Mangled thinking, Mr Behr

17 Nov

Dreadful article by Rafael Behr in the Grauniad today. You get the gist from its headline: Jihadism a symptom of western policy? That’s mangled history. In a piece whose thrust is to rubbish Jeremy Corbyn – in this instance for … Read More »

Cleaning for Mr Hammond

20 Oct

Cleaner Katy Rojas from Ecuador worked until very recently for Interserve, which has the Foreign & Commonwealth Office cleaning contract. She began in 2010 on £6 per hour but this year had her first rise, to £7.05. Now she’s laid … Read More »

Unilateralism in Brighton

30 Sep

Today at the Labour Conference: (a) Corbyn would never press the button, (b) Burnham, Eagles et al fear Russian aggression (though not NATO’s recklessly menacing eastward expansion) and (c) the press is having a field day. Why, oh why muddy the waters of … Read More »

Corbyn: the first five days

18 Sep

​​The hypocrisy is no less breathtaking for being predictable. A billionaire press that cheers on the collateral slaughter of countless innocents in the middle east now excoriates the new shadow chancellor for having suggested we drop our robotically conditioned condemnation … Read More »

Now the real work starts!

13 Sep

After decades of a Labour Party that subordinates human need to “gaining the nation’s trust” – read: “gaining a mild toning down of Murdoch and Rothermere vitriol so we can get our responsible arses back into number ten“ – on stewardship … Read More »

Fatally flawed: DWP ‘fit for work’ tests

28 Aug

Yesterday the Department for Work & Pensions, having failed to block a Freedom of Information request on the matter, grudgingly released data showing that between 2011 and 2014, 2380 employment support allowance (ESA) claimants died within two weeks of a work capability assessment declaring … Read More »

New Labour: stuck in the past

27 Aug

Anyone not yet got the message? “Old Labour is stuck in the past. That’s a serious charge in politics but look who’s making it. New Labour orthodoxy has it that Blair’s successes in 1997, 2001 and 2005 are down to the … Read More »

It’s all Paxo’s fault!

15 May

It was difficult, if not impossible, for the official opposition to challenge the Coalition when the government was effectively implementing New Labour [austerity] policies. It is important to stress this fact, because as elections approach the sleepwalker segment of the … Read More »

Tax matters

5 Feb

So. Labour, emboldened by Falciani on HSBC and enraged by Signor Pessina on how Britons should vote, has tax avoidance in its sights. Predictably the Mail responded with headlines like that of three days ago: Red Ed the Tax Avoider. … Read More »