Category Archives: Uncategorized

The P&O management’s monstrous decision to summarily sack 800 of its employees, in order simply – and expressly – to replace them by cheaper foreign labour, has caused huge distress here in Hull. Hull is of course – or perhaps … Continue reading →

I offered my UK house to a refugee family a couple of weeks ago, and should have someone coming around to vet both the house and me shortly. Obviously I had Ukrainians in mind at the time, but they can … Continue reading →

Well done President Emmanuel Macron for calling out Johnson’s empty boasts. ‘We’ve sanctioned more Russian oligarchs than any other nation’, Boris claims; ‘welcomed more Ukrainian refugees’; ‘led the world in supporting Ukrainian resistance’; and ‘acted faster than anyone in support … Continue reading →

Brexiters like to think that anti-Brexiters dismiss them as ‘stupid’. Many anti-Brexiters undoubtedly do regard them in this way. But it’s a very unwise thing to express it openly. No-one likes being called stupid. It stokes the Brexiters’ suspicion that … Continue reading →

A few years ago a woman I met at a party in Stockholm, having been told that I was an ‘imperial historian’, asked me: ‘why did you British want an empire?’ It seemed odd to her, as a Swede (although … Continue reading →

In his former life, of course, Vladimir Putin was a top KGB agent. My previous research into the history of the British secret services taught me that you can never trust an ex-spook, of any country. Their work involves – … Continue reading →

And here we go. (Morning of the 24th.) Is this the consummate chess master’s deep game? It would explain Trump and Brexit too, of course. https://eand.co/putins-game-12307a927117

During the last century Russia’s flaws and threats were invariably put down to her Communism, and consequently used as a potent argument against that political ideology. Historians however were aware that authoritarianism and imperialism had long been a feature of … Continue reading →

There are three ways I can think of to repair Britain’s crippled democracy. One is a fairer electoral system than our present ‘FPTP’ one. (Here’s one way of doing it while still retaining local accountability: https://bernardjporter.com/2016/02/29/first-past-the-post/.) The second way is … Continue reading →

What a gift for Boris this Ukraine business is! It gives him the ideal opportunity to look strong and resolute, climb into fighter jets for photo ops, talk with (or, rather, at) powerful autocrats, issue dire warnings, look Churchillian, speechify … Continue reading →