Category: Politics
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Labour and the NHS: Why More People are Turning to Private Healthcare
I recently spoke at some length to a very good friend of mine who retired from our employer a little over six years ago. As always, we talked about work-related bits and bobs, caught up on things affecting the railway industry in general (including another lengthy closure on the line between Ryde Esplanade and Ryde…
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The Reality of Trade Unions and Political Rhetoric: Insights from Burston Strike School 2024
On Sunday 1st September of this year, I visited the Burston Strike School, an annual festival which takes place in the village of Burston, near Diss in Norfolk. Every year, the great and not so great of the trade union movement in the area and beyond come to this little place and do what many…
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Billy Bragg: Unofficial Bard of the Trade Union Bureaucracy
In my previous life as a trade unionist, I visited the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival on several occasions. For readers who aren’t aware of what this festival is all about, it commemorates the struggles of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Six farm labourers, including George Loveless, were arrested in 1834 for swearing an (illegal) oath of secrecy under…
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Corbyn and the Folly of a ‘Broad Left’
The news that Jeremy Corbyn had been elected as Member of Parliament for Islington North was met with whoops of approval by the remaining disciples of Jeremy of Islington as their ‘rebel’ was returned to the backbenches of Westminster from whence he came. Opinion polls from just a week or so before the General Election…
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‘None of the Above’ Triumphs!
Labour sweeps to power on the weakest massive mandate in decades – while 40% of the electorate didn’t bother to vote So the dust has finally settled on one of the dreariest, dullest and most depressing General Election campaigns of our times. With a popular vote which is lower than that gained by Labour under…
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Was Farage Right?
On 21st June, Nigel Farage, interviewed by BBC’s chief imperialist stooge Nick Robinson, reiterated his view, which he first aired in the European Parliament in 2014, that Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine was the result of provocation on the part of the west. Farage’s position, and his doubling down in the days following the…
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In Praise of Yes Minister (and Yes, Prime Minister)
There are some things which age very well over time. Like a fine wine, a dry-aged steak or a particularly stinky Stilton, both Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister have not only withstood the test of time in terms of their relevance and their contemporary humour but have, in my view, become essential viewing for…
The Middle Aged Revolutionary 