinson has been banned by Facebook. In recent weeks he's been more brazen in spreading his dangerous nonsense. He shared a photo of a rape charity advert which included a specialist line for black and minority ethnicities, claiming that the charity was anti-white. The hotline was overwhelmed with harassment from his... Continue Reading →
On Friday the Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope made headlines by objecting to a Private Member's Bill on Female Genital Mutilation. The proposed law would make it easier for judges to remove children from parents who have put them through FGM, and has already been approved in full by the House of Lords. However as... Continue Reading →
Three days ago I posted a satirical version of a post that's gone viral on Facebook over the last week. The original - making ludicrous claims about the 2007 Lisbon Treaty - has been shared broadly enough to prompt a point-by-point analysis of the lies from a Professor of EU law. I wrote my version with... Continue Reading →
On Friday Green Party MP Caroline Lucas spoke at an event organised by campaigners for a second Brexit referendum. She began her speech by thanking those who had voted to leave: "I also want to say a genuine thank you to the 17.4 million people who gave the Establishment such a well-deserved kicking in 2016.... Continue Reading →
With Brexit being in the news today, I think it's worth reminding people that 'no deal' means no parachute - we'd be leaving the EU with no plan on how to adapt. You'll probably hear the line from Brexiteers that other countries get by with only WTO (World Trade Organisation) terms. This isn't true -... Continue Reading →
Happy Sisyphus 