NATO was set up to confront the Soviets and prevent the Communist superpower advancing West. Stalin had managed to occupy and retain half Germany and all of Eastern Europe at the end of WWII. When the Soviet Union collapsed, its own defence treaty organisation collapsed too. The Warsaw Pact was disbanded. NATO was designed to […]
What a mess. In the run up to Christmas we are once again faced with rail strikes which make commuting exhausting and stressful while infuriating everybody except the obdurate franchise holders and the incompetent Tory government, under whose bizarre free enterprise or bust ideology they function. The RMT has right on its side. Every train […]
The Tory media feeding frenzy on Corbyn is in full cry. This is because Tory canvassers are reporting disquiet on working class and suburban doorsteps, votes they must win, lukewarm about their own safety first manifesto. Meanwhile in spite of the attacks on him on every front and ridiculing of his every appearance, Labour maintains […]
It is very unsatisfactory if faith leaders from whatever calling enter into the political debate, the more so when the country is polarised, angry and in the midst of an unprecedented election. Especially if it is directed at specific parties or individuals. Whatever the provocation and however justified the observation or complaint is, such interventions […]
With the Manifestos all out, the contest will begin to move beyond the soundbite/ cheap headline stage to real issues. If the Tories manage to hold the Brexit line, that is getting it done is everything and little else matters, they will win a majority. At the moment polls show them on course for this. […]
Jeremy Corbyn is entirely right to adopt a neutral position in a Brexit referendum, if he becomes prime minister. Harold Wilson did just that in 1974. His cabinet split, as did the country, but after the result everyone was united behind the outcome to accept the revised terms of membership and remain in what was […]
Regular readers will know how much I disapprove of centre politics, which I regard as a quagmire of self interest, lack of vision and kicking the can down the road on almost everything which demands more than a sound bite or a quick fix. There must be a dynamic left and a reactionary right. Either […]
Boris Johnson is way ahead in the polls and the popular sentiment among much of the press and all Tories for Corbyn is derision. So Johnson should have wiped the floor with Corbyn in their TV debate. But he didn’t. He scored on the debating points, but descended into bluster on the issues. The YouGov […]
This Blog is not persuaded that the Democrats are doing the right thing here. I have no doubt that Trump messes with foreign policy and operates outside the norms of the way things are supposed to be done. But it is because he is a maverick that he was elected. Shake everything up and drain […]
As many regular readers know I am a writer and blogger who has been a keen political observer for more than sixty years. Born a Tory, I became a founder member of the SDP, before gradually migrating left. In 2014 I published my idea Dynamic Quantitative Easing, which aroused some interest in high places. This […]