Republicans have no clue how to handle their deranged ‘Messiah’ August 23, 2019 Imagine you are a serious US politician. What do you do when the man your party put in the White House tries to buy another country’s territory, before repeating claims that he is like the “King of Israel” and boasting that he is “the Chosen One”, all within the space of two days? The obvious [...]
Has Priti Patel thought through the implications of abruptly ending free movement? August 20, 2019 Priti Patel, fresh from announcing that she wants criminals to feel “terror” at the thought of breaking the law and following last week’s Home Office brainwave to print anti-knife messages on the packaging of products from chicken restaurants, has a new plan. The home secretary has revealed her intention to end freedom of movement from [...]
Meat Loaf Remainism is just a return to politics as usual August 16, 2019 I’ll give fellow journalist John Rentoul the credit for coming up with the term “Meat Loaf Remainism”, although he is just one of many commentators to have noted how the present political predicament resembles a certain epic nineties rock anthem. Like the lover who swears “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do [...]
John McDonnell has put a nationalist cat among the Scottish pigeons August 9, 2019 Labour has a problem – and for once it isn’t antisemitism. This time, it’s second-in-command John McDonnell, who this week defied party policy and threw a spanner in the constitutional works by declaring that he backed allowing Scotland to vote again on independence. Speaking at an event at the Edinburgh Fringe (a festival more commonly [...]
A truly radical and pragmatic Prime Minister would let parliament get a cat August 2, 2019 Parliament is infested with vermin. According to an internal report seen by the MailOnline, the Westminster war on mice is being lost, despite £111,498 spent on pest control last year. As political conundrums go, this one has an obvious solution: allow cats on the parliamentary estate. Lots of them. Practical, inexpensive, and ruthlessly effective, this [...]
Hotel Romeo review: Naples has gone from Italy’s junkyard to a jewel in its crown July 29, 2019 Leave all your preconceptions about southern Italy at the departure gate – Naples is a hidden gem of culture, history and, of course, food. Nestled in the shadow of an active volcano and infamous as a mafia hot-spot, it’s safe to say that this is a city with an edge. For decades considered little more [...]
Boris Johnson gears up for war with a cabinet of resurrected soldiers July 26, 2019 They say you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Apparently, you also can’t build a governmental team capable of taking Britain out of the EU without breaking apart any sense of unity or collaborative sentiment in the Conservative party. Boris Johnson has appointed a cabinet of the living dead, not in the way [...]
Jo Swinson is the new Lib Dem leader – now where will she take her party? July 22, 2019 The votes have been counted, the outcome announced, and a new leader has taken the reins – not of the Conservative party, whose results we will know tomorrow, but of the Liberal Democrats. After a race which was almost entirely overshadowed by the Tories, Jo Swinson has been named the successor to Sir Vince Cable. [...]
The Extinction Rebels seem to care more about capitalism than climate July 19, 2019 If your commute to work this week has been blocked by a giant colourful boat, you have Extinction Rebellion (XR) to thank. The self-defined “non-violent civil disobedience activist movement” has begun its summer of disruption, shutting down traffic in five UK cities to protest against climate change “inaction”. A worthy and vital attempt to safeguard [...]
It’s time we rediscovered the ancient art of diplomacy July 12, 2019 On hearing of the death of the Turkish ambassador, the legendary Napoleonic diplomat Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand supposedly responded: “I wonder what he meant by that?” An apocryphal anecdote, perhaps, but this week, when the spotlight has been focused brightly on the shadowy world of the foreign service, it’s a useful story to consider. Sir Kim [...]
