Author Archives: bernardporter2013

This piece by Martin Kettle pretty accurately describes my dilemma over Brexit up until now: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/25/no-soft-brexit-no-deal-revoke-vote. Like him, I guess, I’m a strong albeit Eurosceptical Remainer, but aware that the referendum result made that position a difficult one to sustain. … Continue reading →

There’s a good update here on the Assange affair. http://normanfinkelstein.com/2019/04/24/the-truth-about-comrade-julian-assange/?fbclid=IwAR1WjghCbEkjn0QhLMu_cPpqNeRWVAidqXFedZmA4umfDtvpfTX9YRQylkY. He’s an odd bloke, alright, with his pale face, white hair and unconventional life-style. His enemies – who include most of the governments he’s offended – have exploited his peculiarities, … Continue reading →

For St George’s Day. (You’ll know of course that St George – if he ever existed – was a brown-skinned Turk – or Syrian – who is unlikely even to have seen a dragon, and never visited England in his … Continue reading →

Forget for the moment Assange, Snowden and Manning, important as they are, and worth defending at almost any cost. Their revelations have been priceless, in revealing dirty deeds done by governments and other agencies all over the world, but hitherto … Continue reading →

I’d be there if it weren’t for my distance from London, my age and my arthritis. Or are these just convenient excuses? (Sorry, can’t go to ’Nam; I have these bone spurs in my foot.) In principle, I’m all in … Continue reading →

I literally wept when I saw those pictures of Notre Dame de Paris in flames yesterday. I’ve never done that for calamities – shootings, bombs – which only hurt or destroy human beings. Is that bad? Does it make me … Continue reading →

A new Brexit referendum would be democratically unexceptionable, whatever the Leavers say, and could well reverse the 2016 vote. This is because there’s more solid evidence now on which to base a judgment; the cheating and manipulation that dogged the … Continue reading →

Pulled. Sorry. But not before a comment was added: below.

Yesterday marked the centenary of the Amritsar Massacre. I’ve written about this, of course, in my Empire histories; and also in a review of a biography of the villain of the piece for the TLS, afterwards republished in my Empire Ways (2016), … Continue reading →

Extradition to Sweden may be the least bad outcome of the recent Assange seizure and arrest: (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/12/give-priority-to-julian-assange-claim-home-secretary-urged). It would get the British government off the hook. If it gives priority to the Swedish extradition request over the American, as these … Continue reading →