The British Ambassador, Huawei, Trade Deals and the BRI: Britain’s Declining Influence in 2019

The political drama this week is that Britain seems to have got itself in a bit of a bind. The American President is directly and continually insulting one of the highest ranking British ambassadors and the government seems to be responding rather limply to it. Nor is that the end of the matter. President Trump …

The Social Weight of Brexit

A recent discussion I saw, comparing Brexit to Thatcher, concluded that whilst Thatcher had an undeniably massive impact, it was clear, even to those who disliked her, that she had a plan. In contrast, the participants saw Brexit as being fundamentally without any plan, singular authority or guiding light, whilst threatening to fundamentally change British …

Taking a chance on Chuka

Chuka Umunna, formerly of Labour and ChangeUK, is now a Lib Dem. As might have been entirely expected, reactions are split. Some praise his conviction and look forward to absorbing him into the Liberal cause, whilst others damn his weasel ways and call (not for the first time, nor unreasonably) for a by-election. After all, …

Understanding the Local Election Results

It's only 4:30pm and only 202 of 259 councils have declared results, but patterns are already becoming apparent in these elections. It's impossible to ignore the giant blue bar descending on the left of that results graph: the Conservatives are losing, and losing hard. Theresa May, of course, still sees these results as a mandate …

The Case for History as a Societal Resource

For many of us, the subject of history is most familiar as a school memory. It tends to evoke one of two things: dates and numbers to be memorised and regurgitated, or a dull list of nationally significant events. Neither, as the common opinion goes, is that compelling. Consequently, history is seen as a very …

A Note on Definitions: politics, policy and the constitution

We hear an awful lot about how Brexit is breaking the UK constitution, written though uncodified as it is. It certainly seems that way: politicians are running amok regardless of party discipline, the minority government is pushing the limits of what the executive and parliament can do, MPs are abandoning their parties altogether, the parties …

Division! Forgotten Origins in Brexit

The Brexit whirlwind moves ever onward. In the process it increasingly drains the word 'meaning' of definition like a dementor drains happiness. Each day, politicians make passionate speeches (or write passionate articles) about a position they may not have held even yesterday - and then proceed to vote in the opposite direction. Each day, fellow …

Extra notes on the Independent Group

Spare thoughts which wouldn't fit into the previous post, in no particular order: Differences between Tariff Reform and the Independent Group 1. Difference #1 That in many ways the 1906 election has already happened. The 2017 General Election was the one in which the Conservatives lost their significant majority. The difference may be explained by …

Breaking the spell: the Independent Group

So it's finally happened. We have a splinter group, and it's growing. British politics has entered a whirlwind of panicked opinion. Sure, we've had hard-left Labour factions, antisemitism and the ERG has acquired an apparently iron grip on the Conservative tiller, but this is the first time any MPs have actually left a party as …

In support of the school strikers today

I'm post-interview today, so very tired, but I did want to take a moment to talk about the treatment of students and children by UK politics. Not just because of today's student strikers supporting climate change, but also because of attitudes I've seen displayed towards those in education more generally, such as in the recent …