Oct 15, 2021What’s the culture war really about? And are the Left losing?The ‘culture war’ is a key part of a very effective overall strategy adopted by the populist nationalist Right in Britain, America and beyond. Nurtured, sharpened and accelerated by Steve Bannon, his ideas have become widely disseminated with the help of US Libertarian billionaires, to the extent that every single…Neoliberalism11 min readNeoliberalism11 min read
Jun 18, 2021A Glossary of Right-Wing Terms and Phrases**As used EVERY DAY FOR YEARS by right-wing politicians and political commentators, the right-wing press, right-wing YouTubers, the alt-right, the hard-right and the far-right, Spiked, the Spectator, a vast network of Libertarian billionaire funded free-market ‘think-tanks’, lobbyists, institutions and ‘charities’, LBC, Times Radio, talkRADIO, and Britain’s very own Fox News…Language5 min readLanguage5 min read
May 23, 2021What forty years of deregulated free-market capitalism has done to BritainBritain was a much more equal society before Margaret Thatcher came to power than it has been at any time since. I want to take stock of what forty years of increasingly deregulated free-market capitalism has achieved in Britain. The attacks on the welfare state in the 1980s were based on views that saw poverty as the result of individual moral failings, rather than structural inequality. …8 min read8 min read
May 22, 2021Are we there yet?Worn down by a decade of austerity, and mesmerised by and addicted to new technology and mindless entertainment, the people failed to take warnings of the dangers of their new leader seriously. He was funny, charismatic, and popular, and in his apparent candour and jovial demeanour, made a refreshing change…7 min read7 min read
Oct 28, 2020Is Sarah Vine a Secret Snowflake?So yesterday, with six years of almost daily tweeting under my belt, I received my first twelve-hour ban for ‘violating Twitter’s rules against abuse and harassment.’ What, exactly, was the nature of my “abusive harassment”? Well, there is a little ambiguity: I was responding to — and quote tweeted —…Politcs5 min readPolitcs5 min read
Sep 15, 2020Behind The MaskMASKS have been used throughout human history, on a wide variety of occasions — religious, celebratory, punitive, therapeutic and playful. They are used to entertain, frighten, disguise and protect. Masks can also be used to foster the emergence of new identities. In this article I want to explore their uses…13 min read13 min read
May 11, 2019Maybe I’m just another hypocritical contrarian, but was Andrew Neil’s ‘take down’ of Ben Shapiro worthy of universal praise? My thoughts on *that* interview.Let’s hope BBC Politics presenter Andrew Neil can accommodate the enormous clouds of smoke blown up his voluminous derriere by the entire Western media establishment yesterday. Not since Jesus kicked the money lenders out of the temple, or Martin Luther King Jr had a dream, have we witnessed such mass…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
Aug 5, 2018Open letter to those on the left who want Corbyn to step down.Dear Alastair Campbell, Fiona Millar, Eddie Marsan, Jo Maugham, Tony Robinson, Chuka Umunna, Tom Watson, Robert Webb, and the many others on the left who are deeply dissatisfied with Jeremy Corbyn and want him to step down as Leader of the Labour Party. Politically, despite what we might call ‘ideological…Politics8 min readPolitics8 min read
Sep 28, 2016Society needs a Labour Government. Compromise is not a dirty word.I’ve read, watched and listened to many of the columns, discussions and speeches concerning the current state of the Labour Party, & what needs to be done for Labour to become electable. Some of them inspiring and motivating, some less so. …Labour Party6 min readLabour Party6 min read
Aug 21, 2016What Labour can learn from Smith — John SmithIn an article from May 2014, entitled John Smith would have led us to a decent world, John McTernan — Blair’s Director of Political Operations from 2005 to 2007 and certainly no fan of Corbyn — wrote: “The public are frustrated by modern politics not because they think it doesn’t…Labour Party13 min readLabour Party13 min read
