Trump misreading history againThe Independent reports that Donald Trump has criticised Keir Starmer for not allowing American planes to launch their initial strikes against Tehran from British bases, saying that the Prime Minister is "not Winston Churchill". That comment demonstrates that once again Trump has shown that he does not understand history nor the nature of the special relationship between the UK and the USA. The President has spent the last twelve months trashing his country's allies, abusing them for their over-reliance on the United States, imposing tariffs and trying to bully them into giving him what he wants. In the last few ... (more) |
Jane Dodds says she won't be beaten by online death threatsEmbed from Getty ImagesJane Dodds, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and are only Senedd member, told a BBC Radio Wales phone in today that death threats won't force her out of politics. BBC News quotes her remarks: "I've had a number of threats made against me, all online, they are very serious threats... for being a politician, for the views I've held and sometimes they are not extreme. "For example when I made a statement when I came off [social media platform X] and somebody wasn't happy with that because they wanted to scrutinise me and made threats ... (more) |
GUEST POST The Red Lion, Evesham, and the Warwickshire AvonRiver Avon and Workman Gardens, Evesham Peter Chambers voyages along the Severn and Shakespeare's Avon, visits an Evesham pub and consults the accounts of the Avon Navigation Trust. For the English boater who has completed the delights of the Trent and its disappearing power stations and riverside pubs other venues await. One such is a trip down the Severn and up the Warwickshire Avon, with a stay at the tourist trap of Stratford when leaving the river. It is worth a stay at Evesham on the way. We had embarked a local guide with knowledge of both volunteer water pollution ... (more) |
Why Ed Davey was wrong on ex pat rescueI was pleased to hear most of Sir Ed Davey's question following the PM's statement on Monday. I say most, because I thought he was doing well and saying the right things – until the unfair and unwarranted comments in his final sentences. Now, don't get me wrong – I'm not about to say that Isabel Oakeshott doesn't deserve criticism, or indeed being brought down a peg or two; I'm absolutely all for that. However, given the seriousness of the events in the Gulf and of the consequences, it doesn't seem to me to have been right or appropriate to ... (more) |
Power shared, not hoarded: finishing the argumentRoz Savage's piece earlier this week, and Jack Meredith's response to it, have done something worth building on. This is an attempt to follow the logic a few steps further, because I think it leads somewhere important. The strongest thing in Savage's piece is the power axis. "Power hoarded versus power shared" is not just better messaging than left versus right. It's a more honest description of what's actually happening in Britain. Decisions that shape people's lives are made in places they can't reach, by institutions they didn't choose, in processes they can't scrutinise. That's a liberal problem, not just ... (more) |
Mark Twain explains the Fall of ManEmbed from Getty ImagesMark Twain never said or wrote many of the quotations ascribed to him, but this one is kosher. It's the epigraph to chapter 2 of his The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson: Adam was but human - this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent. (more) |
Has the Home Secretary got it wrong on immigration?The Guardian has an interesting editorial on home secretary, Shabana Mahmood's plans to make it harder for migrants to gain settled status by extending the wait from five to 10 years. They say that extending settlement waits risks deepening labour shortages while misreading public concern about migration's economic and demographic realities: Ms Mahmood argues that Denmark's Social Democrats curbed inflows to protect the welfare state and won at the ballot box. A general election in Denmark later this month will test whether that policy remains popular. Her recent visit to Copenhagen kept the spotlight on asylum, the most politically charged ... (more) |