Category Archives: Uncategorized

Civilized debate stands no chance against the forces now arraigned against it, from the lowest depths of the ‘blogosphere’ to the highest reaches of the US government. ‘Fake news’ is the aspect being highlighted presently, turning President Trump’s neat phrase … Continue reading →

[NOTE: This was the outcome of my 3-day rush to complete the LRB’s latest commission. In the end they didn’t like it – ‘not what we wanted’; which was a mere description of the affair, plus some ‘what if’ speculations. … Continue reading →

Trump’s retweeting of fake ‘Britain First’ propaganda a few weeks ago, quickly slapped down by Theresa May, who was then re-slapped down by Trump, isn’t by itself evidence of a two-way link between him and our own neo-Nazis. But there’s … Continue reading →

Just back from Stockholm: a complicated journey – tunnelbana, flyggbus, plane, train, tube, train, taxi, all the way dragging a case full of heavy Xmas pressies – which always leaves me pretty shagged out. I arrived to find a request … Continue reading →

For a socialist and active anti-imperial campaigner for sixty years – apartheid, Suez, Rhodesia, Vietnam – to be seen to be defending the British Empire will strike some as not only perverse, but also dangerous to his reputation, his career, … Continue reading →

Toby Young’s appointment to the new British universities ‘Watchdog’ committee, widely criticised by academics, students and on the Left, is reminiscent of Donald Trump’s selection of people for high office on no other grounds than their ideological views. Young, of … Continue reading →

I may have been wrong in my assumption that all or most Britishers living on the Continent will have been Remainers. Here’s a piece about a couple of expats who were on the other side of the argument. It’s backed … Continue reading →

Since the Brexit vote, a large number of the million-odd Britons living and working in the rest of the EU has been organising on the internet either to reverse Brexit, or else to secure a ‘divorce’ settlement that won’t deprive … Continue reading →

Lord Adonis’s letter of resignation to the Prime Minister yesterday was a powerful statement, both about the re-privatisation of the East Coast rail line – the one I use most – which was part of his official brief as chair … Continue reading →

Before I pen my contribution to the current Oxford-centred debate over the evils/benefits of the British Empire – see my last post – here is one I prepared earlier. It’s on a slightly different issue, and arises out of another … Continue reading →