The commemoration of martyrs is an enduring British pastime. This week a memorial statue of Princess Diana will be unveiled outside Kensington Palace, presumably because the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park was too cryptic. Also this week, the country marked the five-year anniversary…
In his 1945 article on ‘The Sporting Spirit’, George Orwell wrote: “If you wanted to add to the vast fund of ill-will existing in the world at this moment, you could hardly do better than by a series of football matches between Jews and Arabs… [among…
Picking at the carcass of the local elections, one faction in British politics is on hand to guide the way for the Labour Party. As the results trickled in, with news Labour had lost Hartlepool for the first time since the seat was created in…
Watching Boris Johnson’s temper tantrum at this week’s PMQs, I was struck by the thought that I’d seen this before. In a video clip from November 2014, the then Mayor of London responds to some mild heckling from Andrew Dinsmore, a Labour member of the…
First published on Medium on July 9th, 2020 For those who found the slogans “Take Back Control”, “Get Brexit Done”, and “Stay at Home” too challenging, this government has just the thing. A triumph of brutality, the Prime Minister’s recently unveiled slogan “BUILD, BUILD, BUILD”…
These columns were published on Lit during 2020. Labour & Tory Political Ill-health Left Us At COVID’s Mercy – November 20th, 2020 Trump’s Bizarre Convention Is The Natural End-Point Of Tory Culture Wars – August 31st, 2020 Conspiracy Corbyn Is Still Wasting Labour’s Time. When…
First published on April 14, 2020, on Medium Not even Dominic Cummings could have orchestrated the propaganda coup of Boris Johnson rising from the dead on Easter Sunday. This was clearly the work of a higher power, and Johnson knows just who to thank: Thien…
First published on March 17, 2020, on Medium These are the times that try men’s bowels — at least if the toilet paper aisles of the supermarket are any guide. In years to come, tales will be told of the Great Bog Roll Run of…
First published on January 20, 2020, on Medium Amid the good humour of Labour’s first leadership hustings in Liverpool on Saturday, an unwanted guest stalked the proceedings and threatened to ruin the party: At the back of the hall in the Arena and Convention Centre, apparently undetected…
First published on January 15, 2020, on Medium Just as a lost pet is said to be able to find its way home, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn this weekend returned to where he belongs: In the street, shouting drivel to a crowd of the…