The initiation of a nation-wide election is like the sunrise to statisticians and pollsters. Instead of the quintessential morning coffee, this most peculiar of creatures brews tea and, as a morning exercise, attempts to predict the ways in which the tea leaves will move. Pollsters attempt to use statistics in an effort to model voting … Continue reading The pollsters attempt to shift methods
Category: Politics
Austerity is now a pejorative
By Hobhouse. Almost as an aside to this week’s tense parliamentary antics – which included Mr Johnson losing his majority and a vote that would mean a no-deal exit from the EU become less likely – Sajid Javid, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced his party were ‘turning the page on austerity.’ This page should … Continue reading Austerity is now a pejorative
Brexit expectation management
By Hobhouse. The Brexiteers have become exceptional at the process of expectation management. Think back to the Brexit campaign when various proponents of Vote Leave would take it in turns to shout about how much better Britain would be after Brexit and how easy it would all be. ‘There will be no downside to Brexit, … Continue reading Brexit expectation management
Dominic Cummings Unleashed
By Hobhouse Nick Clegg, speaking as the coalition’s deputy prime minister at the time, described Dominic Cummings as ‘loopy’ and a person with an ‘anger management issue.’ Prime minister David Cameron, in 2014, spoke along the same tangent as Clegg when he described Cummings as a ‘career psychopath.’ When heading the campaign for Vote … Continue reading Dominic Cummings Unleashed
Brexit’s Control of the Past
By Hobhouse The Brexit induced Limbo is totalitarian in effect, in that the idea and its handlers continue to erode objective truth. Orwell, writing in 1943 for the Tribune, once opined that ‘the really frightening thing about totalitarianism is not that it commits “atrocities” but that it attacks the concept of objective truth; it claims … Continue reading Brexit’s Control of the Past
Regulating the Sounds Spoken
By Hobhouse. “If you come to England, you must speak English”! This saying has many implications and inherent undertones to it, many of which are often mis thought or simply xenophobic. However, the adage does often garner wide support from “liberals,” conservatives and, of course, the far-right vocalists. Sajid Javid, Home Secretary, said in 2014 … Continue reading Regulating the Sounds Spoken
A Desperate Attempt to Look Tough on Immigration
A desperate whoofed of stench radiated from the pits of the Home Office this past week when they made clear their immigration targets took precedent over the British government’s commitment to human rights. Ken Macharia, a gay rugby player, faces deportation to Kenya, where it is severely taboo to be gay and is illegal to … Continue reading A Desperate Attempt to Look Tough on Immigration
Rethinking “My body, my choice”
By Hobhouse Last week, the governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, signed a piece of legislation, aimed at restricting abortion, into law. The new law aims to prohibit abortion even if a conception is a result of rape and makes executing an abortion a class A felony: garnering the person who does the deed a sentence … Continue reading Rethinking “My body, my choice”
Don’t like it? Complain
By Hobhouse. Amber Rudd’s rebuttal of the UN’s report on British austerity can be summarised as this: “if you disagree with my ideas, you must be politically biased.” Rudd will lodge a formal complaint with the UN regarding Alston’s, a prestigious Human Rights lawyer, methods and conclusions pertaining to the report. This is akin to … Continue reading Don’t like it? Complain
Assange: End Game
Editorial An unkept Julian Assange was dragged out from the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge, ponytail and all, into a police van on 11 April. For seven years Mr Assange remained free in the embassy, evading rape and sexual harassment charges brought by the Swedish authorities. He has dismissed any wrongdoing, in a very Trumpian manner, … Continue reading Assange: End Game
