There are some subjects that people immediately get labelled as niche. Animal welfare is often one of them. Politics, we are told, is about growth, taxation, health services, housing, immigration and public spending. Animals sit somewhere further down the list. They enter the news after a high-profile case of cruelty and then disappear again until … Continue reading
The withdrawal of American B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford has prompted plenty of official reassurance. We’re told it’s routine. We’re told not to read anything into it. We’re told the base remains secure and that the movement of military assets happens all the time. Perhaps. But the real question is not why the bombers have … Continue reading
Every so often, a political story from abroad lands with a thud that feels uncomfortably familiar. Donald Trump’s promise to hand out $5,000 to every adult American if Republicans hold Congress is one of those moments. It isn’t a policy. It isn’t a programme. It’s a bribe — the kind you reach for when you’ve … Continue reading
Andy Burnham’s first appearance in the Commons as Prime Minister was meant to signal a change of direction. He walked out of Downing Street with the air of a man ready to confront the country’s long‑ignored structural problems — water, energy, transport — the basic machinery of daily life that has been left to rot … 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