Since the fateful referendum in June last year things have been easy for the Brexiteers. Because of the delay in triggering Article 50, nothing had actually changed, so nothing did change. All the consequences remained in the future. But now things are happening thick and fast and even though negotiations have not yet begun, it […]
Possibly. I have learned from a friendly American source that the QM2 is off Shanghai housing a trade summit for three days designed to improve trade with China post Brexit. Mark Garnier, the UK trade minister is hosting the event. No reports of this appear in the media. So that is interesting. If you read between […]
I have nothing to say about today other than I hoped it would never come. It is not about economics. It is about the unification of the European family whose blood flows through my veins. To walk away from what I have repeatedly called the greatest political achievement since the fall of the Roman Empire is an […]
It is a sorry fact that war kills. And it kills civilians. Which is why it is no longer a reasonable option for settling disputes. But war goes on and much of it is fueled by the West. Having raged at Russia for bombing civilians in Syria, it is disappointing that the American led airstrikes, in which the […]
There could be no bigger slap in the face for the President than the collapse of the replacement for Obamacare, the more especially because the Republicans control both Houses of Congress, the Representatives by quite a margin. There are two points worth making without getting involved in the detail of the issue. The first is […]
I had an emotional and proud moment when I saw images of the Brandenburg Gate illuminated as a Union Jack, in a bold statement of solidarity with London after the Westminster terror attack. Having been born into the English segment of an Anglo-German family with a wartime childhood under flying bombs and rockets, whilst we rained firestorms […]
We had been warned repeatedly, yet when it comes, the raw tragedy of so many people killed and injured for no reason and without warning tears the heart. This blog joins the endless list of those expressing shock and sympathy. Having lived through the years of the IRA campaigns there is a cold familiarity of the […]
A political party has members at its base and , depending on how successful it is, it has elected representatives in local, regional and national government. Labour is a Movement and has a formal link and relationship to most, though no longer all, trade unions. Normally there is lively debate between members and the party leadership […]
Lord Heseltine could have been right when he suggested that it would have been better for May to position her government in the active left centre running the country and improving people’s lives by a combination of reform and efficiency, supported by economic revival, to create an economy fit for whatever kind of Brexit happened. He […]
To emphasise the scale of this GCHQ claim blunder, to tap the communications of the president-elect of an ally, or retrieve and release transcripts of communications recorded in bulk data, would require authorisation of the government, i.e the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister. Such authorisation would only be given if they were presented with […]