Month: May 2013

No, it wasn’t Tony Blair, although it might as well have been and, given his enthusiasm for guitar axemen, he may just have later subconsciously paraphrased it: If [Gaddafi] had been left in power while the west was willing to see President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt deposed, “the damage to the west’s reputation, credibility and… Continue reading Who said “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”?

For those poor souls who don’t recognise the title of this blog, it is the song-title of Bowie’s rather brilliant comeback single, all about returning to Berlin after 35-odd years Having had a couple of months which have not, frankly, been pretty for Labour, this is the question its leaders must surely be asking themselves in the wake of… Continue reading Where are we now, where are we now?

Just two little vignettes on the tragedy in Woolwich, where an off-duty soldier was murdered with a machete in broad daylight: First, our old friend Ken Livingstone was up to his old tricks. I don’t for a moment suggest that he failed to condemn the attacks – he did – but he, apparently uniquely among… Continue reading Woolwich, Islamism and the West

Last Saturday a senior European politician wrote an article in the British press which made you want to shout at the computer screen. Not such an unusual event, you might think, but this was not a debater’s disagreement as one might have had with the viewpoint of a Tory, a Gaullist or a Christian Democrat.… Continue reading We do not stigmatise your country, Deputy Prime Minister. It is you and your party we find distasteful

I wrote this ten days ago and forgot to cross-post it; however, given that it’s about something that happened thirty years ago, I don’t suppose it matters. For the record, today’s Labour’s poll lead is only six points. Today was the thirtieth anniversary of what was arguably Labour’s postwar nadir: the 1983 election. If George Orwell had, by… Continue reading 1983. Never again.

Ah, Nazir Ahmed. There are two sides being put to your story. On the one hand, there is yours. Its claim is that you have been put upon by an unfeeling Labour party, which will not give you a “fair hearing”. On the other, there is the more obvious, alternative explanation, that you were allegedly… Continue reading Goodbye, Lord Ahmed. You will not be missed

I must admit, I am pleasantly surprised to be writing those words. I didn’t always feel that way. In the 1990s, Peter Tatchell was in the news because of OutRage!, which had a policy of outing gay men still in the closet, with the motivation – or at least this is my understanding – that… Continue reading In praise of Peter Tatchell

My seventh piece for the Independent’s IndyVoices, on last week’s local elections, is here. I’m afraid it makes rather uncomfortable reading.

Ah, and in the excitement of the local elections (well, I don’t get out much), I had missed this gem from our old friend, Ken Livingstone. For face time on TV he is now reduced, like Galloway, to speaking on the none-too-fussy PressTV, mouthpiece of the repressive and undemocratic government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, talking here… Continue reading Boston was all the West’s fault, of course

Recent weeks have not exactly been glory days for Labour. The latest chapter, Monday’s car-crash World At One interview – with Miliband refusing to answer whether Labour would increase borrowing, thirteen times – made for excruciating, if compelling, radio; worse, yesterday’s official admission that Labour will do just that – increase borrowing – has left… Continue reading A dangerous game