Author Archives: bernardporter2013

I misspent much of my youth watching county cricket. (Maybe not misspent. Where else could I have learned about skill, subtlety, chance, patience, honour – in other words ‘playing the game’?) At that time Essex didn’t have a single venue, … Continue reading →

Anders Borg, ex-Finance Minister, is in the news in Sweden for exposing his penis and grabbing other people’s crotches (here it’s called ‘Trumping’) at a drunken party. (See https://www.ft.com/content/c7ce0f46-7a88-11e7-9108-edda0bcbc928.) If only our British scandals were as harmless. It was only … Continue reading →

Is it democracy? Is that where the fault lies, if such it be? Brexit was a democratic decision, albeit narrowly. Trump was elected by enough of the people, at any rate, to satisfy the ground rules of American democracy. Is … Continue reading →

Vince Cable has it exactly right. I’m ashamed of my generation. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4764742/Lib-Dem-leader-SIR-VINCE-CABLE-attacks-Brexit-fanatics.html

One of the problems with Brexit is how to replace the free trade we presently enjoy within Europe, but which we might lose – especially after what is called a ‘hard’ Brexit – with something else as profitable. At the … Continue reading →

A brief historical coda to yesterday’s post. Nineteenth-century British Tories were also against educating the plebs at almost every level, beyond what would be required for their strict and natural function in society: which was to labour for the gentry. … Continue reading →

Despite working in the Higher Education sector, I was never one of those who thought that universities were for everyone, or even a majority of people, which I believe is the situation in Britain today; and was especially dubious of … Continue reading →

On holiday; which releases me, I feel, from the duty of commenting on the farcical political events I’m reading about from Britain and America. We’re presently on a train climbing through high snowfields (in July!) in Norway. Donald, Theresa, Boris, … Continue reading →

My latest review. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/20/m-by-henry-hemming-review-mi5

I can’t think of another period in British history where leading politicians were drawn from the ranks of professional journalists. Salisbury used to write (anonymously) for the press before becoming PM, but it wasn’t his main occupation. WH Smith – … Continue reading →