Are the UK media biased?
Nick Kelly on allegations of bias in the UK media.
International
uk politics
UK Labour and antisemitism
Nick Kelly deals with issues of antisemitism that the UK Labour Party has faced.
Austerity – who should pay for the financial crisis?
Nick Kelly on UK austerity and who should have paid for the financial crisis.
The 2008 financial crisis casts a long shadow over UK politics
Nick Kelly on why the 2008 Global Financial Crisis is still having a dramatic effect on United Kingdom Politics.
Compassionless Conservatives?
Nick Kelly summaries the lack of compassion shown by Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg during this weeks UK election campaign.
The Liberal Democrats
Nick Kelly on the Liberal Democrats’ prospects in the upcoming UK elections.
UK Elections: Parties positions on Brexit
Nick Kelly gives a summary of each major United Kingdom political party.
UK Conservative’s social media is remarkably similar to National’s social media
The British Conservative Party and the New Zealand National Party appear to be using very similar twitter strategies involving the setting of highly edited video to naff music and the making of patently ridiculous claims.
Farage – thorn in the side of the UK Conservatives
Nick Kelly is a former NZ trade union leader and NZ Labour activist. He is a co director of Piko Consulting, and currently lives in London expanding Piko into the UK. The below was originally published on Nick Kelly’s blog
The UK General Election
Nick Kelly is a form NZ trade unionist and NZ Labour activist. He is a co director of Piko Consulting, and currently lives in London expanding Piko into the UK. The below was originally published on Nick Kelly’s blog
Snap election Britain
The UK will learn its political fate on Friday 13 December. MPs have voted in a one-line Bill to have an election on Thursday 12 November, in the middle of winter. BoJo’s got his way if not quite the way he wanted. All bets are off.
British Justice tortures Assange
Craig Murray reports on the horror of Julian Assange’s treatment by British so-called “justice.” Read it and don’t weep. You can see why Murray resigned from the UK foreign service; their diplomacy is just as bad.
It is a matter of trust. Few trust Boris.
As a direct result of the lack of trust by a majority of parliamentarians about how committed Boris supporters are to the process of parliament. They want to see the details of the legislation, debate and pass it before the actual Brexit. Details are the job of MPs.
Brexit built on lies – still suffering.
In the UK, Boris Johnson has just had a rather nasty setback in trying to get support for his Brexit package. It looks remarkably like the last one – which failed three times in parliament. It looks like the clone with tweaks will fail again.
Australia gets tough on climate change activists
Following on from Weka’s post yesterday concerning attacks on the right to protest in the United Kingdom, Australia has also shown a concerning tendency to attack and undermine that most important of rights.
Burning down the house
Why is it that conservative politicians throughout the world engage in rhetorical attacks on laws that in many situations actually serve important purposes?
BoJo cornered
Lady Hale and the UK Supreme Court have torpedoed Boris Johnson’s cunning plan to prorogue Parliament. His request to the Queen was “unlawful, void, and of no effect.” Her Maj will not be pleased. Johnson is now boxed in – ask for an extension to Brexit, or resign.
BoJo plot foiled – for the time being
Phil Syrpis, Professor of EU Law at Bristol University, tweeted in July Johnson’s plan to force a general election as the defender of the people’s decision against the UK Parliament’s indecision and Brussels bureaucratic intransigence and be in power for the next five years. It was rumbled and it failed.
The biggest loser
Boris Johnson has lost a sixth Parliamentary vote in six days as Britain lurches into a constitutional crisis.
The Far Right’s Winning Narrative Superiority
Why is the right winning so many elections?
Brexit?
“The bill will attempt to extend the date of Brexit to January 31, 2020 in the event of no deal being agreed or passed through Parliament. If the bill passes Boris Johnson is expected to call a general election.”
Updated: Bill passed second reading. 21 Conservative MPs effectively expelled from parliamentary party. Boris wants a new election. Corbyn reluctant.. Blond clusterfuck.
Updated: And Boris Johnson just lost vote for a general election.
Boris’s big gamble
Boris Johnson has threatened a general election if Parliament opposes his self imposed hard deadlines on Brexit.
Can the Greens rise like the liberal democrats?
Only 6 months ago the UK Liberal Democrat party was at a real low, with their leader resigning and the polls about 7%: same as the last five years. Fast forward five months from that and they are ready to become a major opposition party of opposition. Can the Greens do the same?
Boris Johnson’s majority is disappearing
in England the Conservatives have lost a safe seat in a by election to the SDP. And from Ireland comes a cunning plan that would obliterate Johnson’s majority.
Fool me twice?
Boris Johnson’s ruthless purge of Cabinet and hard right shift looks like preparation for an early election. Reminds me of 1984 at home, as a right wing coup is on the way. He lied his way to Brexit – will it work again?
Boris for UK PMⁿ
67% of the 160,000 UK Conservative Party members have voted for Boris Johnson as their leader. An attempt to block him as PM has been circumvented by the Speaker. The Queen has had to delay her trip to Balmoral to receive him as Prime Minister. I’d have more faith in the Ukraine’s comedian. At least he can command a majority in Parliament.
Is POTUS up to the job?
A senior Psychologist thinks that POTUS Donald Trump is not up to doing the job. And the UK Ambassador to the US says that the Trump White House is uniquely dysfunctional and inept.
How Brexit Party won the social media battle
A review of the use of social media has suggested that the Brexit Party’s campaign was far superior to that of its opponents.
An October election in the UK?
Boris Johnson declared his candidacy today. The Guardian’s Tom Kibasi speculates on his strategy – pick a fight with the EU, make Brexit the issue and call an election. Do a deal with Farage and save Britain from Corbyn. Will it work?
FiveEyes on our elections
Andrew Little’s letter to the Select Committee on election interference puzzled me – it seemed to be out of the blue and not particularly relevant to our system. Then I read about a meeting on the Gold Coast last year and it became clear as to why – FiveEyes pressure.
Three disturbingly different views on climate change
In the same week that Donald Trump said that the American climate was the cleanest climate, Ian Dunlop, former chairman of the Australian Coal Association, has warned of massive social consequences ranging from increased religious fervour to outright chaos. And UK Chancellor Philip Hammond is questioning if remedial action is affordable.
What is happening in Britain?
In the United Kingdom politics is becoming very unstable with the surge of the new Brexit Party, a Conservative Party that no longer knows what it stands for and Labour also shedding significant support to other parties with clearer positions on Brexit.
Government under FiveEyes
Australian Federal Police chief Neil Gaughan told media after raiding the ABC that “if police did not investigate the leaking of classified information, Australia would no longer be entrusted by FiveEyes partners with intelligence that saves lives.” FiveEyes didn’t save Muslim lives in Christchurch.
Despatches from Surrealistan
London feels surreal. Joined the demo against Trump, in town to see the Queen, see off the Prime Minister, and plunder the NHS in the name of ‘free trade.’ Saw the play “The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson,” which might be prescient.
Mayhem in the UK
Theresa May has announced that she is to stand down as UK Prime Minister.
EU elections
The results of the European parliament elections are due. It’s the first election they’ve had since the refugee crisis, the Brexit referendum, and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. There’s a reasonably high chance that the far right are going to increase their share of this Parliament.