We Could Be Heroes (Just for No Deal)
- September 01, 2019
- by
- Matt
We have heard a great deal of stirring talk from Brexiters about World War 2 these last few years. It might be Boris Johnson comparing Francois Holland to a Colditz prison guard dealing out ‘punishment beatings’ to the UK in 2017, or condemning MPs as ‘collaborators’ with the EU in his Facebook video last month.
In May Brexit Party candidate Ann Widdecombe declared that no deal Brexit wouldn’t be as bad as ‘the sacrifice of World War Two’ – a comforting thought, that it would have been useful to hear back in 2016. In June...
The Wars of Ralph Peters
- September 06, 2017
- by
- Matt
Slowly, but inexorably, the world is drifting towards the prospect of an all-out war between the United States and North Korea. At the very least such a conflict is likely to result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, most of them Koreans. It also raises the very real possibility of the first...
The Madness of King Donald
- July 31, 2017
- by
- Matt
Even by the wild standards of what may well be the most deranged individual ever to inhabit the White House, Donald Trump has had a remarkable week. In the space of five working days he has:
publicly humiliated the admittedly creepy attorney general he himself appointed suggested that immigrants are criminals who cut up the bodies of...
Civilization and its Malcontents
- July 12, 2017
- by
- Matt
In the conservative-far right lexicon, few words have the same emotive power as ‘civilization’ – a term that usually equates with ‘Western civilization’ or simply ‘the West.’ It’s one of those words that automatically gives depth and gravitas to the hollowest and tinniest of human mouthpieces.
Use it enough and you instantly begin to sound a...
Bombs and Chocolate
- April 15, 2017
- by
- Matt
For liberals who saw last week’s missile strikes in Syria as a belated but welcome act of humanitarianism, Donald Trump was always going to be an awkward president to share the moral high ground with. One minute he might be talking about beautiful babies and the children of God, but then he gives interviews...
The World According to Bono
- April 15, 2016
- by
- Matt
I’ve got nothing against famous people getting involved in politics or embracing political causes. On the contrary, there’s no reason why the accident of fame and the weird cult of celebrity-worship that comes with it should place anyone above politics or preclude celebrities from taking moral and political positions on issues that they feel strongly...
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