BY EFFIE DEANS There is of course nothing offensive in describing Scottish nationalism as a threat to the UK. Indeed, the UK has never come closer to destruction than in September 2014. If Germany had succeeded in invading the UK in 1940 the UK would still most likely have continued to exist just as France did, but if the SNP ever won a vote on … Continue reading The SNP is No Threat to Anyone
BY STEWART SLATER Sometimes, one can only stand back in awe. Perhaps at some sublime piece of sporting skill. Maybe at a dish in the final of Masterchef. Possibly at some shocking feat of magicians’ legerdemain. Or at the sight of Liz Truss addressing the Tory faithful about how to save Britain, an act of chutzpah so brazen, it might almost count as performance art. … Continue reading Shameless
BY STEWART SLATER Different societies have developed different ways of dealing with failed leaders. The ancient Athenians used ostracism, exiling the offender from the city for 10 years. The Romans preferred their fallen heroes to make a more permanent exit, as did the Japanese (the novelist Yukio Mishima committed seppuku in 1970 after the inevitable failure of his laughably inept coup attempt). Gentler societies have … Continue reading A Question of Truss
BY KEER LONSDALE Liz Truss is political toast because she assumed her mini-budget would be understood. Her assumption was that a low-tax, foreign investor-attractive economic model simply spoke for itself. That everyone would get it. Maybe through a mysterious process of osmosis, because she never spelled anything out at all. Her conservative critics shouldn’t be too gleeful in their attacks on the PM because almost … Continue reading The Comms Problem
BY ALEX STORY After an eleven-day interlude from the Queen’s passing to her funeral on the 19th of September 2022, the media hounds have once again been unleashed. For Conservative Members of Parliament who really believed that the media storm would die away after Boris’s clinical removal, it must have been a wake-up call. That this was on the cards must have been obvious early … Continue reading Special Interest & Their Hounds
THE CITY GRUMP The dowry of goodwill that we would normally expect to endow a new Prime Minister with has been well and truly trashed. The chorus of disapproval for what she and her Chancellor are trying to achieve has been deafening. Is the hue and cry reasonable, logical and justifiable or a Tower of Babel full of noise and confusion? I emphatically believe it … Continue reading The Trashing of Truss’s Trousseau
BY STEWART SLATER We are in a crisis. We know this because it is being screamed from the front pages of every newspaper. The television news is full of panels of talking heads, gravely giving us their opinions. The IMF has issued a strongly worded statement. The Opposition wants Parliament recalled. And yet, at the time of writing (massive hostage to fortune here) the pound … Continue reading Crisis? What Crisis?
BY JAMES FAULKNER This is the first Tory government since Thatcher – but is it too late? The “KamiKwasi” budget is how an apoplectic media establishment is framing Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng’s so-called “fiscal event”. Prime Minister Liz Truss’s new finance minister aimed to shock and awe the markets – and he certainly did. Sterling tumbled to an all-time low against the almighty … Continue reading Divine Wind?
BY EFFIE DEANS It is now almost certain that Liz Truss will be the next Prime Minister. Unless something very strange happens, Sunak has already lost. Her first task is to protect the United Kingdom. Any Prime Minister whose action or inaction leads to the break up of the UK will be remembered for that and that alone. The UK is threatened in two ways. One … Continue reading Truss Must Defend the United Kingdom
BY EFFIE DEANS Politics is partly about opinions and persuading others to vote for those opinions, but it is much more about truth. In an election we are faced with a choice between Labour and the Conservative parties. Each puts forward a set of policies and personalities and the voters choose between them. It’s partly a matter of taste. Do you prefer the Left to … Continue reading In Liz We Trust
BY JON ALEXANDER Could Liz Truss be our next Prime Minister? With Boris Johnson experiencing a rapid fall in popularity and a recent sizeable backbench rebellion, attentions have been diverted to who could be his successor. Step forward one Liz Truss, current Foreign Secretary and former Queen of the trade deals, a woman who has managed the unthinkable for politicians of late. She has just … Continue reading In Liz We Truss?
CSM DOG THEFT CAMPAIGN Dear Lord Chancellor, The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP, Dog & Pet Theft During the time of the Coalition Government a petition calling for tougher penalties for dog and pet thieves received tens of thousands of signatures. The petition called for stronger and tougher pet theft legislation to increase the punishment to those involved in the theft of a dog, cat, … Continue reading Dog Theft: An Open Letter to Liz Truss
BY JAMIE FOSTER Remember, remember the 4th of November, it’s the day the legal profession took leave of its senses. Hopefully temporarily but certainly noticeably. It was perhaps unsurprising. It is not often that a constitutional law case which could help define our political future appears on the front of our national newspapers with such a barrage of fireworks. It is easy to be drawn … Continue reading Brexit Gunpowder Treason & Plot
