7 March 2024 We need to talk about Islam And the Western Blight on Sudanese Politics By James Morton Where the Blue Nile joins the White Nile the two rivers trace the shape of an elephant’s trunk, giving the name Khartoum to the capital of Sudan. As the generals of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)… Continue reading We need to talk about Islam
Article Category: Comment
Labour Challenge
1 February 2024 Labour The real challenge. By John Watson Everything has its season. Empires rise and fall. Seasons begin and then pass. Hemlines rise and then drop. Political parties lose their way and then find it again. We don’t need to read the Book of Ecclesiastes to persuade ourselves that the fortunes of the… Continue reading Labour Challenge
Education Mess
1 February 2024 Education Mess Culture wars in the classroom. By Lynda Goetz For a long time, many in this country seem to have believed not only that our health system is the envy of the world, but that our education is also revered by others abroad. As our sainted NHS disintegrates, that belief is… Continue reading Education Mess
Trouble Among the Old Folk
1 February 2024 Trouble Amongst the Old Folks by J.R.Thomas Donald Trump (aged 77) won in Iowa, as we expected. But he also won in New Hampshire, rather unexpected. And so he is out of the starting stalls and away down the track, with seemingly a winning lead in the 2024 Presidential stakes. It’s all… Continue reading Trouble Among the Old Folk
Corbynista Rides Again
1 February 2024 Corbynista Rides Again Still No Ceasefire by Don Urquhart 9 December 2023 The Guardian reported on events at the United Nations: The US vetoed a United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire late on Friday, despite a dramatic warning from António Guterres that civil order was breaking down and the risk of a mass… Continue reading Corbynista Rides Again
Asante
1 February 2024 Asante Age of empires. By Neil Tidmarsh Gold artefacts made by brilliantly skilled Asante craftsmen hundreds of years ago are going back to Ghana after one and a half centuries in English museums. Last week the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum announced the signing of an agreement which will… Continue reading Asante
Democracy in Action
1 February 2024 Democracy in Action The debate. By Robert Kilconner I really cannot remember who it was or exactly what they said. Some Tory, I suppose. Either a politician or a newspaper or some other member of the Conservative diaspora. What is more I am not going to spend time looking for it because… Continue reading Democracy in Action
Stockton
7 December 2023 Stockton Probably a lovely town. By John Watson “Shithole” or “not shithole”, that is the question. No, not whether Stockton is a shithole. No one seems to care much about that but there has been quite a fuss about whether the Home Secretary James Cleverly said that it was one in the… Continue reading Stockton
Make Kamala Great Again
7 December 2023 Make Kamala Great Again by J.R. Thomas That is an ambitious line for a placard. It assumes that Ms Harris was sort of great before, and there is some evidence of that, but nobody seems to take it seriously. There was a time when she looked like a contender, a strong contender,… Continue reading Make Kamala Great Again
Smoking
7 December 2023 Smoking And proportional representation. By Robert Kilconner Those who believe in proportional representation should think carefully about the decision by the New Zealand government to reverse the progressive smoking ban. The idea of the ban was that each year the age at which an individual can buy tobacco rises by one so… Continue reading Smoking
Corbynista Rides Again
7 December 2023 Corbynista Rides Again One Man’s Terrorist by Don Urquhart 8 November 2023 Watching the Commons debate on the Humanitarian Situation in Gaza I am struck by our impotence to influence events. Andrew Mitchell, the Foreign Office Minister tells us that Government and Opposition front benches are agreed that a ceasefire will not… Continue reading Corbynista Rides Again
Men of Goodwill
7 December 2023 Men of Goodwill Christian, Jew, Arab. By Neil Tidmarsh It’s the season of goodwill. Given the current shortage of this commodity in that very part of the world where those angels first announced “on earth peace, good will toward men”, it might be timely and reassuring to look at some of the… Continue reading Men of Goodwill
The Prodigal Returns
7 December 2023 View from the Cotswolds: The Prodigal Returns by Paul Branch Picture the scene: an impressive but not overly large mansion house in a charming hamlet in the North Cotswolds. Evening has descended, the lights are on, a bijou Shepherd’s Hut is tastefully illuminated just off the driveway. In the main dining room… Continue reading The Prodigal Returns
