Author Archives: bernardporter2013

The radical reform that Gianni Infantino is proposing for the football World Cup – to ‘privatise’ it (to an extent) by selling shares in it to private investors – is yet another symptom of the seemingly inexorable advance of untamed … Continue reading →

The Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – ought to be considered parts of Scandinavia, but rarely are, because of the way history has impacted on them. By ‘history’, of course, I mean Russia, especially in recent years when … Continue reading →

Here’s Trump’s pre-Independence Day speech yesterday, in front of the huge iconic carvings of four of his presidential predecessors on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pfGOBUsHwU. (Sorry about the adverts; but you should be able to be able to skip … Continue reading →

Can it be that Trump is already on his way down? I don’t mean all the way to Hell, necessarily; although I imagine they’re waiting eagerly for him there. But his ‘approval ratings’ in the latest polls seem to be … Continue reading →

I welcomed Keir Starmer as Labour’s leader, and now Prime Minister (if only for a few more weeks). I didn’t agree with all his policies; but he seemed solid, rational and decent, in contrast to all the Prime Ministerial crap … Continue reading →

I remember seeing at a football match – it was probably a West Ham game; if so it was very apt – a huge banner unfurled in one of the stands, reading: ‘FOOTBALL: CREATED BY WORKERS, STOLEN BY CAPITALISTS.’ (Or … Continue reading →

We’ve seen this in Britain, haven’t we: so-called ‘anti-semitism’ being ‘weaponised’ against Leftists, dishonestly, by the Right-wing media? In Britain’s case it was Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party that was targeted in 2015-19, to damaging electoral effect. I’m sorry to say … Continue reading →

Cage-fighting seems an odd way to celebrate the USA’s 250 years of independence. And displayed on the South Lawn of the venerable and much respected White House, it seems almost irreligious. I have to say I knew very little about … Continue reading →

Most people professing a religion have been born into it. That makes it less a matter of choice for them than of accident. For others it may be a question of compulsion, enforced by theocratic states. For all of these, … Continue reading →

Friends have been very considerate to me about West Ham United’s relegation last week. They know how devoted I was to the club. Thank you all. But in fact I’m not half so upset as I would have been if … Continue reading →