Category: politics

Diana Mosley died on Monday. Today’s Guardian has an obituary along with a handy guide to the Mitford sisters. A fascinating but deeply scary family.

The UK govenment has helpfully issued a list of guidelines for coping with the current heatwave. Their tips are: Stay in the shade or indoors Use sunscreen and cover up Increase your fluid intake Ventilate your home Look after the elderly Protect children Avoid excessive physical exertion Know the perils of outdoor eating Be sensible… Continue reading Nanny State

I swear that each time I take the Political Compass test I get more extreme. Currently I’m standing at Economic Left/Right: -8.50 Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.05

This is bizarre. You wait six years for a Government to do something you approve of and then two turn up on the same day. First they announce that they are bringing in legislation to give gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples. Then there’s a massive revolt in Parliament and the first… Continue reading UK Parliament in “Being Sensible” Shock

The Guardian sent a group of electoral observers to monitor how well the Daily Mail‘s “referendum” was being conducted. [one of the observers] said: “I think the phrase ‘totally flawed’ comes to mind.” I asked him if he had ever pronounced an election “totally flawed” before. “Only one,” he said. “The 2001 Kyrgyzstan presidential elections.”… Continue reading Electoral Observers

Excuse me why my blood boils for a minute. The Daily Mail is (as I’ve discussed before) the newspaper that panders to the “little englander” mentality in the UK. It’s read by people who are intensely xenophobic. These people are extremely distressed by the possibility that the UK could at some point replace sterling with… Continue reading Little Englanders

I’ve always loved London. I used to love coming up to London when I was a child. One of the things that I loved most was going to Downing St. In those days (the 1970s) anyone could wander up to the front door of Number 10 and have their picture taken with the nice policemen… Continue reading Political Security

Go almost anywhere in the world and you’ll find a British Ex-Pat community. A group of people who at some point in their lives decided that living in the UK wasn’t for them and they’d like to start a new life in a new country with an exciting new culture. Except that it rarely works… Continue reading Ex-Pats

It seems that the “Saving Private Lynch” story that we got from the US (and, of course, UK) media wasn’t as accurate as it could have been. The BBC programme Correspondent has being doing some research into the truth of the story and their results will be shown on Sunday night. “We gave her three… Continue reading The Truth About Private Lynch

This is the first time I’ve been working in central London on May 1st. The owners of the building I work in are obviously expecting the worst as they’ve closed and chained the main gates and I was only able to get in through a side door after a close examination of my pass. If… Continue reading Under Siege