Category Archives: British politics

Hornblower’s Brexit

I found the English of a piece I wrote for Dagens Nyheter last summer when Johnson resigned from Theresa May’s cabinet, in which I argued that the only way to reach Brexit Fantasy Island was by letting Admiral Hornblower steer … Continue reading

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Heartbreaking

On Friday I put up a piece on the Guardian’s Comment is Free about the hideous philistinism of Andy Burnham, the minister for “Culture, Media and Sport” who wants to turn libraries into community centres, with coffee bars, music, mobile … Continue reading

Posted in British politics, Journalism | 2 Comments

Goodbye to Swiss banks?

There is yet more from the FT about the crash: an article suggesting that while the US government had to nationalise the finance system to save it, no European government is big enough to do the same, if that proves … Continue reading

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A short Q&A with Melanie Phillips

In this morning’s Mail she has a pop at Baroness Warnock: Q: Has there ever been anyone who has displayed more inhumanity towards her fellow human beings, and yet had more influence over British society, than the noble Baroness Warnock? … Continue reading

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The return of socialism

I have been saying for years that the FT was the best left-wing newspaper in Britain: just look at today’s issue which proclaims the end of Thatcher/Reagan capitalism. Just as New Labour, built on the rejection of Clause Four (for … Continue reading

Posted in British politics, Journalism, USA | 8 Comments

Lost knowledge

Of which British 20th Century figure was its said by an American onlooker that his misfortune was that “He was born a Roman and died an Italian”? It could have been Churchill or possibly Keynes, though I think that Keynes … Continue reading

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A Pelican History

England in the Eighteenth Century is a lovely, succinct and succulent volume from the Pelican History of England, written in 1950, at a time of fierce self-improvement. To quote the contemporary review in the Listener: As a portent in the … Continue reading

Posted in British politics, Literature, Science without worms, War | 1 Comment

Explaining creationism in British schools

The first impulse for Melanie Phillips’ long journey to the very very right came from her experiences as one of the Guardian’s education writers, where the gap between propaganda and reality was just unbearable. Today’s paper shows what she was … Continue reading

Posted in British politics, God | 2 Comments

More things that Telegraph readers say

The Guardian has a piece today lamenting that there is an elected BNP councillor who has a blog at the Telegraph site. Fair enough; but if the man has been elected and if what he posts is legal it’s hard … Continue reading

Posted in British politics, Journalism | 4 Comments

Don’t have sex with Roman Catholics

Last Monday I went to see Nick Davies talking at Wolfson College, and in consequence bought his book; quite by coincidence. Kevin Myers’ memoir of life in Belfast Watching the Door turned up on Friday, so I read that too. … Continue reading

Posted in British politics, Journalism | 6 Comments