Opinion / British Politics and Society

Honest Craig Murray v Polish Racism

Undeterred by doing worse than the British National Party in the 2005 election result in Blackburn, former Ambassador Craig Murray is back on the campaign trail. He is running as a local lad independent candidate in the North Norwich by-election, under the slogan "honest people can fight back". And he is going […]

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That Insane Labour Crisis: It’s All About Europe, Stupid?

How to explain the frantic efforts of Gordon Brown to stay at No 10? One seriously insane theory I have heard, and NB it is insane, runs as follows. Remember that idea that Tony Blair wants to be the first ‘President of Europe’ once the Lisbon Treaty comes into force? That […]

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Rural England Votes, 4 June 2009

Not having voted in a UK election since 1987 or thereabouts, I made my way at dawn to the local polling station here in the countryside to be ready to strike a belated but fast blow today for Democracy. I was stunned by what I found. The local village hall […]

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Democracy And The Internet

Last week I was at the fine Frontline Club near Paddington station for a dinner conversation cum presentation on the Internet and the next general election. The lead participants were Guido and Iain Dale broadly representing the Right and Alex Smith (Labour List) and Matthew McGregor (Blue State Digital) ditto for the […]

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Comparative Politics

Don’t you just shed a silent tear when you look at Government ‘mission statements’? You know the sort of thing: Working towards a safer Britain Why would they do that? What’s with the -r? Why not work towards a safe Britain? Here’s a real life example from Scotland: Towards a Safer […]

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Conservatives v Rigid Impotence

As the European Parliament elections loom, the sheer horror of the Conservative Party’s idea of leaving the ‘mainstream’ EPP party bloc comes to the fore. I have written about this here. But behold now this onslaught from Tory Grandees, no less. The Independent is scurrying to catch up. The argument […]

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Political Compass’s Directionlessness

Craig Murray writes approvingly of the zany survey of political opinions run by Political Compass. But it was posted at 0200 hrs, so maybe baby Cameron Murray was stopping him getting a much needed rest. Read the Political Compass FAQs. They are a hoot. See eg this description of why […]

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Britblog Roundup 223: UK v EU?

Is here. It links to Brian Barder arguing against the very idea of any UK referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, and being struck that even many Labour List readers do not agree with him (Note: Barder long sentence advisory warning) Over on the always interesting Labour List blog, this post (reproduced […]

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Dealing With Pirates

Here is a fascinating article about the evolution of legal standards in tackling piracy several hundred years ago: Out of this unfolding of events emerged the Act for the More Effectual Suppression of Piracy, initially introduced by parliament in 1700. This act permitted colonial governments to try and execute pirates […]

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Leave Them To It

Via a couple of Dizzy postings about Nadine Dorries and her blog (being taken down), I stumble via some acrimonious comments into the jungle of claims and counter-claims involving various leading British bloggers (including Iain Dale, Guido and Tim Ireland) feuding with each other. When such online rows start, they typically mutate […]

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