I don’t normally write about football, least of all Newcastle. As a Sunderland fan, I’m not entirely neutral. But something is happening in football that reflects something much bigger. Cristiano Ronaldo is reportedly unhappy at his Saudi club despite being paid eye-watering sums, frustrated that no major new signings have arrived. Meanwhile Newcastle United —… Read More From Newcastle to NEOM: What Weaker Oil Prices Really Mean
The Government is in chaos. Keir Starmer hangs by a thread. A General Election is imminent as the administration approaches collapse. If you spend too long online, or read certain newspapers, that is the story. From bot accounts to Daily Mail columnists hyperventilating into their keyboards, the narrative is constant: crisis, scandal, imminent implosion. And… Read More Starmer Chaos? Not Quite.
No, It’s Not “Foreigners Using the NHS” It’s total nonsense, despite what you read online. To be eligible for NHS treatment, you have to be ordinarily resident in the UK. Your entitlement doesn’t last forever once you leave. If you’ve been living abroad and you return, you are not automatically treated as a permanent UK… Read More Have 735,000 foreign patients registered with the NHS?
I’ve been back in the UK for a few months now. A few things have struck me after being away for a while. People are angry — really angry. As soon as you get off the plane you encounter people wound up and looking for a row. A trip to the supermarket means road rage,… Read More Rough Sleeping, Anger, and What’s Changed
Strike!!! Britain is on strike. A massive strike to bring the government to its knees and force a general election. At least, that’s the claim. This isn’t just people refusing to work for a week. The strike also involves not shopping, not going to the pub, not doing… anything. Total withdrawal from society. You didn’t… Read More Inside the Weird World of the Online Right
I was in Barcelona last weekend. One of the world’s best cities. It also happened to be the opening weekend of Melania, the new documentary about Melania Trump, and the promotion was impossible to miss. A massive billboard dominated Plaça de Catalunya. Every bus stop seemed to have her face on it. Amazon money, very… Read More Melania, or: How to Make a Hit Movie No One Can See
Trump is bonkers Donald Trump’s speech to the World Economic Forum at Davos was a rambling, incoherent mess. His letter to the Prime Minister of Norway was equally unhinged, blaming Norway’s failure to award him the Nobel Peace Prize for the crisis over Greenland. He appears not to understand the difference between Norway and Denmark… Read More Why Trump Is Breaking the World
The online right are currently having a meltdown over the Fabian Society. For those unfamiliar with them, the Fabians are a middle-class intellectual group historically linked to the Labour Party. They were founded in the late nineteenth century by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, with figures such as George Bernard Shaw among their most prominent members.… Read More Fabian Fantasies | How the on-line right lost their marbles
The biggest political story of the weekend wasn’t the soap opera around Andy Burnham. It was the death of the Conservative Party. For those who missed it, there has been a furious online row among the British right over the Government’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands. In the real world this is not… Read More The Chagos Row and the End of British Conservatism