Month: August 2013

It’s been a whirlwind forty-eight hours. First Cameron came up with a motion supporting military intervention in Syria. Then Miliband went in with a softening amendment and said he would not support the government unless the amendment was passed. Cameron softened his motion to accomodate Miliband. Then, to Cameron’s apparent fury, Miliband declined to support it anyway, thus… Continue reading My God, what have I done?

My eighth piece for the Independent, on Miliband’s unappetising road to the next London mayoral elections, is here.

A couple of things about Russia, following my piece about Putin’s recent gay-bashing. Firstly the pole-vaulter Isinbayeva, who gave the following long and excruciating interview about how she really did not see why gay people should be allowed to go around proselytising their “sick” ways.  The cynics among us might think it may not be long… Continue reading Oh Vladimir, so much to answer for

Ah, the excitement of the “the most sensational victory in British political history”, as its author so modestly put it, has all lasted a tragically short time, hasn’t it? The surprising thing is not that George Galloway seems to have tired of Bradford after less than a year and a half in the job as… Continue reading The farce of the “Bradford Spring” is over, but we should not forget its lesson for Labour

Well, it had to come. Over the last year or two, the far left has shown its tolerance of sexism of the most unpleasant variety, thanks to the treatment of rape allegations about “Comrade Delta” in the SWP, among other things. Similarly the tolerance to anti-Semitism shown by some of those who purport merely to campaign… Continue reading Gay rights are human rights and we have the right to defend them everywhere. No ifs, no buts

One last matter on Falkirk, which did not get raised in yesterday’s piece yet intrigues me, is the following riddle it leaves behind. Who was close enough to Miliband to see the full Falkirk report; disloyal enough to leak something damaging to Labour; and who was far-left enough to have thought of Seumas Milne as the ideal… Continue reading A Falkirk coda: who leaked?

There is a distant rumbling going on within the labour movement, with parliament in recess and the media in silly season, which will surely last until conference. It may, in fact, last until next Spring’s special conference. Or it may even last until the next general election. Perhaps thanks to the timely intervention of the… Continue reading On Falkirk, and unfinished business

My piece for Progress on developments in Turkey (and Egypt) is here.

A common refrain in Britain among journalists, bloggers, tweeters and the general public is that politicians are a weak-minded, venal breed. I sometimes wonder whether they realise that they live in one of the least corrupt and best-tended of all Western democracies. We needn’t look very far to see why – a two-hour flight is… Continue reading Politicians – they’re all the same. They’re not

We can – and should – criticise Israel’s government for its policy on settlements. We can criticise it for some of its policies towards, and sometimes its statements about, Palestinians. And as with any disputed territory, we can and should debate how that territory should be distributed between its claimants. Even if we might think… Continue reading This time, Roger picked the wrong Wall. We should avoid the same mistake