Month: June 2025
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NEWS VS POLITICS Harold Macmillan was a wise old bird. His reply to a question about what he feared most: “Events, dear boy, events” neatly encapsulates how easy it is for politics to be knocked off course by news. Some days you set out to explain proposed NHS structural changes, you can instead get sandbagged…
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DYING HERE, BOMBING THERE Suicide Assistance Enabled On Friday the Commons voted by 314 votes to 291 to pass Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill to legalise medical assistance for suicide for people with fatal illnesses judged likely to have less than six months life remaining. The clumsily named Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill…
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ISRAEL AND IRAN GO TO WAR Israel’s sudden commencement of war against Iran on Thursday night dwarfed the significance of the winter fuel allowance reinstatement and the spending review in the UK. Israel launched Operation Rising Lion in an attempt to prevent Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, bombing nuclear facilities, missile and drone launch capabilities…
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REFORM SHENANIGANS Zia Yusuf stepped down as Chairman of Reform on Thursday evening and then seems to have had a bit of a moment and announced on Saturday that he would instead take up a new role heading the DOGE-lite team that is going to nip around Reform-controlled County Councils to suggest ways of reducing…
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Younger UK voters aged 18-24 report their five biggest political issues as: – Economy – Crime – Housing – Environment – Education according to the YouGov weekly tracker survey that has been running since 2011. Although younger UK citizens share the general population’s identification of the economy as the most significant political issue facing the…
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O CANADA! King Charles popped over to one of his other gaffs for a whirlwind 48-hour tour. He met First Nation representatives and heard some impressive drums, inspected various groups of Mounties, went to a community festival, laid a wreath at a war memorial, dropped a hockey puck, chatted in the sunshine. So far, so…