Category: Week in UK Politics
-
The End is Nigh. Peter Mandelson’s Washington appointment was always a high wire act. It was sold as hard nosed realpolitik: a seasoned operator, a serious network, a Labour government signalling competence to the White House and Wall Street. However, the appointment contained a basic miscalculation of the post-2020 political climate: voters tolerate many things,…
-
Overseas: Movement Without Leverage The Prime Minister’s trip to China and Japan was notable less for what it achieved than for what it avoided. Keir Starmer returned with modest diplomatic housekeeping: limited visa facilitation and the reopening of channels with previously frozen parliamentarians. (Rowena Mason, Guardian, 29th January 2026, What agreements have been made during…
-
Children, Screens and State Strategy This week Westminster shifted its attention decisively from abstract debates about the future of technology to a policy question: what role should the state play in regulating children’s use of mobile phones and social media? The government launched a national consultation on children’s relationship with digital technology, signalling that ministers…
-
AI scandals, Trump theatrics and social media bans Welcome back after a small essay-related delay this week. British politics served up a curious mix of local embarrassment, international showmanship, and domestic debate that looks suspiciously as though we are collectively losing our minds. Trump Derangement Syndrome is real. TWOP is suffering acute symptoms. Here’s the…
-
REVOLUTIONS, INVASIONS AND POTHOLES It is a salutary experience to sit down to write a review of UK politics at the end of a week in which Donald Trump threatened to intervene in Iran’s brutal protest crackdown, the United States faced domestic outrage over a fatal shooting by an ICE agent and the former President…
-
Screens, Soldiers and Superpowers (in no particular order.) Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s On 10th December 2025, Australia’s Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act came into force, making it illegal for under-16s to hold accounts on major social platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat, YouTube unless the platforms can prove…
-
FREE THE CHRISTMAS FIVE! It is rare for the US Department of State to amuse the rest of the world for Christmas, but in 2025 they unveiled the funniest Doublespeak announcement ever. It currently leads the all-time entries for the “No Thought Involved Here” prize by announcing the cancellation of visas for five Europeans who…
-
“IT’S IMMIGRATION, STUPID!” Shabana Mahmood unveiled major reforms of the UK’s asylum policy (through media appearances rather than a statement in the House, no doubt to the Speaker’s exasperation.) The Home Office described the narrative of the weekend’s television clips as the “most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times.” Key changes, drawn…
-
BRITAIN: BROKEN AND BORED.The coincidence of quite so many indicators of the Island Nation, the Seat of Empire, the Mother of Parliaments, keeling over and capsizing beneath the waves o’er which we used to rule, is “a little troubling.” Balls Up at the Beeb OK. So the DG and News CEO both resign and I…
-
PLAID ROMPED HOME IN CAERPHILLY confirming that political gravity is running away from the traditional Westminster parties. Plaid Cymru stormed to victory with 47% of the vote, Reform UK came second on 36% while Labour collapsed to just 11%. This is the first time since 1918 that Labour has failed to hold the seat and…
-
FROM SPIES TO SPENDING CUTS As Keir Starmer wrestles with a security scandal and Rachel Reeves preaches fiscal restraint, the government’s “steady hands” narrative shows early wobbles. It has been another week when Westminster felt less like the sober seat of governance, but more like a failing test of nerve. The China case collapse: Starmer’s…
-
SHRINKING SPACE FOR DIALOGUE, REDUCING PERSONAL LIBERTIES, NO MONEY ANYWHERE. “Repeat protest” curbs really do start to threaten freedom of expression Newish Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood extemporised new plans to curb “repeat protests” after nearly 500 arrests at more pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The idea: if you protest too often, the Home Office can decide you are…
-
LABOUR PULLS THE EMERGENCY CORD. In their Immigration White Paper “Restoring Control over the Immigration System” published in May 2025, the Labour government proposed extending the qualifying period for “Indefinite Leave to Remain” (ILR) from 5 years to 10 under its “earned settlement” reforms. The proposal did not stir massive controversy at the time. The…
-
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE BAREFACED. Nigel Farage waved his calculator around promising billions in “savings” from ripping up the UK’s “Right to Remain” while Keir Starmer tried to look statesmanlike by recognising Palestine. Meanwhile, HMG quietly admitted that its big anti-harassment law is still gathering dust. Add in grim inflation figures, a giant…
-
SITCOM WITHOUT LAUGH REEL Another week in British politics, another episode of a long-running tragicomedy known as “Government.” The show that nobody asked for, with the scripts that just keep getting worse, and yet, like all truly wretched TV soaps, we just don’t seem to be able to switch off or choose something more enlightening…
-
RAYNER’S DECKCHAIRS The first week back at Westminster turned out to be eventful. Writing three days after Angela Rayner’s resignation on Friday and 48 hours after the closing (and rather wobbly) rendition of the National Anthem at REFORM’s Birmingham conference has allowed some time for at least a little reflection on “Whither Labour?”Quick answer: down…
-
ASYLUM.Immigration is significantly less important to younger UK voters than their elders. It does not even feature amongst younger peoples’ “Top 5” issues (discussed this in a previous post on UK Youth Issues in June, sorry.) However, when conflated with the “Small Boats” crisis, immigration has become the most incendiary issue in British politics in…
-
MERITOCRACY VS POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION – The tension between meritocracy and positive discrimination has shaped numerous debates in British politics since the mid-20th century, focusing on how to ensure fair access and optimal outcomes in education, employment and the conduct of public offices. Recent policy shifts, such as the government’s proposal to reserve civil service internships…
-
SOFT LAUNCH It is traditional for governments to slip out news of their most depressing failures in the dying moments of Parliamentary “term” in the hope that MPs and journos alike are keener to hit the fleshpots of the Mediterranean or more exotic holiday destinations than to pursue the latest delay to HS2, or estimated…
-
END OF TERM ENNUI The spigot of daily UK “news” wound down this week as Parliament headed towards recess (Commons – 22nd July, Lords – 24th July.) “The Grid” is, it seems, an effective news management system: about 75% of what we think of as news turns out to be just propaganda. The British Malaise…