On 4 December last year you published a letter from me that expressed my theory that the leadership (and subsequently the policies) of this country is finally decided by some 180,000 Conservative Party members, plus 370 sitting Tory MPs and a small number of press barons. Obviously, we can now add a number of Russians who […]
Many of us are watching the disintegration of democracy and the UK’s reputation for trustworthiness and integrity and (naively) wondering when the rule of law, standards of conduct will reassert themselves. Surely someone, some authority will step in and stop the canker from spreading? Andrew Levi tells it like it (unfortunately) is… It won’t take […]
This edition of #TheWeekInTory fell on April Fool’s Day, and there was an obvious temptation to slip a fib into this. I didn’t. So if you feel fooled, it’s only because some of you voted for these gibbering apes. Anyway, here we go, with the longest, stupidest one yet… 1. Grant Shapps (who has more […]
This article by Mark E Thomas explores whether the Johnson government is the worst in recent British history. You can read the ‘summary’ or delve into the supporting articles. Either way, it’s a compelling and damning reckoning. All politicians (and all people) occasionally lie. But Johnson is “probably the best liar we’ve ever had as […]
Online here European Movement CEO, Anna Bird, addresses UK with Ukraine rally in London. – YouTubeand reproduced below, more or less as delivered, is the text of Anna Bird’s speech at the London Mayor’s ‘vigil for Ukraine’ in Trafalgar Square on Saturday. It is excellent that European Movement UK (EM-UK) was involved in organising this […]
Russ’s epic and epigrammatic summary of the madness and horror that is the current UK political scene. We’ve left the numbers in so you don’t get lost! Buckle up! I was going to do #TheWeekInTory, but try as I might, I can’t find a single thing they’ve done wrong this week. Only kidding. It’s been […]
I am sure that a lot of people, like myself, wrote to their Tory MPs urging them to support the Lords’ amendments on the Borders Bill. Clearly they did not, but voted to make it even harder for refugees to come here. MPs are supposed to represent their constituents. Maybe, just maybe, my MP got […]
How low can he go? Equating a conned 37 per cent of the electorate voting for ‘freedom’ from Brussels with the Ukrainians’ valiant, tragic, determined battle to stay free from Russian rule (and to be able to join the EU, of course) is an absolute disgrace and a gross insult to the people of Ukraine. […]
Watch and share! Jon Danzig is an independent campaigning journalist and film maker who specialises in writing about health, human rights, and Europe. He is also founder of the information campaign, Reasons2Rejoin You can follow Jon Danzig on Facebook and LinkedIn
In the first of a series of interviews with politicians, environmentalists, campaigners and creatives in our region, Anthea Simmons spoke with Ben Bradshaw at his constituency office on 4 March 2022. We got stuck into Russia immediately. Way back in 2016, Ben was one of the very first to question the role of the Russians […]
Dr Sarah Wollaston left the Conservative Party to join the LibDems, leaving a rock-solid seat-for-life for some lucky Tory. The Conservatives needed a new candidate for the election that was to come later that year. Would they pick another local candidate, known in the community? Anonymous reveals the ‘interesting’ selection process. In 2019 the fate […]
Reaching out across the seas Hold out our hands to refugees Make the world a better place To put a smile on everyone’s face Stop the bombing, join together International friends forever This poem by primary school children, read by Exeter’s Pete the Poet, opened a rally organised by Stop the War Coalition. More than […]
Tom Scott investigates the role played by the ‘whataboutists’. If, like me, you have a lot of left-wing friends on social media you may well have seen posts from some of them asking what right people in the West have to condemn Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine, when western countries have themselves perpetrated war crimes […]
We have written many times about the seemingly endless resources of petty unkindness and more serious inhumanities employed by the Home Office. The Ukraine crisis has furnished Patel and her team with more opportunities thrown up by the human tragedy itself and the cover it provides for other actions. After concerted efforts to get the […]
I keep thinking about this. It’s extraordinary that the Mail on Sunday is allowing self-declared Putin admirer Nigel Farage to be given space to talk about anything, let alone to embark on such a poisonous and dangerous agenda. This is a man who declared his admiration for Putin longer after Grozny had happened. Long after […]
“We don’t need stuff, we need cash” says the Mayor of Rabka Frome has a direct link to the war in Ukraine – and a way for you to help Ukrainians fleeing from the terror. Frome is twinned with three European towns. It is a four-way twinning, with representatives of three towns each visiting the fourth on […]
A satirical commentary on the pig swill served by MPs’ social media feeds. Perusing Kevin Foster MP for Torbay’s Facebook feed is like perusing the remains of John Gummer’s beefburger. You remember that – the one fed to his four year old daughter in 1990? Babe’s long enough in the snout to remember Gummer as […]
A richly scatological analysis of the parlous state of our domestic politics by multi-award-winning author, A L Kennedy. This article first appeared as Handgranaten gefüllt mit Dummheit in Süddeutsche Zeitung I know, it’s mystifying. Popo, our killer clown, the dog turd on our national mantelpiece – why is he still Prime Minister? The answers to that question reveal […]
This is a government that relies for its survival on big promises, three-word soundbites, gesture politics and the exploitation of situations it judges will boost its (flagging) popularity. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no exception. Set aside the huge story of Russian funding and influence in the Conservative party and the compromised approach to sanctions, […]
Boris Johnson announced sanctions against Russia on 22 February in response to its invasion of Ukraine that made him and his government look like a laughing stock. Five banks and three oligarchs, each of whom had already been sanctioned in the USA for some time, will now face UK sanctions that are likely to have […]
Carl lives in Cornwall and his MP is Sheryll Murray, Conservative. He has cause to write to her frequently… Dear Sheryll, Now that Russia has finally decided to invade Ukraine, a sovereign state and friend, Boris Johnson has announced his humorous (to the Kremlin at least) threats of sanctions against Russian interests. I believe he […]
Expressions of support for Vladimir Putin by various leading figures of the Brexit movement, and their connections with his mafia state, are coming back to haunt these ‘useful idiots’, writes Tom Scott. In 2017, I worked with the Green MEP Molly Scott Cato on a website that examined the motives and connections of various leading […]
Dear West Country Voices, Boris Johnson has been a good thing for this country, and no, don’t worry, I haven’t gone totally insane after years of gaslighting and government lies, so please hear me out. He has been so awful that he has finally and fully shown that the current parliamentary system based on “gentleman’s […]
Why is the NHS past breaking point? I wish I could bring you good news. I wish I could tell you as the peak of Omicron passes🤞we are regaining the capacity to treat the millions waiting for urgent and routine care. But, honestly, it has never been as bad as this. Why? There are streams […]
The European Union is based on the tripod of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, said the EU’s first vice president, Frans Timmermans, in this moving video. “And through European history we know that if we abandon one of the legs of the tripod, the whole tripod will topple.” This is a lesson […]
Chris Grey, who blogs about Brexit and related matters, is someone well worth following. A recent post explored the fascinating links between the ‘partygate’ scandals currently engulfing the Johnson administration and the ideas and individuals that drove Vote Leave. It raised again a central paradox of current politics – that while Brexit and populism as […]
A thread on this article by @SteveBakerHW and what it tells us about the world view of part of the Conservative Party: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/time-to-step-up-negotiations-on-a-us-trade-deal-q6r65l9fq [paywall] On the face of it, the article is about enabling a trade deal with the US by accepting their regulatory standards (“it’s not for us to dictate how others regulate provided […]
‘He’s not a complete clown’ says PM’s new press chief’. No. Boris Johnson is a completely dangerous clown. Boris Johnson is “not a complete clown”, his new communications director Guto Harri said this month adding, “he’s a very likeable character.” Really? I would say instead that Boris Johnson is a completely dangerous clown, and nothing […]
