Featured

Reclaiming liberty 1 : The Other 11th September – Chile, 1973

Political ideas of freedom have become the keystone of right wing ideology, while the left is associated more with equality. Our conception of freedom has been defined by leaders like Thatcher and Reagan, under the influence of thinkers such as Hayek and Friedman. This series seeks to establish that the freedom offered by the right […]

Some poorly put thoughts on the way to see Martin Rossiter at The Forum – 20/11/21:

“Goodbye ma, it’s my time to go…” For The Dead It’s hard to describe just how much this man and Gene, the band he fronted for a decade, mean to me. They remain my favourite group (for a few years in the late 90s to the exclusion of almost every other artist) and shaped so […]

Cruel and Human Treatment

We can’t call this treatment “inhumane”, if history teaches anything it is that cruelty like this is perfectly human. Torture, terror, trauma, death – these are things that we humans do to each other, with thoughtless ease.

Labour’s Problem With Antisemitism

A mural, a wreath and a speech. A rumbling argument about defining antisemitism in order to tackle it. None of these arrived unheralded this summer, but are part of questions that have dogged Labour since Corbyn became leader in 2015, such as: do some in the party engage in antisemitism? Does the leader have a […]

Little Bit of Politics – Power From The People:

“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you’ll never learn.” – Ray Bradbury “If they’re shooting at you, you’re doing something right.” – The West Wing I was wrong. I expected headlines in the press today to scream “betrayal!”, yet that’s not exactly what they’re screaming. There’s more of a quiet […]

Little Bit of Politics – Alternative Brexit:

There will be headlines. There will be letters. There will be alternative facts. Brace yourself for a bumpy ride folks, try not to let your head explode. Tomorrow morning there will be headlines that are wild and untamed, opinion pieces that are unhinged and mean-spirited. I’m prepared to wager that the word “betrayal” will feature, […]

U-No:

U-no what you don’t know U-no Your social media presence is the reflection and projection of who you are, so it is crucial to manage it with intent. U-No is your solution. Remaining alone and remote, even ostracised, at a social gathering can be distressing and traumatic, in the same way standing out or apart, […]

Little Bit of Politics – Power To The People:

Well it happened, Donald Trump became President of the United States. The Russian puppet is in the Oval Office and I’m seriously considering whether I can afford a bottle of gin a day for four years as a survival mechanism. Thankfully, however, the sight of two British tabloid headlines this morning brought anger raging through […]

Trump, Disputed Elections and The End of Politics:

I started this before the polls began closing, I’ve finished it just now, at 6.45am and can’t bring myself to check that the final votes are declared. I won’t look until I wake up in a few hours. I’ve not slept so these are slightly rambling thoughts but hopefully they express what’s intended. Every radical period […]

Sovereignty and the Enemies of the People

“Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.” – Carl Schmit (Nazi jurist and hipster constitutional theorist, writing in 1922) “Nazis? I hate Nazis” – Indiana Jones Constitutions restrain politics and politicians. That’s what they’re for – to set out the authority for using and limiting power. Sovereignty expresses that power, who gets to use […]