+Trying to make sense of the latest abhorrent case of anti-Semitic violence, this time in London is fraught with difficulty, not least since it is reported that the Somali-born British citizen who carried out the attack was known to authorities and experienced mental health issues. It seems to me that anybody who goes into the street to stab complete strangers must prime facie have mental health issues. In this case it is suggested that the perpetrator had links with some Iranian group. What is now becoming a standard response from Jewish spokespeople interviewed by the BBC is that the ‘underlying causes’ of anti-Semitism must be addressed. The only underlying cause that ever seems to be mentioned are the ‘hate marches’ also known as the pro-Palestinian marches which it seems should be banned. As always, anti-Semitism is conflated with opposition to the Israeli state’s equally abhorrent behaviour towards Palestinians. Jewish protestors in the streets of Golders Green where the latest attacks took place have taken to calling Keir Starmer ’Jew Harmer’ and a traitor. How quickly the memory fades. Not so long ago he was leading the campaign, orchestrated by his Svengali McSweeny to oust the so-called anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn. As I say, it’s hard to make sense of all this. One thing is for sure though: the underlying cause of all these troubles is the idiocy of the one true God having so many faces. Surely it’s time for a second coming, although I’m not sure that would resolve very much either. Meanwhile, an Israeli government minister invited British Jews to go and live there where they ‘will be protected.’ Hardly a safe bet.
 
+Perhaps we should look to the United States for some sanity.* The man who undoubtedly (maybe not deliberately) propelled Trump into the White House the first time round, former FBI director James Comey is being pursued by Trump’s Justice (sic) Department for an Instagram post of Comey’s of some sea shells on a beach which were arranged to read ‘86/47.’ Apparently this can be read to mean assassinate the 47th President of the United States. So Comey faces being charged with plotting to kill Trump. The absurdity of this, regardless of whether you think Comey is a nice person shows that something has laced the water and I suspect it will be difficult to flush out. Anything you say may be taken down in evidence and misinterpreted until the cows come home. Thank heavens we live in the UK where things are more sensible and free speech is policed. Yes, I heard that oxymoron on the radio this morning.
 
* Only joking. Comey it was of course who said he was looking again into Hillary Clinton’s emails during her bid for the Presidency.

22nd April
Here in Northern Ireland where I am as I write, it is hard to imagine a more peaceful and beautiful place, amongst the Drumlins of County Down. So far away from the troubles in the world it seems, one is liable to forget how the phrase 'the troubles' once applied here. I am also, whilst enjoying the Craic sometimes forgetful of the fact that this is Northern Ireland, with an invisible border between it and the Republic. Indeed I have been reading the Irish Times (there is no border for the news either). There's news here which might make Unionists blanche. The paper reports that the Republic's national debt is down by 5.7 billion Euros, whilst the government's surplus for 2025 was 11.2 billion 'the fourth year in a row in which we recorded a surplus.' National debt stands at 62% of gross national income. The paper doesn't tell us how these record figures were achieved and perhaps they may be building up a torrent of demands for more public works. But on the face of it Ireland has the most successful economy in the EU. 

Perhaps Ireland's record has something to do with its continued membership of the EU? The case for unification won't be made on the back of a few years' economic performance but it won't be a deterrent either. Northern Ireland voters let's recall voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU. They may begin to look enviously down south. Across the water they may just see a constant flow of chaos and indeterminate government, where, by the way, the national debt is  93.2% and is predicted to rise still further in the next two or three years 'before falling slightly' according to UK government predictions. I think we can discount that hope should Labour seek to spend its way out of defeat in 2029. Meanwhile the Irish government looks set to achieve a budget surplus of 9 billion Euros in 2026. Somebody more expert than me could explain what's going on here (of course I appreciate Ireland doesn't have the same demands on its economy which is very different).
 
23rd April
A letter to the New Statesman (unpublished) setting the record straight:
 
‘It would seem that the Andy Burnham bandwagon is gathering pace (Ethan Croft, 17/4) and maybe it is. But is he really the person who will shake Labour out of its troublesome complacency? If after the elections next month Starmer is ejected our new acting Prime Minister will not be Andy Burnham but Lucy Powell, the elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. She will follow in the footsteps of Margaret Beckett and Harriet Harman who didn’t, even temporarily get to No. 10 since Labour was in opposition at the time they became acting leaders of the party. Perhaps punters might spend more time now looking to see what a difference Powell might make. She might after all fancy keeping her new job. She may well find a role for Burnham, whom she supported in the National Executive Committee, but she may also feel it is long overdue for Labour to have a female Prime Minister.’
 
The question of course is whether the party hierarchy would allow Powell to follow in the footsteps of Beckett and Harman into the temporary leadership of the party and this time into the leadership of the country. People like the current Starmer-appointed Deputy PM David Lammy may try to prevent it.
 
+The Labour Party is circulating a party election broadcast which they say has been ‘censored’ by the TV channels and so is being circulated on social media. It claims to repeat the words of Reform individuals in an attempt to illustrate what a bunch of nutters they are. Perhaps it might have been better if it had shown Labour’s achievements and policies for the future. There are some presumably. Just going negative reveals a weakness, and everyone knows about that already. Here it is:   reform-revealed - The Labour Party

26th April
+A reminder that things ain't quite over yet for the troubles in Northern Ireland as it is reported that a car bomb exploded outside a police station south of Belfast.

I don’t normally watch daytime TV, it so offends my work ethic. But today I couldn’t resist the latest episode of the Starmer Sinks Without Trace Show on the Parliament channel, a rather tedious show it has to be said with one episode after another competing with the original 1960s series of The Fugitive for endless escarpments into unresolved denouements. As opposed to gripping cliff edges. Starmer is reprising yet again his most practiced defence of his inaction, which is to say the issue (whatever it is) ‘didn’t cross my desk.’ As some have pointed out he never seems capable of asking why? In the Mandelson case, Starmer in his statement to the House of Commons today repeated his mantra, and answered every question by repeating a well rehearsed line which came down to ‘I’ve just explained all that’ which of course bore no resemblance to what he actually explained, which egregiously didn’t explain any of the why Mandy was ’cleared’ by the top civil servant(s) in the Foreign Office. Starmer only as it were wanted to chronicle the implements of the murder, not the motive. I believe for my part the motive could be traced back to Morgan McSweeney, one of the first to get shoved out of the No.10 door thanks to this sordid affair. Surely if Starmer thinks this is over he is a bigger fool than he takes the rest of us for. I hope journalists will pursue their five ’Ws’ with vigour: Who What Where When and most importantly WHY?  

There was a good letter in the New Statesman today. Well, I would say that wouldn’t I since I wrote it. Its subject matter should concern us all, given that the methodology and progress of privatisation is happening with alarming and somewhat below-the-radar speed thanks to new technology. New technologies are the handmaidens of new forms of capitalism. All the talk of ‘late stage’ capitalism is meaningless, just as talk of late-stage snake skins would be. In the particular context of my letter it is clear that the Thatcherite model of purchaser and provider of public services is moving very advantageously in favour of the ‘provider’ since the purchaser increasingly lacks the skills to assess providers’ inflated promises.
 
‘Will Dunn has once again delivered the goods, although I think one question was missed: who in government really knows what it is they are buying when procuring AI contracts? Who actually has the expertise to make informed decisions and resist the encomiums of the AI 'revolutionaries' (T. Blair included)? I suspect, contra Rachel Reeves' promise to cut government hired consultants by half in this parliament, that more consultants will be drawn in to advise ministers on the appropriate AI solution for their problems. That famous revolving door between the public and private sector is soon to be replaced by a spinning top built by AI companies and 'expert' consultants who never owed allegiance to public service. The whole AI business reeks of 'love at first sight' on a scam dating app. The consequences of this unchecked mad rush have not been weighed but I'm sure certain bank balances have.’ 

What is going on? There is an Atlanticist Swell brewing up and it’s surely causing our undoubtedly Atlanticist Prime Minister a bit of a migraine. The noble but dim Lord (George) Robertson, former UK Defence Secretary and former NATO Secretary General has effectively joined forces with Trump to call Starmer a wuss. It seems that in Robertson’s honest but dim analysis we are spending too much on welfare and not enough on defence. He’s not to my knowledge suggested bringing back conscription, but surely you could kill two birds with one stone there? Such a shift between budgets could immediately boost our defence spending to the desired level. It’s maybe not clear what could be done with the new recruits but I’m sure they could be found something useful to do on the home front. Repair pot holes, perhaps? Anyway, all this talk of defence spending is certainly good for some other welfare recipients. BAE Systems shares are up 14% today.  

The news that Viktor Orban, the aspirant autocrat and possibly dictator of Hungary has been delivered of a crushing defeat in their general election should cheer us all up. Of course, there may yet be challenges from the loser that the vote was rigged, but since he’s been in power for 16 years you might think it could only have been rigged in one direction. So it seems goodbye to Trump (and Putin’s) ‘mini-me’ in Central Europe. The champagne corks will be popping in Brussels tonight. I hope this result will ripple out. In the polls in the U.S. Trump already seems to be on the ropes. Here in the U.K. the seeming inexorable rise of Farage’s pretend Reform party seems to be hesitating, but we’ll have to wait for May’s election results to see what people actually think. Are people wondering now whether populist rightwing types can actually deliver? Well, it’s pretty bloody obvious that they can’t and don’t but I would say that wouldn’t I? In the meantime I asked ChatGTP about Farage’s thoughts on Orban. Here’s the result.

+John Rentoul of the Independent is no great fan of the Labour Party, so his little piece here, reproduced from yesterday’s clickbait begins with a certain degree of sarcasm. But it’s worth reading.
 
‘Labour has reversed the exodus of rich people by changing the law on political donations. Ben Delo, an expat billionaire, is moving back to Britain from Hong Kong so that he can continue to donate millions to Nigel Farage’s Reform party. Delo gave £4m to Reform earlier this year before the government changed the law to put a £100,000 cap on donations from Britons living abroad. Accusing Keir Starmer of a “tinpot” attempt to create a “rigged game”, Delo says he wants to help Farage “build a war chest” to fight the next general election. Delo made his fortune as the co-founder of BitMEX, a cryptocurrency trading platform.’
 
Does one need any greater confirmation that ‘crypto’ is nothing but a malign invention? I am sure it can be argued that any form of money beyond a simple means of exchange has a corrupting influence (OH Yes!) but crypto currency as the name suggests has a negative import from the off and as we know it is the ‘currency of choice’ for the globe’s bad actors. Perhaps now we need to consider not just banning crypto donations to political parties but also any donor who made their money in any way from crypto. If a political party had any serious intent to improve the lot of ordinary people, it wouldn’t touch crypto in whatever shape it manifests itself. Crypto has absolutely nothing to do with making society better. Neither it has to be said has Nigel Farage. Or Trump of curse (Freudian slip there) who has also embraced crypto. Damn them all!
 
+Crypto is about preserving your anonymity. Perhaps in a bid to avoid the taxperson. But it’s not the only sphere where anonymity is preserved. The internet is awash with anonymity. I think there should be a campaign to prevent it. It could start with comments left on websites where typically people (if they are real and they aren’t always) hide behind pseudonyms. One site where the campaign against anonymity could start is Craig Murray’s. I commented yesterday on a Murray blog, using my own name. It looked like most of the other comments were by people who were afraid to use their own name. Craig should not allow (as best he can) that to happen. He of all people I imagine would support the principle of transparency. In the wider context of the internet and increasingly the awful shite swirling around it, one should know who is saying what. It is akin to the supposed right that you should know who your accusers are. In the old days of course (speaking as an ex-MP) real people either wrote letters or used emails, mostly identifying themselves. Now it takes forensic analysis to figure out who the knobheads are who routinely issue death threats from their ‘social’ media drugged brains as they sink further into their ejaculation stained sofas. Sorry about that. I know it’s probably not entirely a male thing.
 
+A quote from Guillaume Appollinaire (1880-1918) caught my attention: ‘It is perhaps more dangerous for a nation to allow itself to be conquered intellectually than by arms.’ Has the United States been captured intellectually? It’s hard to imagine, but imagine one must. Let’s see how it goes. In the meantime here’s a few words from our sponsor:

I confess. I’ve bought a copy (remaindered) of Nadine ‘Mad Nad’ Dorries’ book Downfall: The Self-Destruction Of The Conservative Party. It is, as you might expect from this author of fiction a racy read, part political thriller, gay porn and sour grapes. Dorries and I shared a corridor in the Norman Shaw North building in Westminster but I rarely encountered her, perhaps thankfully. But this book takes the biscuit and I would actually recommend it, if you can get hold of a cheap copy. It was published in October 2024 so still has some contemporary relevance, and importantly perhaps was published shortly before Kemi Badenoch was elected leader of the Conservative Party in November 2024. From what Dorries writes it seems that Badenoch has her very own Morgan McSweeney, by the name of Dougie Smith a long-term fixer in the Tory party and who knows, somebody on whom Starmer’s McSweeney modelled some of his modus operandi. It seems not a lot is known about Smith, though Dorries claims says he is an old friend of Badenoch’s hubby. Who you know and all that. Given that the Tories look like a busted flush at present does it really matter very much how they got into their current parlous state and who now leads them? I think it does, since there seems to be a pattern of behaviour which is partly reflected in the Labour Party and I would venture certainly in the so-called Reform UK party although in the latter case it’s possible Nigel Farage has no need of a Svengali. Even in Mad Nad’s book there could be some useful insights as to how things really are.
 
A lot of Dorries’ book is based on verbatim interviews with unnamed sources, ex-MPs, Cabinet Ministers, ex-SPADS and so on, so it can be frustrating not knowing how much faith to invest in the truth of what they’re saying - if they said it at all. It seems Dorries recorded her interviews with these characters, transcribed their words and then erased the recordings. Anonymity has its advantages if it solicits otherwise unspeakable testimony, much of it salacious it has to be said. But it’s possible a pinch of salt is called for, although this story tends to bear out an old adage that Tory MPs (having money) would embroil themselves in sexual scandals whereas Labour MPs embroiled themselves in money scandals (I met one such).
 
Let me suggest that the way of doing politics, represented by the ‘legacy’ parties has shredded any public faith in their capacity to act with honour. The fixes, shenanigans, back-stabbing and wide ranging venal behaviour has finally caught up with them. The latest stuff about Mandelson does nothing to dispel the public’s distrust, dismay and disgust. Nor I might add Keir Starmer's wardrobe.

Separatism runs hand in hand with populism, mainly of the Right but not exclusively so. Separatism clearly implies that ‘we are separate from the other’ (whatever that is, but often mingled with racism). I’m not sure how much this applies to the province of Alberta in Canada, where there is a movement to hold a referendum on becoming an independent state. A roadblock to this plan are Treaty rights of the indigenous population which were agreed with the Crown before the province of Alberta was established. Legal arguments continue. Canada of course is not new to this game, reference Quebec. The thing now is to what extent Trump wants to interfere as a route to weakening Canada. If he knows any history (doubtful) he may recall that President de Gaulle made a high profile visit to Quebec when it was in the throes of separatist activism. Now, the circumstances may differ—de Gaulle after all was not seen as blithering senile idiot—but some people in Alberta see the separatist campaign as a route to great prosperity, which can only mean one thing: close alignment with the U.S. Whatever happens hopefully the same mistake will not be made as the U.K’s Brexit vote where a minority of the eligible electorate determined the outcome on the basis of a pack of lies. Anyone who is happy not to vote in an election should be classed as insufficiently unhappy with the status quo and unless convinced otherwise must count for the status quo.