Author Archives: bernardporter2013

I’ve just turned 85; about 35 years longer than I ever imagined, based on the fact – irrelevant of course – that my father died in his fifties. I’ve been going through obituaries in Dagens Nyheter to see what age … Continue reading →

You don’t have to be good to be famous in history. (Obviously.) Which is encouraging news for Donald J Trump, if his universally acknowledged narcissism stretches that far into the future. One wonders whether Hitler would be altogether disappointed with … Continue reading →

It’s interesting to see how both the USA’s and the UK’s ‘Conservative’ parties seem to be collapsing today. That’s because the word ‘conservative’, literally and historically, must mean ‘conserving’ things – or keeping them roughly as they are; and neither … Continue reading →

How many of you have been bombarded recently – once or twice daily, in my case – with reports on Facebook of 3i/Atlas’s progress through our solar system, artificially guided by someone or something, and on a mission that its … Continue reading →

Is this Trump’s war? Or Netanyahu’s? – It does seem to be more rational from the latter’s point of view, and in line with his thinking for many years. (Trump keeps changing his rationale, which suggests that for him the … Continue reading →

Why is Trump at war with Iran? – Which raises the broader question: what are his motives for almost anything he does? With regard to Iran there are several possibilities, some of them stated, others not. They are: regime change; … Continue reading →

No liberal can feel any regret over the demise of Iran’s Supreme Leader, if he really was as ‘evil’ as Trump claims he was. (I have no reason to doubt that; but we know how persuasive false propaganda can be … Continue reading →

As a very long-time Labour voter, and occasional member, I’m nonetheless delighted by the result of yesterday’s Gorton and Denton by-election; won convincingly by the newly resurgent Green Party, with Labour plodding along in third place. The Tories were slaughtered; … Continue reading →

You can see why Putin so often characterises Russia’ s enemies as ‘Nazis’. The label immediately provokes revulsion; except of course among Neo-Nazis, who the Russian President seems to think are more influential – in Ukraine, the Baltic States (see … Continue reading →

The British Empire was not all aggression, exploitation and racism, although it was very largely that. It also had a more idealistic side to it, which was why many liberal-thinking Britons supported it at the time. Some of them were … Continue reading →