A thought for BREXIT. Anne Widdecombe interviewed on Channel 4's 7pm news 31 January 2020 about the UK's imminent departure from the EU commented on how helpless she felt as a British Minister as law after law emerged from Brussels and how pleased she is now the UK is leaving. Its not a moment too soon. The Directives and Regulations are now ...
Presidents and Senators are unsuitable for running educational institutions just like they are unsuitable for running sites of construction work. It is high time that the education system reflected this to curb the educational crises being experienced currently due to political interference. The corporate paradigm's principal flaw, as is frequently...
Boris Johnson and the Conservatives winning a more than impressive 365 seats last December, it gives the PM a working majority, something we haven't seen since the close of the Blair/Brown era.It is fair to say that the next step of Brexit will soon be taken; having left the EU further delays for implementation legislation were not tolerated. But w...
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." JRR Tolkien. Although the bunting is out for Brexit in the wake of a resounding victory of a Conservative Government, ...
I will be celebrating the 'New year' on 31st January 2020, although I cannot help be a little annoyed by the fact that we have to celebrate at 11:00 rather than 12:00 – presumably for the convenience of Brussels! Having said that, it is a very small price to pay for our freedom. This year will be momentous, as not only are we escaping the EU, but w...
The first part of this article describes my experience of aid, starting over 40 years ago in Africa, and then in the ex-Soviet Union. Some will hotly deny my conclusions, but their veracity is only too apparent in the current state of the world and the decline in western values. Part one deals with the background and part 2 illustrates it...
CBD oil boasts a number of medical and health benefits, counting those that can improve skin conditions. CBD oil has moisturizing qualities and nourishing vitamins that are required for healthy skin. If you feel that CBD oil is a bit too pricey for you to purchase, then you can grow cannabis plants in your backyard or kitchen garden. This way, you ...
In Quentin Lett's estimable tome, 50 People Who Buggered Up Britain (2009), there was one surprising entry for a writer of such conservative leanings: Margaret Thatcher. The rationale for inclusion was her government's aggressive attitudes towards trades unions, especially the rough handling of striking miners at Orgreave in 1984, along with her lo...
So, Boris Johnson has now won the election with a very comfortable majority, on a ticket to "Get Brexit Done". Corbyn has lost decisively, and Jo Swinson was not even re-elected. The SNP has increased the number of its MPs, and Sturgeon has raised her voice again to demand a second independence referendum. However she appears not to have worked out...
The Brexit Agreement and regulatory checks affecting Northern Ireland By Simon McIlwaine An aspect of the Prime Minister's withdrawal agreement with the EU causes much anxiety among supporters of the UK's withdrawal and Northern Ireland in particular. Whether or not there is going to be any kind of internal UK border is causing great concern i...
On 24 June 2016, when the Brexit Referendum result was announced, I was thrilled. The Great British Public had voted to take back their nation and return to self-determination. However, my excitement swiftly dissipated, as in the following years, Brexit was progressively watered down and smear campaigns about Brexit, or 'Project Fear' as they becam...
Looking ahead, let us suppose that Boris Johnson wins a majority of seats on 12th December, as hoped. He has then promised to have his "Withdrawal Agreement" Treaty with the EU ratified by Parliament, possibly by Christmas. From then on, according to some optimists, it should be plain sailing to "Brexit" on 31st January, whereupon a "Transitio...
The purpose of these notes is to present some facts about the campaign to stop global warming and climate change. The climate has changed in the past, is probably changing now, and will change in the future. The campaign is trying to stop the unstoppable. The natural factors affecting global temperature are very powerful: terr...
We recently returned from a trip to S.E. Asia, mostly holiday, but meeting with some of my wife's clients too. Smog, created by Indonesian farmers' crop burning joined the humid heat to hang like a blanket over Bangkok, our first stop. The difference to late September London was a shock. Less of a shock was driving on the left and familiar names li...
Who is better at predicting: the expert or the novice or someone else? Intuitively people believe experts. But science tells us a very different story. And Brexit provides some startling evidence in support. When forecasting "... experts performed worse ... than dart-throwing monkeys" 2001 Nobel Laureate Professor Daniel Kahnemann expla...
This article was initially published on BrexitCentral https://brexitcentral.com/why-the-brexit-party-maintains-that-boris-johnsons-deal-is-not-brexit/ by Brexit Party MEP, Ben Habib Ben Habib believes there is an "understandable desire amongst many Brexiteers to accept Boris Johnson's deal". Everyone is battle weary, but it is preci...
Initially published in The Daily Telegraph by Martin Howe QC, Chairman of Lawyers for Britain https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/10/18/flawed-outcome-tolerable-price-pay-freedom/ First, the positives. Boris Johnson's deal is miles better than Theresa May's ghastly capitulation. The Northern Ireland backstop protocol in the Withdrawal A...
Eventually we have a Brexit deal that has been approved by the partisan Parliament, in what is hopefully their last ever appearance on our television screens for some of this current batch of members. As was doubtless their intention, they have left the government, and Boris in particular, with a major problem, and many of those who have deliberate...
Beset by failure in running Scotland, at the SNP party conference in October leader Nicola Sturgeon was forced to bring forward her plan to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence in 2020. With all the SNP's legal moves against Brexit fizzling out or falling on stony ground, it has been forced by the success of Brexit arguments to reveal ...
The strength of democracy is that no one ideology will ever triumph over the others. Its weakness is that they all retain that ambition Britain seems to have gone insane, or at least (anti-)social media has. Politics dominates, but not rational political discussion. Legitimate news media has been swept aside by online propaganda rags describing the...
With notorious Brexit going on, the United Kingdom's situation has become a real precedent in the European Union. Even though the right to leave the union was granted to every state entering it, EU policymakers naively hoped there would be no one willing to leave the prosperous entity. Being the first, Great Britain faces a lot of bureaucratic prob...
Boris Johnson has really taken us on a ride here. The trick, ladies and gentlemen, was to make us believe that he intended to take us out of the European Union with or without a deal, even with the Benn Act and all will be revealed in time and it was. There was no way he could avoid the Benn Act so didn't just send one letter to the European Union ...
As I assume you know, the Benn Act, or more commonly known as the Surrender Act, isn't the most well thought out piece of legislation, as lined out by Chair of Lawyers for Britain Martin Howe QC at The Bruges Group 'Moment of Truth' event in Manchester during Conservative Party conference. This article will outline the loopholes that Boris Johnson,...
The Revised Political Declaration Introduction So far as we are aware the only material changes in the Withdrawal Agreement (Treaty) are to the NI Protocol, which means that the critical ECJ oversight and Art 184 link to the Political Declaration remain. I am told by UKREP that there are two changes to other Articles in the Treaty but they were una...
The reaction of the European Union negotiators and heads of state to Prime Minister Johnson's recent slate of proposals for eliminating the Irish backstop has exposed a fundamental truth about the Brexit negotiation process. So long as the EU must consent to British proposals for leaving under Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union, the EU ...
What's so good about free trade agreements? They make the rich richer, workers poorer, and they rob countries of the ability to plan. For decades we have been told that global free trade – where goods can be imported and exported without restrictions or tariffs – is the route to prosperity. Impressive international institutions have been const...
The week of 14th – 19th October will be one of the momentous weeks in British political history. Prime Minister Johnson will attend an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th October. On Saturday 19th October, the House of Commons will sit in emergency session for the first time since 1982. During this summit he will potentially agre...
On 28 August Gina Miller applied for judicial review of the decision to prorogue Parliament, seeking a declaration of the court that the Prime Minister's decision to tender this advice was unlawful. On 6 September, the High Court of England and Wales granted Ms Miller permission to bring the application but then unanimously dismissed the claim. The...
Every nation has its flag, here in the UK we have an assortment of flags, one each for the different parts of the Union. Scotland has its saltire, Wales has its red dragon, Northern Ireland its Ulster Banner and England the cross of St George which, despite being seen flying on many traditional churches, is the one flag that those on the left of po...
But don't cheer too loudly yet! As you probably know, an important part of the mammoth EU General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, concerns the "right to be forgotten". This essentially means even if an article about someone is already in the public domain, search engines like Google or Yahoo, and news websites that provide search functionality...
By Andrew England Kerr MEP We've seen the usual tired old politics. What I haven't seen is any realisation of the real danger this country faces. Perhaps you have to see it first-hand to understand the true scale of it. I have over the past three weeks. I've watched the true force of the Franco-German domination of Europe as key positions are divvi...
Authors: Ethan Thoburn, and Charles Wynne There are plenty of people talking about no deal Brexit at the moment and with Boris Johnson looking ever more likely to deliver that, we at The Bruges Group thought we would put together sort of a fact sheet on No Deal and how it won't leave us on a so called cliff edge as lots of the media like...
I would hazard a guess that the majority of people in the country are by now exceedingly fed up with the Brexit saga, and just want us to leave at the earliest opportunity. This view has even been expressed by 'remainer' friends of mine, most of whom appear to have accepted the outcome of a democratic referendum, even though they disagreed with it....
There is probably no greater struggle in life than the one with oneself. The European Union has always been a contentious issue in this country this is why David Cameron decided to call a referendum. The so-called Remainers believed wholeheartedly that they could win it and lay to rest once and for all oppositions to the UK's EU membership, but it ...
The same four-letter word is being constantly branded around by the media. Whether talking about Theresa May's legacy, or discussing Boris Johnson's new negotiation, it never fails to disappear. That four-letter word is "deal". Yet this "deal": offered by Brussels, sold by Theresa May, defeated by MPs; seems dangerously close to being reborn. This ...
The left were always solidly against the Common Market and remained so as it evolved through the EEC to EU. The reason was simple. Its rules stood in the way of a Socialist state. Blair, having defeated Clause 4, became an ardent advocate of the EU and repositioned Labour as a centre party. Labour has always been a target for extremist entryism and...
Eighty minutes on the clock, and after some dubiously-awarded penalty kicks, the side in blue shirts with yellow stars is on the cusp of victory. In a moment of high drama, Boris Johnson grabs the ball and makes one last desperate lunge. Forcing his way through the serried ranks of naysayers, he gets the ball over the line. Brexit at last? We live ...
1. This Agreement – even without the 'Backstop' - will put the UK under the de facto jurisdiction of a group of 27 foreign powers, leaving the UK powerless to veto laws or procedures affecting the UK and its citizens. (Articles 4, 86, 87, 89, 132, 168, 174) 2. The EU27 can make decisions behind closed doors which can profoundly affect British busin...
This article was originally published on BrexitCentral by Christopher Howarth, https://brexitcentral.com/boris-johnson-should-beware-resuscitating-the-dead-may-deal-even-if-the-eu-agree-to-scrapping-the-backstop/ Let’s start with some recent history: the reason Boris Johnson is Prime Minister is because Theresa May’s draft Withdrawal Agreement...
A Withdrawal Agreement isn't a managed, amicable departing of ways, it is an unnecessary albatross around the neck of Albion – we must leave without one. Since late 2017, I have concurred with the view that the entire process of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which allocates of two years of negotiation between departing member-state with the...
Interview with Alice Grant: 'Why People Support Brexit Series' - Bruges Group Blog By Ethan Thoburn https://www.brugesgroup.com/blog/alice-grant-interview-with-ethan After previously speaking to Brexit supporting student Alice Grant and then royal superfan and former Labour Party member Joseph Afrane, this episode I spoke to the organisers of the '...
Project Fear 3.0 has been in full swing since the summer as we approach 31st October 2019, the third date for leaving the EU. The unfortunate citizens of the UK who wish to leave the European Union have been fed wall-to-wall saturation coverage of how terrible Brexit will be. TV stations, newspapers, magazines and social media advertisements contin...
Initially published on 13th September and updated on 26th September With the Brexit pea soup not looking any clearer whatsoever, Boris Johnson's hopes of an early general election are fading by the minute as I type this and of course Parliament being prorogued from the evening of Monday 9th September until 14th October. It's interesting to se...
It often thought that lobbying, the professional representation of private interests to governments and subsequent attempts to influence policy, was confined to industrial-like political powerhouses of Washington D.C., the capital of the free world, and Brussels, the de facto capital of the European Union. In the US, the currency within lobbying is...
Make no mistake about it, we are at war, and it is one of the dirtiest wars yet fought, in which the truth has been hijacked by the 'Remainers' and twisted to suit their personal agenda. Look at what has happened over the last three years, and especially over the last three months: those who never wanted to leave have stepped up their campaign of l...
Our fight with Brussels does not end on the 31st of October. This wider conflict that Brexit represents is between sovereign nations and supranational organisations, between self-determination and central planning of the most wicked intention. In order to capitalise on our departure, we must first recognise a weakening, Brussels is tightening its g...
We often hear much wailing and doom and gloom from those who, for various personal and mostly self indulgent financial reasons, why we should remain in the EU. These people, who many have big fat EU pensions or receive grants and other hand outs from the EU seem to care little for the democratic will of the British people who, by a majority of 1.4 ...
When the history of Brexit is written, two primary mistakes will stand out. One was the Conservative party's decision to appoint Theresa May as its leader and the country's Prime Minister. The second was by the 27 member states of the EU. They appointed a team of EU federalist fanatics, rather than pragmatists, to negotiate our exit. They saw the n...
In June 2016 a scandalised fellow academic asked me in a London restaurant why I was wearing a Leave badge. To my mention of the woeful lack of democracy in the EU he told me, as he would a backward student, that from my blinkered English position I clearly didn't understand the EU's fierce commitment to democracy. It was, simply a matter of being ...
As I outlined in my last article, my interview with the fantastic Alice Grant, that I am researching why people support Brexit, from all different backgrounds and in this edition of The Brexit Series, I spoke to campaigner and self-proclaimed 'royal superfan' Joseph Afrane. Many of you may have seen Joseph out and about in London and especially aro...
How the Commonwealth can invigorate Brexit Britain and return the UK and her economy to the top of the world and international politics. Brexit Doom-mongers in the media and politics will have you know that once we have left the EU, the UK will be cast away, reliant on a self-obsessed US president and unable to speak with confidence in the world. H...
Over the past three or so years, us Brexiteers have been labelled with all sorts of names such as fascists and racists, among others. There is an ever-growing perception that we are all over 80, own grand estates and are on the far-right wing of the political spectrum; let me tell you we are not! I have spoken to people from all backgroun...
The following article and above PDF are speeches by Richard Tice MEP for the Brexit Party and also property businessman; Swedish-British billionaire businessman Johan Eliasch who is CEO of sportswear giant Head; Sir John Nott the former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry then Defence under Margaret Thatcher; Peter Lilley the former Sec...
Today we'll know who our next Prime Minister will be, and Wednesday will see the Maybot's last PMQT before she heads off to formally resign to the Queen at Buckingham Palace on the afternoon. No matter who our next PM will be, either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, we need to rebuild that special relationship with our closest ally, America. We'...
The Scottish National Party's minority administration in Edinburgh is trying to contribute to the attempt to foil Brexit and the struggle to achieve sovereignty and independence for the whole of Britain. But it's not doing well… While efforts in the British parliament to halt our exit from the EU are being roundly defeated, pro-EU fervour has conti...
Sir Austen Chamberlain, speaking about Germany's violation of the Treaty of Locarno, remarked: "It is not so long ago that a member of the Diplomatic Body in London, who had spent some years of his service in China, told me that there was a Chinese curse which took the form of saying, 'May you live in interesting times.' There is no doubt tha...
Having one's cake, eating it - demanding more, and eating that, has long been a feature of the EU Brexit negotiating team. A recent example of their hypocrisy is to be found in the wave of faux outrage over Boris Johnson's threat that if he became PM, he would refuse to pay the £39 billion that Brussels is demanding from us. In terms of the race fo...
Switzerland and the European Union have begun open financial war with each other as the EU tries to force the country to sign the proposed Framework Agreement covering all aspects of the country's relations with the EU. The EU has been forced into a hardball approach to Switzerland because with Brexit still unresolved it cannot afford to be weak. I...
The latest attempt by would-be Brexit wreckers was defeated in Parliament last week. But the job is not yet done. They will try again. We have to keep the pressure on untrustworthy Westminster politicians of whatever party. On 12 June the Labour Party led an attempt to tie the next prime minister's hands by ruling out no deal on leaving the EU. It ...
By now we should have left the EU. Vast swathes of people are incensed. But it is evident that Brexit will only be delivered if the people move to enforce it by neutering an obstructionist parliament. Nothing good will happen until parliament is overwhelmed by the people's desire to leave. Left to its own devices parliament is too much the instrume...
It's become a mantra, endlessly repeated by remainer unions: "Workers must not pay the price of Brexit." What price would that be? And how about acknowledging the price of staying in the EU? On 6 July 2017 Michel Barnier, the EU Brexit negotiator, addressed the EU's Economic and Social Committee. His words were noted and passed on to unions in Brit...
The duty of government is to obey the will of the Nation. To paraphrase that which Professor Dicey said, referring to "the grand principle underlying the conventional precepts of the constitution, in "The Law of the Constitution[i]": "… neither the Crown [which I take to mean the Government] nor any servant of the Crown ever refuses obedience ...
It is uncertain whether the UK will leave the EU on 31st October 2019. Even if we do, there is much work to be done to overturn nearly five decades of EU directives, regulations and rulings which have been imposed on the UK. One of the most egregious examples of such a law is the Climate Change Act 2008. (1) The Climate Change Act implements Direct...
Here is the fantastic Sir John Redwood MP's article first published on Brexit Central (https://brexitcentral.com/a-determined-prime-minister-can-ensure-we-are-out-of-the-eu-by-31st-october/) outlining how the right man can take us out of the EU by 31st October. For too long we have witnessed this Parliament trying to delay or dilute Brexit. T...
Where Unemployment Really Is Before the referendum in 2016 we were told by George Osborne and the Treasury, among others, that 820,000 jobs alone would be lost as a consequence of a Leave vote, causing "an immediate economic shock" but here we are over three years later and unemployment is at its lowest for over 40 years. Those figures published by...
As the Conservatives elect their replacement for Theresa May over the summer, it's worth looking back to see how crucial it is for a leader that is in line with grassroots views, and currently Euroscepticism is the overwhelming grassroots position among members. Ever since the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992 there has been a battle for a refer...
The withdrawal agreement is not only unjustified but also not required. In the event of the UK's departure from the EU without a withdrawal agreement the EU itself has put in place measures to keep trade open. These range from agreeing to equivalence in financial services, access for hauliers, the continuation of flights, and the transport conventi...
"Life is very short, and there's no time, for fussing and fighting, my friend." (John Lennon and Paul McCartney – 1965 "We Can Work It Out")We had one deadline - 29th March – for leaving the EU, which was inexplicably lost in the mists of political time. (Political time is like real time, but without reality, adherence to deadlines, or t...
The evolution of sovereign states around the world has been an uneven process. Some were founded on shared nationhood, language and culture. Some on lines drawn by colonial rulers. Others out of the chaos of war. But sovereign states have this in common: they are all that now stands between the peoples of the world and utter domination by the...
In 1964, the film Mary Poppins was released. It captured the mind of a generation and epitomised the sentiments of the turn of the century. Mary Poppins was not ultimately about a magical nanny or a singing chimney sweep, but about duty. It was about the duty of man to his family. Mary Poppins is the story of George Banks, who gives up person...
Below is John Redwood's letter to Geoffrey Cox. The Attorney General has not yet replied, and he needs to.Given the government's difficulty in replying to this, John Redwood is re-issuing it and encourage all to circulate it more widely. The conventional media refuse to ask these questions of the government and supporters of the Agreement. De...
Leave and the 'left' 2002-2017, 41 pages, News-watch This News-watch study found that left-wing arguments for Britain to leave the EU have scarcely been considered on the BBC's flagship news programmes. Only 1,198 words across the entire 30 surveys came from left-wing speakers making any sort of case for withdrawal, an average of 86 words pe...
The backstop is illegal. When speaking with international lawyers they mention a number of difficulties that the EU will discover if they actually try to implement the backstop. The competence of the 'Withdrawal' Agreement to establish the backstop exceeds its lawful ability, it is Ultra Vires.Given indications from the President of the...
As we grind inexorably to the Brexit finishing line, we should remember what happened just under three years ago, since it is becoming increasingly obvious that many - in particular our MPs - have either very short or very selective memories. In June 2016, there was a nation-wide referendum when the then government asked the people whether they wan...
The EU is not a market, it is a political project of becoming a single European state, the United States of Europe, as the powers-that-be in the EU have always wanted it to become. The three founding fathers of European union all called for a single European state. Konrad Adenauer said, "My dream is that one day we might be able to applaud a United...
This article by JOHN PETLEY was published on February 13th 2019 by the Campaign for an Independent Britain The Norway model in defence integration Norway essentially has sub-contracted its security to the European Union. As the EU's defence integration programme has developed over the last two years, the rules for participation by non-member states...
Fundamental issues and Post-Brexit vision The United Kingdom is at a crossroad, one which will define its future for generations to come. Parliamentarian Brexiteers are playing a pivotal role in bringing about this change of paradigm by making sure the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.Brexiteers' avant-garde mindsets make them the architect...
The economic arguments for leaving the European Union are obvious, but there is also an overwhelming cultural case for Brexit which is discussed less often. Over the last couple of decades, there has been a noticeable increase in what is known as 'political correctness', which has accelerated in the last five or so years. It used to be the case tha...
As with a party conference, a lot of the interest in the Brexit circus lies in the supporting acts and side-shows. A recent instance of the latter arose from a spat between the Government and the Justice Subcommittee of the Lords' European Union select committee. This is worth a look, if only because a serious point of principle turns on it. When w...
Having listened to the ravings of the men from Brussels as they become increasingly afraid of a 'no deal' scenario, it is heartening to hear the latest outburst from a man who is supposed to show responsible leadership to the EU and the rest of Europe. I am outraged (but rather pleased) by the highly inflammatory comments that Donald Tusk made. I a...
Did you call me nebulous? The end of year festive cheer was in full swing as politicians exchanged pleasantries.Many pondered whether the leader of opposition called Theresa May a 'stupid woman' and Jean-Claude Juncker may have had equally kind words for our PM. It was rather a turbulent week in British politics - a vote of no confidence in Theresa...
By JOHN EAST 23 June 2016: The UK held a referendum on its membership of the EU, with the majority of voters choosing to leave (51.9% of the vote versus 48.1% voting to remain). 24 June 2016: Prime Minister David Cameron announced his intention to resign. 13 July 2016: Theresa May became Prime Minister. To fulfil the referendum Article 50 should ha...
The European Union is playing brinkmanship. It is making an offer of a 34-page composite "framework agreement", covering such matters as immigration, state aid, mutual recognition of industrial standards, agricultural products, air transport and land transport, where local rules would automatically adapt to be in line with EU law. The treaty would ...
The media is trumpeting a very scary tune about a 'no deal' Brexit. Perhaps it's the swansong in their dark and gloomy concert. There will be hurdles, but we in Britain, will use our initiative and people are always at our best when we have to use our initiative. For those who would like to rename 'no deal', the Bruges Group is welcoming suggestion...
Warning! If voted through, this agreement will be irreversible. Parliament will have bound its successors to the EU, possibly into the next century. The Outline Political Declaration prefacing this "deal" says we share basic values with other EU nations and reaffirms our commitment to the ECHR. This is supposedly the ideological basis for th...
A no deal scenario is by no means a legal or economic vacuum. After the UK leaves as seems increasingly likely it will be in a similar relationship with the EU as is any country outside of the EU (referred to in the EU Treaties as 'third States' or 'third countries'). This research addresses some legal aspects of the Brexit process as it ente...
Parliament is not allowed to surrender law making to a foreign jurisdiction. Theresa May's withdrawal agreement seeks to hand our right to self-government to the European Union. The foundation of our democracy lies in the answer to the question: where is the origin of power? The answer is that all power is vested in, and consequently ...
Amidst the political fallout in the UK following the government's controversial draft Brexit deal, an equally important development in Ireland went relatively unnoticed. During the ruling Fine Gael party's annual conference, foreign minister Simon Coveney confirmed that Ireland has no plans to prepare infrastructure for a hard border with the UK, e...
Analysis of Theresa May's Brexit proposal. Can the UK claim to be an independent state? Introduction The current draft of the agreement "on Withdrawal of the UK from the EU and EURATOM" (the "Agreement") can be found here... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/files/draft-agreement-withdrawal-united-kingdom-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-euro...
The EU's backstop is not an insurance policy but a trap (Roger Kendrick in BrexitCentral, 22 October.) "The backstop is not an insurance policy which will never be needed or used. It is an ingenious device developed by the EU to create a comprehensive lock on the future trade and regulatory policy of the UK thereby ensuring that the UK would be und...
In the aftermath of both the Genoa bridge collapse and the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, left-wing politicians and media were quick to scandalise their political opponents, ranging from sociological critique of callous capitalism to blunt reference to the 'fascist' Italian government or a Tory cull of the poor. Coverage of the Genoa calamity in the ...
The 'silly season', they call it - when Parliament has closed for the summer holidays, and the newspapers scramble for titbits. Last week the media pounced on a commentary by the recently-resigned Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, the flaxen-haired politician pretending to be an essayist (or is it the other way round?). Don't ban the burqa, Boris wr...
On a grey winter day in 1972, Air Force One touched down on Chinese soil. Although little tangible benefit came of President Nixon's surprise visit to Chairman Mao and the impenetrable communist state, it was one of the most theatrical acts of diplomacy in modern history. And it was recognised in the opera 'Nixon in China' by John Adams. Perhaps Ad...
For a Brexit-supporting minority in academe, here is an illustration of what we're up against. Last year I was invited by the editor of International Journal of Nursing Studies to write a commentary on Brexit and the NHS. This would be published alongside a staunchly anti-Brexit argument, by Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene &a...
