Author Archives: bernardporter2013

In a move reminiscent of Corbyn’s time in the UK, the Swedish Judiska Centralrådet – the equivalent, I presume, of the Jewish Board of Deputies in Britain – has effectively blacklisted the Swedish Vänsterpartiet (Left-Socialist), for its supposed anti-Semitism, or … Continue reading →

Nineteenth-century anti-democrats would recognise in recent events in the USA many of the dangers they warned against, if the ‘great unwashed’ were given the vote. They would point to the empowerment of ignorance, of short-sighted prejudices, of wild conspiracy theories, … Continue reading →

Of course there have been periods in the past when everything seemed to be getting terrifyingly worse – one thinks of the times before each of the two World Wars, or the Cuban missile crisis – but the present day … Continue reading →

Robert Jenrick is a monster; a smooth-faced one, but no less monstrous for that. His notorious banning of cartoon figures painted on the walls of a reception centre for unaccompanied child immigrants, because they seemed too ‘welcoming’, will surely repel … Continue reading →

So, the Tories’ choice for leader lies between two Right-wing (even by Conservative standards) candidates: anti-EU, anti-human rights legislation, anti-welfare, very anti-immigration, and anti-what they call ‘woke’. That one of these is a black woman should not give us (on … Continue reading →

(Churchill’s phrase, of course, for his bouts of depression.) OK, I’m depressed. But just now that seems normal to me. In fact I can’t understand why anyone isn’t depressed these days. (That may just show how depressed I am.) Here … Continue reading →

Forget – if you can – the lies of the past dozen years or so; the gross incompetence; the sheer human stupidity, even, of those who were supposed to be looking after the people’s best interests, in those years of … Continue reading →

I’ve always disliked the Old Testament, ever since I was given it to study in ‘Divinity’ classes at school, and then seeing it through New Testament eyes in my former (very liberal: today it would be called ‘wokeish’) Christian church. … Continue reading →

‘…your Mum and Dad. They may not mean to, but they do.’ (That’s Philip Larkin, of course.) Well, not necessarily; and I wouldn’t like to blame my parents for my own fuck-uppedness (everyone’s fucked up to a degree). But obviously … Continue reading →

Is it normal for an 83 year-old to wake up every morning feeling that the world – or at least decent liberal society – is coming to an end? (I mean ‘liberal’ in the original broad sense of the term; … Continue reading →