BY ROGER WATSON ‘That surprises me’ is a response I often get to something I have said or done when I am speaking with friends and relatives who are more left-wing than me. Admittedly, it is not hard to be more left-wing than me, adhering as I do to a set of very traditional and conservative values. I dabbled with left-wing politics as a student. … Continue reading No Surprise Lefties Are Moving Right
BY STEWART SLATER Some time ago, back at the dawn of that Golden Age which will be known to historians as the Biden Administration, your humble correspondent penned an article outlining the societal challenges facing America which had led some to predict a range of outcomes from mass civil unrest to full-scale Civil War. But something nagged at the back of his mind. For all … Continue reading Neither Greece Nor Rome
BY EFFIE DEANS A Conservative MSP got into trouble this week for suggesting that Nicola Sturgeon might be anti-English. Sturgeon was pointing out that everyone who lived in Scotland was at home here, to which Tess White replied “except the English”. For this White was forced to apologise or else be suspended from Holyrood. Woe betide anyone who suggests Popes are Catholic or that bears … Continue reading Doth Protest Too Much
BY EFFIE DEANS France is a rather odd place. It is not merely the chunk of the European continent across the Channel. It also includes two islands in the Caribbean, Guadeloupe and Martinique, a little bit of South America, French Guiana, and two islands in the Indian Ocean, Réunion and Mayotte. These are part of France in just the same way as Picardy and Normandy. … Continue reading Macron’s Geography Lesson
BY EFFIE DEANS I have been asked to help decolonise the curriculum where I work. I take this to mean I must remove all subjects that benefitted from colonisers or colonialism, all writers who were involved in or benefited from the slave trade or indeed all books that nice people in 2021 should disapprove of. My first task is to remove all books in Latin, … Continue reading Decolonising the Curriculum
BY EFFIE DEANS The latest developments in the Alex Salmond Scandal remind me of the famous David Low cartoon Rendezvous from 1939. Just like then it is tempting to hope that both sides lose. Just like then it is impossible to trust what either side says. On the one side we have Nicola Sturgeon, her husband Peter Murrell and probably still the majority of SNP … Continue reading SNP V SNP
BY EFFIE DEANS The other day I wrote about my experience on a trip to the Highlands. I didn’t expect it to be particularly popular article, after all Gaelic is a minority language spoken on a daily basis by about eleven thousand people mostly in the Outer Hebrides. But suddenly my timeline was filled with raging Scottish Nationalists. Not one of them addressed the substantive … Continue reading Losing Our Way Part II
BY EFFIE DEANS For a few years as a child while my father helped build an oil rig, I lived in a very remote part of the West Highlands near to where Boris Johnson tried to go on holiday with his family. There were less than twenty children in the school and around one hundred people in the village. The elderly people could speak Gaelic … Continue reading Losing Our Way Part I
BY JOHN ISMAEL The organisation has polarised Labour politicians and journalists since its inception. Some have compared it to the Militant tendency within the Labour Party. Whatever one’s thoughts on the organisation’s policies and Life of Brian style governing committees, People’s Momentum used to be relevant. So significant that some Tory activists grew scraggy beards, ditched deodorant, cultivated blackhead farms on their noses and plucked … Continue reading Momentum is Dead
BY DAVID EYLES Now that Covid is receding as a threat, and a slow return to some sort of normality is returning, people are beginning to wonder about the medium and long-term future. Mostly, they are worried about their jobs and the economy. The media are full of speculation. I have not read The Guardian recently, but I imagine it to be twisting itself into … Continue reading Covid And The Black Death
BY EFFIE DEANS There is a view I like on the west coast of Scotland which takes in the islands of Raasay and Rona, behind them Skye with its Cuillins and in the far distance the Outer Hebrides. It is perhaps the best view in Europe if you can find an evening in June with the sun about to set and fine weather. Scotland is the … Continue reading An English Appreciation Society
CSM EDITORIAL On Brexit Eve there are – predictably – some silly stories doing the rounds. The Daily Express asks the nation if it should be illegal to fly the EU flag from UK public buildings. Très petty. Meanwhile “Bung a Bob for a Big Ben Bong” is apparently a new low for British politics. Really? It’s about as relevant as Femi Oluwole. Who? Exactly. … Continue reading On Brexit Eve
BY FRANK HAVILAND The year is 2029. Britain has yet to leave the European Union, but is getting really bloody close to a deal for full, non-member membership. Realignment with Europe has come surprisingly cheap. Thanks to the unique negotiation skills of the Liberal Democrats, UK Plc has only had to hand over 90% of its laws, intelligence, fisheries, and grant a veto on any … Continue reading Britain 2029
BY GARY MCGHEE In 1993 I wrote a dissertation for my Masters Degree at Nottingham University. It was titled ‘Men and Self-Esteem’. It was well-researched, packed with salient references and the external examiners said that it was one of the best dissertations they had ever read. (Not bad for a working-class bloke who left school at 16 with good O-Levels, in order to get a … Continue reading Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds
CSM EDITORIAL The dossier and smears launched against Boris Johnson this weekend seemed planned to coincide with the launch of the ERG’s alternative plans for Brexit. The hitjob is well-detailed here http://bit.ly/2oPO2f4 here http://bit.ly/2wYtAwj and here http://bit.ly/2wVjuMB As things turned out, Boris’ use of the term suicide vest rather dulled the attacks – a quite brilliant shield tactic or a lucky counter strike by the man who could well … Continue reading Smearing Boris Backfires
BY TARQUIN SUTHERLAND It’s a larf, innit? As any sane person knows, those that fail to appreciate the sheer absurdity of the accident of their own birth – or worse, wilfully ignore it – are either the dullest of self-aggrandising morons or overt fascists of one stripe or another and most usually an unedifying combination of the two. Here in Britain we have a long, … Continue reading Marxists Can’t Laugh
BY SAM HOOPER Britain will always be home to me. I will never renounce my citizenship, even though I will now proudly take American citizenship and become a joint citizen of the other country to which I feel love and loyalty when I become eligible to do so. But speaking strictly from the perspective of someone who thinks about policy and writes about politics more … Continue reading Sam’s Lament
BY LAURENCE FITZGERALD “I’ve had an epiphany,” said Blondie after one of her nights out, “It all makes sense now.” This isn’t unusual after a night of heavy drinking, I’m sure you’ll agree – it’s that intoxicating mix of lack of sleep, still being pissed and the fractured carousel like recall of the previous evening – a merry-go-round of sticky table tops, streetlights and cackling … Continue reading A Narrow Escape
