There are institutions so deeply stitched into the national fabric that we forget they were ever built at all. The BBC is one of them. It did not simply appear as a natural feature of British life; it was constructed — deliberately, ambitiously — as a civic project rooted in the belief that a nation … Continue reading
The Makerfield by-election delivered a predictable Labour victory for Andy Burnham, but the underlying numbers and dynamics offer sharper insights into the state of British politics than the headline result suggests. Labour’s vote returned to its expected baseline in this historically safe seat, yet the contest revealed a right that is fragmenting, evolving, and—crucially—beginning to … Continue reading
A young man is dead, a murderer is jailed, and a police force is under investigation — but the rush to blame an entire faith community is as wrong as it is dangerous. This tragedy demands clarity, restraint and reform, not scapegoating says Pat Harrington. What Happened on Belmont Road Shortly before midnight on 3 … Continue reading
There is a Tony Blair problem. Not because the former Prime Minister still wields real power, but because too many in the political class continue to treat him as a sage rather than as the architect of a settlement that collapsed under its own contradictions. The Morning Star’s description of him as a “cadaverous incarnation … Continue reading
Nearly 60,000 warrants issued. Tens of thousands still outstanding. Victims waiting years. Defendants vanishing abroad. Channel 4’s Dispatches investigation into Britain’s fugitive problem arrives not as a curiosity from the margins of criminal justice but as a warning from its centre. What happens to public faith when appearing for trial begins to look less like an obligation … Continue reading
The British state pension has always been a curious hybrid—part social contract, part political theatre, part actuarial puzzle. It is sold to the public as a simple guarantee: pay in across a working life, and the state will ensure a basic income in old age. Yet the reality, as 2026 unfolds, is a system straining … Continue reading