"It's not that I don't like it, Yuri. It's just not exactly snappy is it?" https://t.co/C2in0hxV2E
- John Bull (@garius) May 26, 2020
Ten weeks ago today, the Brussels St Patrick's Day reception was due to take place in the BOZAR. It's always a grand occasion, and this time was going to be particularly special; the evening was not only a celebration ( Read more... )

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Owen Smith, the anti-immigration candidate who has risen without trace to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour Party leadership, has been making hay with this apparent contradiction between Corbyn's current and past statements:

Confusion over Article 50https://t.co/hVPnt6QOpc …
- Owen Smith 2016 (@owensmith2016) August 6, 2016

I think I've made ( Read more... )

I'm not deeply invested in the fortunes of Britain's Labour Party. (I accidentally rejoined the Lib Dems last year, but haven't paid any subscription this year so possibly am no longer a member.) But I am very interested in questions of political leadership, and in the quality of democracy in a political system ( Read more... )

I was startled to pick up from POLITICO, quoting The Standard, that according to Boris Johnson, "We had more visitors to the British Museum alone than came to the whole of Belgium" in 2015.

Actually the 2015 figures have not yet been published as far as I can tell. But in "2014/15" (not clear precisely what period that is) the British Museum had 6 ( Read more... )

I'm fundamentally a liberal in my political ideology; I want to see a fairer society, I think the state has a limited (but not zero) role in bringing that about, and in terms of the UK's internal politics I would like to see electoral reform ( Read more... )

A few months ago the Economist's David Rennie wrote a pamphlet for the Centre for European Reform, a London-based pro-EU think tank. The paper, like Rennie himself, is only barely pro-EU, and the best bits are not in the conclusions, which he published here, but in the analysis of how successive British governments, especially the present one, got ( Read more... )

It's been a political sort of week, hasn't it? So I thought I should try and list those real-life politicians who have a Doctor Who connection. I don't know of very many and I am sure that the list can be expanded.

Members of Parliament

Here's one you may not have heard of: Stephen Lloyd, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastbourne since 2010, has claimed ( Read more... )

Like a lot of people who were around in British student politics in the mid-80s, I am unhealthily gleeful about the voiding of Phil Woolas' election in Oldham East and Saddleborough by an election court. (Edited to add: After starting to write this entry yesterday, I went out for dinner last night with someone who had dealt with Woolas in a ( Read more... )