22 October 2015 Frightened Now? By Neil Tidmarsh As Halloween approaches, let us consider the strange light (as from a dim and flickering candle) which four of this week’s news stories cast on the power exercised over the blood of the living and the bones of the dead by the omnipotent forces ruling this world.… Continue reading Issue 25:2015 10 22: Frightened now?
Category: Comment
Issue 25: 2015 10 22 A rumbling of tumbrils
22 October 2015 A Rumbling of Tumbrils What Blairite Labour MPs need to do to avoid the slaughter. by John Watson Perhaps it was Batman. Perhaps it was Superman. After so many years it is hard to remember which. Still, the story in the comic was a vivid one. The inhabitants of a futuristic city… Continue reading Issue 25: 2015 10 22 A rumbling of tumbrils
Issue 24: 2015 10 15: Curbing NHS Costs
15 October 2015 Curbing NHS Costs Mr Hunt takes action on the amounts paid to agency workers by John Watson The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has clamped down on the amounts paid by the NHS for doctors and administrative staff supplied by agencies, and he had little choice, politically speaking. The numbers are startling at… Continue reading Issue 24: 2015 10 15: Curbing NHS Costs
Issue 24: 2015 10 15: Right on, Right Hon
15 October 2015 Right on, Right Hon by J.R.Thomas A branch tapping on the window, the dancing of flames from a decaying fire on the wall, the creaking of an unlatched door in the wind. Children see and hear things that scare them; but the grown-ups know that it is nothing. So where are the… Continue reading Issue 24: 2015 10 15: Right on, Right Hon
Issue 24: 2015 10 15;The Modern Emperor
15 October 2015 The Modern Emperor A cautionary (but true) tale by Neil Tidmarsh The Modern Emperor picked up his pen and signed the order with a firm hand. It was his order to send troops to a distant foreign country. An arid and sun-baked country of deserts and mountains, of ancient civilizations and a… Continue reading Issue 24: 2015 10 15;The Modern Emperor
Issue 23: 2015 10 08: More Mayor
08 October 2015 More Mayor by J R Thomas They do things differently over there. The circus and jamboree (latest: Hilary duets on Saturday Night Live) currently in full swing as the two great American parties select their Presidential candidates is merely the most visible of a whole series of contests to select candidates for… Continue reading Issue 23: 2015 10 08: More Mayor
Issue23:2015 10 08: Really?
08 October 2015 Really? By Neil Tidmarsh A round-up of the ironies and absurdities in this last month’s international news. Good for a laugh – or enough to make you cry? Pacifism is always worth fighting for. Violence broke out in the Japanese parliament as pacifist MPs punched and wrestled with government MPs who were… Continue reading Issue23:2015 10 08: Really?
Issue 23: 2015 10 08: BEPS Reports Published
08 October 2015 BEPS Reports Published By John Watson Monday saw the publication of the OECD reports on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. What gobbledegook, you may think; but then, after all, it is all about tax. In particular it is about stopping multinationals from reducing their tax liabilities by various forms of financial trickery.… Continue reading Issue 23: 2015 10 08: BEPS Reports Published
Issue 22: 2015 10 01: The Bonfire of the Vanities
01 October 2015 The Bonfire of the Vanities By John Watson “German Manufacturers Break Rules.” What a great headline. Has Germany finally moved on in evolutionary terms? Have the laws of Darwin finally made it across the Rhine? Will they be making jokes next, funny ones even? It is a little sad that just when… Continue reading Issue 22: 2015 10 01: The Bonfire of the Vanities
Issue 22:2015 10 01:Speaker Cornered
01 October 2015 Speaker Cornered – the latest twist in the fight for the Republican Nomination by J.R.Thomas How the commentators all laughed at the idea that Donald Trump could possibly take his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination seriously, let alone that anybody else would. Light entertainment, they all said. A monstrous ego, having… Continue reading Issue 22:2015 10 01:Speaker Cornered
Issue 22:2015 10 01:SYRIA: A DILEMMA FOR OBAMA OR PUTIN?
1 October 2015 Syria: A dilemma for Obama, or for Putin? by Neil Tidmarsh This week, President Putin appealed to the United Nations on behalf of President Assad of Syria. How should President Obama and the West respond to that appeal? Before we consider that question, it’s worth reminding ourselves who is fighting who in… Continue reading Issue 22:2015 10 01:SYRIA: A DILEMMA FOR OBAMA OR PUTIN?
Issue 21: 2015 09 24: Sex, Drugs and Memory Loss
24 September 2015 Sex, Drugs and Memory Loss by J R Thomas The silly season has arrived late this year. Mr Corbyn was the first to feel the chill blast as his past romantic life (especially with Diane Abbott, now a member of his shadow cabinet) was dissected in the popular press. As Mr Corbyn… Continue reading Issue 21: 2015 09 24: Sex, Drugs and Memory Loss
Issue 21: 2015 09 24: Schism?
24 September 2015 Schism? Can the differences between the African and American churches be resolved? By John Watson In the eighteenth century the Church of England was described as the Conservative party at prayer, but at the moment it probably has more in common with Labour. That is not just because the Archbishop, a man… Continue reading Issue 21: 2015 09 24: Schism?
