Author Archives: bernardporter2013

By one of our best historians. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/11/how-brexiteers-broke-history?fbclid=IwAR360cE__yun5MEUkuW9EAdmTKVVyQW6k520FomvlVd1ocLNXplnir4S8_U

One of Labour’s new ideas is to institute St George’s Day (April 23) as a National holiday – or ‘bank holiday’, as we curiously call them – to celebrate ‘Englishness’. The Scots, Welsh and Irish all have their National days, … Continue reading →

If Theresa May’s Brexit settlement gets through, says Boris Johnson, it will mean that ‘for the first time in a thousand years this place, this Parliament, will not have a say over the means to govern this country’. (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaZnEpgNJpA; 1 … Continue reading →

As expected, and as was absolutely right, the celebrations yesterday to mark the centenary of the Armistice of 1918 were solemn, sorrowful and deeply moving. They were duplicated all over the old Commonwealth (including India), and, I imagine, in all … Continue reading →

Despite a pretty good education in and experience of American history and politics, I’ve been surprised recently at the degree of power a President can wield if he’s not ‘checked and balanced’. Over the past two years the US has … Continue reading →

Reading the Wikipedia entry on Arron Banks – the financier whose bankrolling of the Brexit campaign is now the subject of a criminal enquiry – I was struck by certain similarities between him and Donald Trump. (See  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arron_Banks.) I don’t … Continue reading →

The British (and Commonwealth) World War I dead whom we shall be remembering next Sunday – the centenary of the Armistice – fought and died for a number of reasons. Some of course had no choice in the matter, after … Continue reading →

I don’t think you can altogether blame people for their hostility to Islam, in view of the numerous horrific crimes committed in the name  of the Prophet, and incidents like the following: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/01/release-asia-bibi-pakistan-blasphemy-laws. Not her release, of course, but the terrible … Continue reading →

I don’t usually follow Doctor Who, but thought I would look into it now in order to see how its new female Dr Who is shaping up. I thought she was super. Last Sunday’s episode (series 11, episode 4) was up to … Continue reading →

Further to my recent post on ‘Immigration’ – https://bernardjporter.com/2018/10/15/immigration/ – another important distinction to draw in this context rests on whether the immigrants intend to merge into the societies they come in to, or whether – to put no finer point … Continue reading →