Monthly Archives: April 2025

There’s very little more one can say about Trump. He must currently be the most famous person on the planet. (I imagine he revels in that.) Of course there may still be new Trumpian scandals to be revealed – kompromats, … Continue reading →

In my day, sixty-odd years ago, British universities were predominately Conservative politically, or at least the ‘élite’ ones were. I attended one of those top ‘Unis’, as they’re called now (we called ourselves a ‘Varsity’), joining a college where my … Continue reading →

Yesterday we attended a performance of Bach’s St John Passion in the Berwaldhalle in Stockholm. It was a first for me; of course I know the St Matthew Passion, and have all of Bach’s cantatas (around 200 of them) on … Continue reading →

[I’ve been nervous of publishing this, in view of the way that any criticism of Israel can be labelled ‘anti-semitic’ by dedicated supporters of the modern Israeli government. (See – again – Asa Winstanley, Weaponising Anti-Semitism, 2023.) I don’t regard … Continue reading →

In Britain a crucial economic decision – the government taking over control of the steel industry – requires the recall of Parliament to endorse it; which it did today. Over in the USA the President, entirely on his own, makes … Continue reading →

The Swedish Vänsterpartiet (‘Left Party’: formerly Communist but no longer) is currently being attacked on exactly the same specious grounds as Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was a few years ago. (See Asa Winstanley, Weaponising Anti-Semitism, OR Books, New York, 2023.) … Continue reading →

Here’s the Rektor of Stockholm’s equivalent of the LSE, describing the Trumpian assault on America’s universities, and the resulting exodus of some of their top academics to European and Canadian universities; and making the same point as I did yesterday … Continue reading →

Historians are usually quite good at pointing out precedents for what is happening in their own times. But I’m afraid I can’t think of any close precedents for what is going on today. For the clear ‘Fascist’ tendencies in modern … Continue reading →

‘For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike’. That was the line Donald Trump took on Tuesday (April 2), to justify the long list of ‘reciprocal’ American … Continue reading →

I’m still astonished by the revelation that the American Constitution gives so much unchecked power (as it seems at present) to a single person. George III had nothing like the same authority; and some of his royal predecessors met gruesome … Continue reading →