BY EFFIE DEANS My initial reaction to Alex Salmond’s revelations was to be underwhelmed. The rather long, boring legalistic text that he intends to submit to the Inquiry has nothing juicy. We don’t find out that Nicola Sturgeon knew about Alex Salmond’s behaviour in 2014. We don’t find out that she has been leading a rather scandalous double life. We don’t find out that she … Continue reading Salmond V Sturgeon
THE CITY GRUMP I am not a fan of Donald Trump. It has been evident for years now that he is immature, narcissistic and obsessed by power, which is of course why his foreign policy has been such a great success. It takes one to know one and the autocracies of China, Iran, North Korea, etc certainly met their match in him. Accordingly when the … Continue reading The Rattled West
BY PAUL T HORGAN Of course this is not the first time that the US Congress building has been successfully stormed by a hostile force. Back in 1814 the British Army mounted a raid on the American capital as part of the clearly incorrectly-named War of 1812. While the Redcoats respected the property of private individuals, no such mercy was shown to federal buildings, which … Continue reading Westminster Must Not Fall
BY JAMES BEMBRIDGE Where most saw a pensioner of unremarkable intellect or image, Corbynites saw a man of almost mystical significance, and if the support for his new project is anything to go by, the significance hasn’t waned. The launch video that sees him wax ineloquently about social justice issues feels like a call back to 90s televangelism; indeed, the website tells us what Corbyn … Continue reading Where did the Hard Left Go?
BY TOM GALLAGHER Portugal during 1974-5 did not lack single-minded zealots. These radicals, however, were seeking to transform society from a much weaker level of institutional influence. They lacked the means to shift popular consciousness in their direction as shown by the failure of a campaign of ‘cultural dynamization’ launched in parts of rural Portugal by junior officers who strove to liberate peasants from their … Continue reading Revolutionary Portugal & the Woke Anglosphere II
BY TOM GALLAGHER A new book whose English translation is ‘To the Right of the Revolution’, offering a detailed exploration of the resistance to the left-wing Portuguese revolution of 1974-75, prompts the question: why did it fail? It had a lot going for it. The overthrow of an enfeebled authoritarian regime on 25 April 1974 opened up a power vacuum. It was quickly filled by … Continue reading Revolutionary Portugal & the Woke Anglosphere I
Will Joe Biden make America great again? President-elect, Joe Biden, has his work cut off for him like many previous presidents of the greatest country in the world before him. What makes his tenure distinct is the fact of a pandemic that has ravaged through the country, killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, and has in equal measure, left many Americans poorer and unemployed. This … Continue reading Biden or Bite Them?
BY FRANK HAVILAND As a child of the eighties, I hope you’ll forgive my assertion that pretty much any life truth can be found in The Princess Bride (a lockdown must if you haven’t seen it, and well worth a revisit if you have). As a 9-year-old boy, I marvelled at the battle of wits between Cary Elwes’ hero ‘Wesley’, and Wallace Shawn’s criminal mastermind, ‘Vizzini’. … Continue reading Malignant Mayor
CSM EDITORIAL Fortunately, the next UK General Election is a long way away. It is scheduled to be held on Thursday 2nd May 2024, in line with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. Nonetheless, presuming Covid restrictions fade by the end of 2022, there are certain predictions that can be made even now. Despite by then 14 years of Tory rule, Labour has little hope of winning … Continue reading Trojan Labour Unelectable
BY FRANK HAVILAND The calibre of political discourse ain’t what it used to be. In the days of Churchill, I suspect you could have followed him round with a Dictaphone and not managed to find a dull quote. Personally I rather like ‘The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter’. Maggie had her moments too. When asked by Terry Wogan … Continue reading 10 Point Plan for Britain
BY OUR ELECTION CORRESPONDENTS WAYNE COUNTY AND ELIZABETH WARREN HASTINGS Without producing any evidence, President Donald Churchill today claimed that the 1940 election was not yet over, and has made an unsubstantiated assertion that despite the media and many world leaders having called the result in favour of his opponent, he still expects to achieve victory. Commentators have decried Mr Churchill’s use of inflammatory speeches, … Continue reading “Why Won’t He Concede ?” Demands BBC
BY EFFIE DEANS The problem with Scottish Conservatism is structural rather than personal. Ruth Davidson is better suited to leadership than either Douglas Ross or Jackson Carlaw. But this is because she is a first rate politician. It is not because her ideas are any different from theirs. They all more or less agree about everything and the everything they agree upon is mistaken. That … Continue reading End Conservative Declinism
BY MARK HOOK Three generations of my family voted for you. Without thinking. That was the thing to do. In our area in the North East there was only coal. That meant we voted red for working people. When Blair came to power he called himself a socialist, but we didn’t really know what that meant, just that Labour looked out for the little guy … Continue reading Epitaph for Labour
Political betting might seem like a novelty, but it actually has a long history dating back to 18th-century Britain. Back then, it was a way to make the election process more inclusive for the people and their communities. Now, it is part of the sports betting category, which has experienced tremendous growth due to technological developments, while also being a leisure activity and possibly a … Continue reading Brits and Political Betting
BY JAMES MELVILLE “When facts change, I change my mind.”~ John Maynard Keynes Where is the bipartisanship, respectfulness, balance and empathy in our political discourse? We are moving apart rather than walking towards each other. Increasingly, it seems that on almost every political issue, binary choices of division are being made. This is increasing the levels of division and hatred. Instead, we need to find … Continue reading More Bipartisanship, Less Tribalism
