Oct 16, 2022Member-onlyThere’s a reason why Conservative prime ministers are so badWhy does the Conservative party keep appointing such terrible leaders to become prime minister? There are actually some clear, structural reasons why this keeps happening, and the party could prevent it. I have written plenty of times over these last years about how the British prime minister just couldn’t get…Politics9 min readPolitics9 min read
Oct 2, 2022Member-onlyGenocide in the age of Social MediaOne of the horrors of genocide is when whole families are killed; the line is extinguished, and over time the whole family will be forgotten. …Putin6 min readPutin6 min read
Sep 27, 2022Member-onlyBritain’s Unelected GovernmentBy pursuing radical new policies, Liz Truss is adopting a manifesto for which she does not have an electoral mandate. A strange thing about British democracy is how many prime ministers are not elected in, well, an election. …Democracy5 min readDemocracy5 min read
Published in Understanding 21st Century Russia·Jul 31, 2022Why Russia’s war in Ukraine is Genocide — (Part 3)On Russia’s Genocide According to the UN, “The word “genocide” was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. It consists of the Greek prefix genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing.” The UN states that: “Genocide was first…Ukraine7 min readUkraine7 min read
Published in Understanding 21st Century Russia·Jul 31, 2022Why Russia is a Fascist dictatorship — (Part 2)On Russian Fascism In 2014, just before he was murdered by Putin’s regime, the Russian opposition politician, Boris Nemtsov said in an interview: “Russia is rapidly turning into a fascist state. We already have propaganda modelled after Nazi Germany. We also have a nucleus of assault brigades…That’s just the beginning.” The use of…History6 min readHistory6 min read
Jul 30, 2022Why we urgently need to call Russia Fascist and Russia’s war Genocide — (Part 1)On the use of words A consensus is emerging that Putin’s Russia is a fascist state and that Russia’s war in Ukraine is genocide. Both the words genocide and fascist are so weighted in history that people are often hesitant to use them, or when they do use them they are easily shouted down. Both…Ukraine War4 min readUkraine War4 min read
Jul 20, 2022The Conservative leadership race has been suspended for the good of the countryLast night I had a dream that this was the front page news: In a shock move today, the two final leadership candidates for the Conservative party, one of whom would become prime minister, pulled out of the leadership race. …Boris Johnson3 min readBoris Johnson3 min read
Jun 21, 2022Member-onlyThe British unions are about to fall into a trapFor most of the week of June 20th, the RMT Union is calling the largest rail strike in 30 years. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, there will be virtually no trains in the UK. Coming just after the pandemic, a lot of activity is just moving back online. However, the…Politics5 min readPolitics5 min read
May 30, 2022Member-onlyPutin shows us why the Queen mattersThe British love their monarch — well, a significant proportion of them do. Recent polls by Ipsos Mori found that 46% of Britons say abolishing the monarchy would be worse for Britain in the future while only 22% say it would be an improvement. …United Kingdom8 min readUnited Kingdom8 min read
May 25, 2022Member-onlyBoris Johnson’s non-resignation in context — other people resigned for far lessBoris Johnson has not resigned, and has not been fired by his party. He was fined for breaking the law, attending parties during lockdown. He also lives in the most fined house in the UK for lockdown breaches. In his house, where he was in charge, people who worked for…Partygate3 min readPartygate3 min read
