Author Archives: bernardporter2013

The Guardian today points the finger at Jack Straw as having been one of the least ‘open’ ministers – with regard to Freedom of Information – of his day: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/08/jack-straw-ministries-among-worst-freedom-of-information In 1999 I wrote this piece about ‘official secrecy’ for the … Continue reading →

The point about justice is that it should apply to people you don’t like as well as to those you do. Otherwise it’s not justice. I don’t think that, if I met him, I would like Julian Assange very much. … Continue reading →

On the one hand, doping and betting scandals. And football still in the hands of quasi-criminal capitalists, paying their mercenary players obscenely high wages, and pricing loyal spectators out of their grounds. (See my earlier piece on this: https://bernardjporter.wordpress.com/2015/01/09/mercenaries-in-football/.) Who … Continue reading →

Keep a scandal simmering for long enough, and people will get bored with it. That must be most people’s reaction to the latest news about the Assange case: a UN ruling that he has been ‘unlawfully detained’. He’s a funny-looking … Continue reading →

Bernie Sanders’s impressive showing in the Iowa primaries is greatly encouraging for all us 1960s nostalgics. Or it would be, if the USA were a democracy. As it is, just imagine what it will be like if he becomes the … Continue reading →

Just a reminder that I have some knowledge in this area, though I wouldn’t like to claim that The Refugee Question in Mid Victorian Politics – the title of my 1979 book, re-issued a couple of years ago by CUP … Continue reading →

Sweden at first takes tens of thousands, then announces it’s going to send 60,000 home. Denmark is presented taking away their jewels, like the Nazis. It must be more complex than this. I must try to find out, then write about … Continue reading →

Here’s a short piece I contributed to the LRB Blog 3 or 4 years ago. I’m sure that any of my followers who work in Universities will feel it still resonates. I took early retirement from my last university job about … Continue reading →

A sort of novel. It’s meant to be satirical. I don’t really believe Thatcher was a Soviet mole – the point is, however, that it would make perfect sense if she were. Either a free-standing little story; or I could continue … Continue reading →