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
Tag: Politics
Is Boris Johnson a left-wing campus activist?
By Hobhouse. 21 Conservative ministers have been relieved of the whip, which deprives the government of not just wisdom but of dissent, too. Mr Johnson, before the emergency Brexit debate commenced, sought to coerce opinion and win the vote by threatening any rebel with the loss of his or her seat and with it, their … Continue reading Is Boris Johnson a left-wing campus activist?
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
A spooky Brexit extension
Britain has been granted an extension until 31 October for their eventual departure from the EU - pushing it back from the previous 12 April deadline. It's not the June deadline Mrs May was searching for, but it does apply the brakes to the process, offering the PM and MPs a little rest-bite from the … Continue reading A spooky Brexit extension
Flextension
Editorial Alas, Theresa May is still the placeholder for prime minister and as inconsequential as ever. And, in just under 24 hours, we are going to confront a realisation of just how powerless her Withdrawal agreement has, too, made the UK. MPs voted with a commanding majority to endorse Theresa May’s proposal to plead with … Continue reading Flextension
Corbyn, put your hands-up!
By Hobhouse The video that surfaced this week of British soldiers in Afghanistan taking aim at a picture of Her Majesty’s leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, cannot be exonerated from our current political predicament. This unflattering episode for the armed forces goes beyond left and right politics, it even goes beyond Brexit. It speaks … Continue reading Corbyn, put your hands-up!
It’s Parliament vs. the people, claims Brendan O’Neill
By Hobhouse Brendan O’Neill, editor of Spiked, wrote in a piece named “Parliament vs. the people,” that parliament “defied the people. They pitted themselves, arrogantly, against the public; against the very source of their political legitimacy.” He was writing of course about Brexit and specifically about the indicative votes, held on 28 March. O’Neill correctly … Continue reading It’s Parliament vs. the people, claims Brendan O’Neill
Am I Becoming Undemocratic?
By Hobhouse Brexit has thrown-up a lot of questions for British culture, government and the individual Brit to answer. What does British identity entail? What is our place in the world? Does the Union exist in name only? The question I most ask myself is ‘am I unwittingly being undemocratic in lending my support for … Continue reading Am I Becoming Undemocratic?
Book review of “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” by Noah Harari.
After making sense of the past in his first literary effort Sapiens and turning his analytical mind toward the future in Homo Deus, Harari now seeks to provide some self-help for those living in the present century. Harari’s first effort, Sapiens: a brief history of humankind, was first published in his native Hebrew. Once translated … Continue reading Book review of “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” by Noah Harari.
Why we shouldn’t care that UK employment is at a record high.
By Hobhouse The number of Britons in work has once again struck a new statistic, with a record 32.6 million employed between October and December, the Office of National Statistics’ figures show. The jobless rate, lingering at 4 per cent, remains at is lowest since 1975. Weekly average earnings also showed an increase of 3.4 … Continue reading Why we shouldn’t care that UK employment is at a record high.
