The Constitution A gobsmacked world looks on in dismay as the UK slowly throttles itself in a tangle of argument, prejudice, constitutional failure and muddled thinking. So the first reforms are to the constitution. We must repeal the Five Year Parliament Act, restore the royal prerogative of the prime minister to ask for a dissolution […]
Once again parliament has shown it cannot govern. Agreeing Boris’s Brexit deal is pointless if there is no agreement on how to put it into law. The normal structure of government and opposition has to fall away to be replaced by consensus. Getting the Withdrawal Agreement through all stages in two days is not reasonable, […]
Once again the position of this Blog is simple. Recall Article 50 and scrap the whole thing. Brexit is a mess. Nobody can agree what it means, nobody can agree what they want, nobody knows how it will work, nobody knows whether there will be benefit or cost. Moreover everybody sees it as an end […]
First let me re-state the position of this Blog. I am a Remainer and the only satisfactory outcome for me is the recall of Article 50 and the closing down of this whole Brexit adventure. I said at the beginning that Brexit may turn out to be an undeliverable concept. By the end of tomorrow […]
So far yes, but in a situation as fluid as the current fiasco, anything may happen. But the DUP must tread with very great care. They are a Leave party in a Remain country or province. Unionists no longer have a majority in the Assembly, which is why they are making so many difficulties about […]
By a normal measure very bad. But for Trump not so bad. It is the very nature of his presidency that the electoral college votes of almost all heartland America went to Trump. They did not vote for an honourable and righteous man but for the very antithesis. They backed Trump, not because he was […]
It can come as no surprise to anyone that the Boris plan is hitting the EU buffers, because it offends against all the principles that underpin the EU as a political as well as trading union. It offends against the good Friday Agreement because an all Ireland economy and social order, now enjoyed, will be […]
Somehow the DUP mamanges to put about the fake news that it speaks for the majority in Northern Ireland. It does not. In the 2017 general election it won 36% of the votes cast. In the 2016 Brexit Referendum Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU by a significant margin, 55.8% Remain – 44.2% […]
The reason the Good Friday Agreement works is because it uses the umbrella of the EU to acknowledge all of Ireland as one country for the practical purposes of everyday life and business. One economy, freedom of movement, domicile, goods, services, capital and labour. No borders. Two systems of government. One a fully functioning independent […]
It is now clear that Boris and his glued on adviser, Dominic Cummings, have a plan which they believe will deliver not just Brexit, but a thumping majority in the Commons, giving five years of a new kind of post Thatcher Conservatism, based on popular social policies, an end to austerity and a tempting borrow, […]