Image thanks to PrintPlace I know it’s only a local election coming up but you can feel things hotting up on social media, so much so that I have been turned off from watching. What has sickened me is the use of so-called attack ads, which use negative messages to highlight some perceived inadequacy in … Continue reading Attack politics
$11 Trillion
$11 trillion is a big number. That’s what’s on offer to the UK by joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the world’s largest free-trade areas. Why wouldn’t anyone get excited by the promise of such affluence? OK, it’s on the other side of the world to us but let’s not get … Continue reading $11 Trillion
Iraq war
Image thanks to CNN. Can it really be twenty years since the start of the Iraq war? I can remember seeing the precision bombs fall on Baghdad and the tramp like face of Sadham Hussein when he was finally captured and dragged out of hiding place. Much of my memory is vague hoover. Was this … Continue reading Iraq war
The working week
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 15: UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt leaves Downing Street with the despatch box to present his spring budget to parliament on March 15, 2023 in London, England. Highlights of the 2023 budget are an increase in the tax-free allowance for pensions which the Chancellor hopes will stem the number of people taking … Continue reading The working week
Oh dear, Aunty!
I have heard it said that if the people on the left and on the right are complaining about the BBC then it must be doing its job right. I wish it were so but the latest incident seems to have raised the bile of the right leaning section of the public far more than … Continue reading Oh dear, Aunty!
That protocol
Image thanks to podtail A huge ‘hats off’ to Sunak. Yes, you read that right. Whilst we should never have been here in the first place, the renegotiation of the Northern Ireland Protocol is welcome news. It signals the start of a more mature relationship with the EU, where each side appears to have come … Continue reading That protocol
Small boats
No small boats here. Simon Clarke, the MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, tweeted ‘Small boats are THE issue in my surgeries and on the doors. We have to do whatever it takes to end what most northern voters at least think is an insult to our ability to police our borders, and a … Continue reading Small boats
Leading with Newcastle
Image thanks to TechNation Last week I had the privilege of being on a panel at Womble Bond Dickinson’s great North East digital sector: 2023 outlook event at the Catalyst in the heart of Newcastle University. The panel I was on was about Digital for Good, a subject I was more than happy to talk … Continue reading Leading with Newcastle
Emerging parties
Image thanks to Prospect Magazine Evolution is one of those subjects that has fascinated me for years. The process of species forming out of another is mindblowing, so seemingly complex that people often cite the fact there are no missing links as proof that it doesn’t happen. Yet if you think about how many trillions … Continue reading Emerging parties
Sack the MP
In the end it was all rather quick. One minute Zahawi was here and the next minute he was gone. Sunday morning must have been a good day to bury bad news. On the face of it, Sunak has done what he said he would. Faced with the evidence he removed the Minister without Portfolio, … Continue reading Sack the MP
Thoughts from a Retired Guerrilla Worker 