Author Archives: bernardporter2013

Lynton Crosby has excelled himself here. Remember, he’s Boris Johnson’s Australian political guru (the one before Dominic Cummings) who invented – or at any rate is associated with – the strategy of throwing a dead cat into the room to … Continue reading →

Something to look forward to, as I languish in bed suffering from the coronavirus. I’m showing no signs of it yet, but one case has just been reported in Hull. A whole one! And I’m in an at-risk group twice … Continue reading →

Lovely interview with Jan Morris in today’s Observer. She’s 93. An amazing woman – born male, army officer, Times reporter, climbed Everest, best known as a travel writer, a Welsh nationalist, changed sex, wrote a book about it, Conundrum (I’m afraid I … Continue reading →

The recent propaganda campaign against Labour’s and Corbyn’s alleged ‘anti-semitism’ will go down as the most despicable in recent British political history. (Certainly if I have anything to do with the writing of it!) Those responsible for it – the … Continue reading →

Conspiracy theories are – according to the comedian David Baddiel in his excellent TV programme on ‘Holocaust deniers’ the other evening – ‘how idiots get to feel like intellectuals’. I rather liked that! (All the more so because Baddiel didn’t … Continue reading →

Point number 1: democracy is not the most efficient form of government. Point number 2: that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Efficiency can breed tyranny. One of the major insults I remember being used against the Nazis during and after … Continue reading →

With Dominic Cummings in the news this morning as the supposed evil genius behind Sajiv Javid’s surprise resignation as Chancellor – thus enabling Boris’s absolute control of government, on the way to Dominic’s ultimate vision of a new quasi-Fascist(?) way … Continue reading →

As a passionate anti-racist for all of my adult life, as you can tell from my books; an admirer of Jewish culture; and with a huge sympathy for the Jewish people’s sufferings, alongside others’, throughout history, I still cannot find … Continue reading →

The following article is about Finland, but it also applies to Sweden. In fact – remembering my own days as a father of small children – the Swedish parental leave and childcare systems were the first things that struck me … Continue reading →

I was quite excited by this item on the BBC News this morning. An academic has unearthed a diary or journal written by a working Yorkshire farmer in the very early 19thcentury which reveals, as well as much else, some … Continue reading →