02 May 2019 Lens on the Week UK ZERO EMISSIONS: As a first dividend from the public concern reflected in the Extinction Rebellion protests, the Government is to reduce the target for 2050 emissions to zero. That of course is the easy bit with ministers having different views as to how the reduction is to… Continue reading Issue 200: 2019 05 02: Lens on the Week
Article Category: Lens on the Week
Issue 199: 2019 04 25: Lens on the Week
25 April 2019 Lens on the Week UK CLIMATE CHANGE: Greta Thunberg, the 16 year old Swedish climate change activist, visited Parliament on Tuesday and met party leaders Jeremy Corbyn, Vince Cable and Caroline Lucas. Mrs May was in a cabinet meeting so the Government was represented by Secretary of State for the Environment and… Continue reading Issue 199: 2019 04 25: Lens on the Week
Issue 198: 2019 04 18: Lens on the Week
18 April 2019 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: The six months extension gives time for contemplation and the Government and Labour retire to their respective corners to think. The trouble is that the gap looks unbridgeable with the Tories unable to accept continuing membership of the market with its bar on third party trade deals… Continue reading Issue 198: 2019 04 18: Lens on the Week
Issue 197: 2019 04 11: Lens on the Week
11 April 2019 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT DELAY: Mrs May yesterday addressed the other 27 leaders of EU states to request an extension of the time limit for Brexit with a view to avoiding an exit with no agreement on Friday. She seeks a short deferment to 30 June 2019 but it seems… Continue reading Issue 197: 2019 04 11: Lens on the Week
Issue 196: 2019 04 04: Lens on the Week
04 April 2019 Lens on the Week UK DEADLOCK: Yet again the House of Commons has been unable to identify a form of Brexit which has majority support. Closest came a proposal from Ken Clarke for a continuing customs union with the EU which, attracting support from Labour, only failed by three votes. The trouble… Continue reading Issue 196: 2019 04 04: Lens on the Week
Issue 195: 2019 03 28: Lens on the Week
28 March 2019 Lens on the Week UK INDICATIVE VOTES: After the Prime Minister’s deferral of her third attempt to push through her agreement with the EU, the House of Commons supported a resolution proposed by the cerebral Sir Oliver Letwin calling for indicative votes on the various Brexit options. None of the options secured… Continue reading Issue 195: 2019 03 28: Lens on the Week
Issue 194: 2019 03 21: Lens on the Week
21 March 2019 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: The Government’s proposal to put Mrs May’s agreement to the house of Commons for a third time has been disrupted by a ruling from the Speaker, John Bercow, that a failed resolution may not be put again in the same parliamentary session. This did not bar… Continue reading Issue 194: 2019 03 21: Lens on the Week
Issue 193: 2019 03 14: Lens on the Week
14 March 2019 Lens on the Week UK MAYDAY: Mrs May’s revised Brexit agreement was defeated by 391 to 242 with 12 abstentions. That clearly marks the end of her attempts to make it sufficiently palatable to MPs to pass the Commons. Three green bottles were left on the wall; No Brexit, Hard Brexit and… Continue reading Issue 193: 2019 03 14: Lens on the Week
Issue 192: 2019 03 07: Lens on the Week
7 March 2019 Lens on the Week UK NOT SO FRANK: Mrs May’s comment on Monday that there is no direct link between the fall in police numbers for England and Wales by 20,000 since 2010 and the growth in violent crime such as stabbing was described as “delusional” by the Police Federation. Mrs May’s… Continue reading Issue 192: 2019 03 07: Lens on the Week
Issue 191: 2019 02 28: Lens on the Week
28 February 2018 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT CONFUSION: Chaos it certainly is, with Mrs May forced into offering a vote on Brexit postponement if there is no agreement of a deal by 12 March. But where exactly does that leave us? Assuming that Brussels accept it, it is only a delay. How does… Continue reading Issue 191: 2019 02 28: Lens on the Week
Issue 190: 2019 02 21: Lens on the Week
21 February 2019 Lens on the Week UK LABOUR: Pandora’s box opened? The crack in the dyke? Is the Labour split the beginning of something bigger? Where the gang of seven (now eight, plus three Tories thrown in for good measure) have trod will others follow? It all depends if they can seize the initiative. … Continue reading Issue 190: 2019 02 21: Lens on the Week
Issue 189: 2019 02 14: Lens on the Week
14 February 2019 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT: The position becomes ever more complicated with: Olly Robbins, the UK’s chief negotiator being overheard predicting that the EU will agree to defer Brexit to give more time; the Prime Minister insisting that we will leave on 29 March and lifting the rule that international treaties… Continue reading Issue 189: 2019 02 14: Lens on the Week
Issue 187: 2019 01 31: Lens on the Week
31 January 2019 Lens on the Week UK BREXIT POKER: So yet again Ireland forms the lynch pin of British politics. The House of Commons rejects the backstop and asks the Government to fight for alternatives. The Government paradoxically votes to renegotiate an agreement which it itself proposed and approved. Odd enough to provide food… Continue reading Issue 187: 2019 01 31: Lens on the Week
