The tragic death of a boat full of desperate people trying to reach the UK has focused attention on the growing numbers of people crossing the channel in small boats. This has been a problem for months now, and the Governments response has centred on implausible get tough schemes that grab the headlines but which… Read More Why do illegal immigrants come to the UK? | Are they all after benefits?
This months quiz is windy with occasional snowy flurries
Anyone who has taken a class in History or Politics will at some point have debated what is a State? What is a Government? How do modern States differ from older, less formal models of social and political organisation based on tribes or castes? The most basic definition I encountered in those classes is: A… Read More Kyle Rittenhouse | Is America a failed state?
The last few Remembrance Sundays there have been some heated debates on line about the changing nature of Remembrance Day, and what it means. We seem spend more time talking about how to remember, not who we remember. I thought that this year rather than join the debate I would instead list those people who… Read More Remembrance Day | Who I will be thinking of
One year ago this week Donald Trump lost the US presidential election. It seems like a lot more recent than that because his endless attempted recounts, and futile attempts at litigation, mean that we get to experience the joy of watching him lose over and over again. It never gets tired. I am currently banned… Read More The Trump loserversary | Weird politics bad art
Will it be a walk in the park or a Halloween Horror?
Very bad. A total shambles. The National Audit Office this month revealed the pensioners in the UK had been short changed by £1bn due to a series of errors by DWP. They think 134,000 pensioners are affected, with an average under payment of just under £9,000 each, although they’re not sure. Identifying which pensioners are… Read More DWP in meltdown | Pensions, Universal Credits, how bad is it?
For the ease of reading I have grouped all the graphs at the end of the blog in the order they are referred to in the text The House of Commons Library has released the latest NHS performance data. It describes where the NHS is right now, heading into what might be the worst winter… Read More The looming NHS crisis | Is Covid to blame?
The NHS has a leadership problem. Good services need good leaders, but the service never seems to have enough quality to go round. Hospital performance isn often driven by factors out of their control, and at times the top jobs are impossible due to meddling Politicians who want to micro-manage without taking responsibility. Despite this… Read More NHS leadership | Another bad idea comes around again
Dehenna Davison is the newly elected “red wall” Tory MP for Bishop Auckland. I am attending Bishop Food Fest next weekend, and I am hoping to say hi! Dehenna is also the co-Chair of the Conservative Free Market Forum – a grouping of hardline Thatcherites in love with a tax-cutting, government-shrinking deregulated future. Last week… Read More Does a big state crowd out private investment?