May 28th 2019
War, War, What Is It Good For?
In the old days we would just have had a civil war and been done with it. The truth is that the polarisation of the British demos is getting worse, not better, as time since...
May 24th 2019
Something Better Change
Nigel Farage has felled another Tory Prime Minister. This time before the results of the vote were even announced. The erstwhile UKIP Leader has been the tail that wagged the Tory dog for years now...
May 14th 2019
Animal Farm
All elections are equal but some elections are more equal than others. Take the round of locals earlier this month. Does it matter that both the Tories and Labour were punished at the polls? Of...
April 18th 2019
Will the Circle be Unbroken?
This was not supposed to happen. Theresa May’s timeline for Brexit was constructed backwards from the upcoming European elections - with the express intention of avoiding them. Article 50 provides a two year window for...
March 29th 2019
Into The Woods
Parliamentarians were today held hostage in the Commons on a day when they had planned to be in their constituencies, talking to their constituents. Of course, for some MPs this is a blessing. Their constituents...
March 15th 2019
The White Cliffs of Dover
Remember when ‘no deal was better than a bad deal’? Or, briefly, when ‘my deal is better than no deal’? Well, now, it’s ‘my deal is better than another year of talking about all this...
February 18th 2019
Seven Nation Army
It is not easy to leave a political party, least of all when you are an elected representative of that party. For a start, if you are an MP, you have given a great deal...
January 30th 2019
Nothing
Yesterday was - optically, at least - the best day the Prime Minister has had in ages. In years, in fact. For the first time since the 2017 General Election Theresa May got her...
January 10th 2019
So What Happens Now?
Another day, another knock. But Mrs May plows on. Thanks to Yvette Cooper she has been defeated on a Finance Bill (the first PM to lose such a vote in forty years) and thanks to...
January 7th 2019
Slow Train Coming
The ‘trolley dilemma’ is one of philosophy’s most enduring and famous thought-experiments. You will have heard of it. A train is careering down the tracks towards a group of children and the brakes are not...
December 13th 2018
You Keep Me Hangin' On
The first rule of politics is to learn how to count. So said the ultimate politicians’ politician President Johnson. And he was right, of course. Politics is a bit about ideas and a lot...
November 16th 2018
Gimme Shelter
It is very rare - particularly at the moment - that the House of Commons makes for must-watch TV. The weekly theatre of Prime Minister’s Questions has become, thanks to the pedestrian performances of...
November 14th 2018
Dice Roll
They say there are only really seven types of narrative, only a limited number of stories to be told. Voyage and return, rags to riches, tragedy and rebirth etc. Theresa May is a quester...
October 29th 2018
When the deal goes down
What - actually - is austerity? Or maybe, what was austerity? That is the question upon which the political success of this budget will hinge. The Prime Minister has promised us, after all, that ‘Austerity...
October 1st 2018
Tell Me Lies
Hands up who wants to live in SuperCanada? It is just like Canada but it has bridges to everywhere and really cheap, chlorinated chicken for all. No? Ok, how about Singapore-Upon-Thames? Or Switzerland-by-Sea? Or...