[AMAZONPRODUCT=B0036QV860] I am not a big fan of Michael Moore’s work. This isn’t because of a big difference in political outlook, but rather, it’s because he suffers from a condition endemic in Hollywood: a tendency to oversimplify. I do understand that the market he is trying to reach generally require more punchy messages than complex […]

So David Laws, Chief Secretary of the Treasury, is gay. The revelation was exploded forth by the Telegraph and has all the appeal and grace of a Friday night expulsion of cheap lager from the guts of a inebriated teenager. There are already rumours circulating around the internet that Alistair Campbell, New Labour’s chief bile […]

[AMAZONPRODUCT=1847080146] If there was a competition for the “most pointless” country in the world, North Korea would be a strong contender. It has built up a preposterous cult of personality around a political non-entity, and military might on top of a base of impoverished people. It attacks others for no reason, indeed, even when such […]

About two years ago, the term “coping classes” came into vogue to describe a set of people who were ostensibly middle class, yet felt squeezed by the prevailing economic circumstances. The term has since fallen out of use; such is the fate of many media inspired catch-phrases. I myself wondered what precisely was meant by […]

The budget cuts have already hit close to home. Prior to the election, Gordon Brown and his minions had promised my university a large share of a £30 million grant in order to set up a high-technology research institute. Everyone here was elated. It was announced far and wide. However, the cheque hadn’t been signed […]

The Royal Family has rarely been the focus of my attention. To me, they’re rather like the colour of paint in some public buildings: the unconvincing shades of green or beige may be distantly unpleasant, but at the same, they’re not glaring enough to make me grab a can of white Dulux and a brush. […]

An impassioned plea for reason from one of Europe’s leading Greens:

I’ve been reliably informed that around about the time of Gordon Brown’s departure from Downing Street, a rainbow briefly appeared in the skies above Westminster. I haven’t seen a photograph or a video clip of the phenomenon, yet I believe it. Whether one has faith in a diety or not, it doesn’t stretch matters too […]

In retrospect, the formation of the Coalition Government was probably inevitable. The mathematics largely dictated this outcome; however the situation was exacerbated by Labour’s ineptitude. It should have been obvious that a “progressive alliance” was not going to happen once it became clear who was negotiating on Labour’s behalf. First and foremost, there was Lord […]

It would be a mistake to assume that any political party is a monolith or anything close to one: people don’t abandon their individual points of view the moment they sign the dotted line of the membership form. I once asked a Tory Member of Parliament, during a period when John Major was struggling with […]