Jan 5Believe in GhostsThe chances are that by the end of the month you will have bought a hardback book by JR Moehringer. Even if you don’t purchase one, you’ll soon find it hard to avoid phrases by the American Pulitzer Prize-winner across all your media feeds. …Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Jul 7, 2022BEXIT day is a danger for StarmerThere is much rejoicing in the land at the exit of Boris Johnson. BEXIT day is finally on the way. However, despite popping champagne corks at Southside, this represents a moment of peril for Keir Starmer and Labour. …Politics3 min readPolitics3 min read
May 17, 2022A local candidate for local people‘Walkout over Labour candidate choice’ is the headline screaming from the BBC website, with similar stories of a Labour leader rocked by the mass desertion of local party activists. Except this wasn’t Wakefield on Sunday, but Rotherham in November 2012 when 80-plus Labour members walked out of the meeting which…Labour Party4 min readLabour Party4 min read
May 7, 2022I’m telling you…the joy of tellingBY PAUL RICHARDS There’s an interesting debate to be had about the differential impact of traditional campaign methodology, the ‘ground war’, on the actual results of local elections. Often the best-laid plans are stymied by the pesky voters: target seats are lost and ‘unwinnables’ send unlikely, or even unwilling, victors…Elections4 min readElections4 min read
Apr 15, 2022Wakefield — the by-election both sides must winWakefield — the by-election both sides must win All eyes on Wakefield. The resignation of convicted sex criminal Imran Ahmed Khan means a by-election is on the way, and with it all the attendant rune-reading, augury, crystal-ball gazing and punditry. …5 min read5 min read
Mar 28, 2022Kinnock at 80 — an appreciation.Neil Kinnock is eighty. For the generation which dug deep for the miners, wanted Maggie out, out, out, was revulsed by the scuttling taxis, and wanted to meet the challenge and make the change, this comes as something of a shock. …5 min read5 min read
Dec 21, 2021Stand up if you hate Boris: has the PM faced his Ceausescu moment?If you ask your Bucharest taxi driver nicely, and perhaps offer a few extra Lei, they will take you to Revolution Square and point out the very balcony where Nicolae Ceausescu made his final speech on 21 December 1989. …Boris Johnson3 min readBoris Johnson3 min read
Dec 12, 2021Two years after Labour’s catastrophe, has Labour made any progress?On 12 December 2019, just two years ago, the Labour Party was crashing to a catastrophic defeat. The voters let us know what they thought about the previous five years, with a final and crushing verdict. From Bolsover to Bridgend, from Wakefield to Wrexham, Labour voters rejected the party they…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
Sep 25, 2021Rayner kick-starts conference with a life-raft of practical policy.Labour’s challenge as delegates gather in Brighton this morning is not the absence of policy. Labour has lots of policies. The problem is that some of them are obscure, some fantastical, some outdated, and some just plain wrong. We can debate which is which later over coffee. The main problem…Labour Party3 min readLabour Party3 min read
Sep 20, 2021Ministers just love messing with the Machinery of GovernmentMichael Gove, truly the main beneficiary of the recent reshuffle, has stamped his mark on Government with the easiest and most obvious tool to hand: renaming his department. Overnight, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was conjured from Gove’s fevered imagination. The DLUHC is the latest incarnation of…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
