October 25th 2022. The situation in the UK makes me more incredulous by the day. Rishi Sunak was crowned leader of the Conservative party by the MPs. This was caused by there being no other candidate left standing at the deadline of 2 pm on Monday 24th October. According to
Alan Shipman The Open University Alan Shipman is a senior lecturer in economics at the Open University. He returned to research and teaching on the economy after it crashed in 2008, having (mis)spent years as an emerging-markets analyst, consultant and business journalist. As the incoming UK prime minister, Rishi
Victoria Honeyman University of Leeds Since completing her PhD at the University of Leeds in 2005, Victoria Honeyman has taught on a wide range of modules. Her primary specialism is British Politics, with a particular specialism in British foreign policy. When Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss in the first
Information Opinion As the “Noah’s Ark” period of Liz Truss’s UK Prime Ministership (hint: “reigned” for 40 days and 40 nights) draws to its humiliating close, the big question is whether Rishi Sunak is the rainbow: God promising never to do it again. The odds do favour nobody
Guy Hatchard GLOBE.GLOBAL hatchardreport.com Information Opinion The UK Times runs a story “After centuries of cut, burn and poison, could a jab cure cancer?” by Tom Whipple. 11,000 miles away the same story appears in Stuff newspaper. This is one of those ‘isn’t it wonderful?’ reassuring
Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com Political historian Michael Bassett CNZM is the author of 15 books, was a regular columnist for the Fairfax newspapers and a former minister in the 1984-1990 governments When Liz Truss announced her resignation as British Prime Minister some wag observed that she’d achieved a lot:
Stuart Smith National MP Kaikoura Below is Stuart Smith’s response. The cost of living crisis is affecting every New Zealander, whether it be at the supermarket, increases in rent or paying off your mortgage – high prices are biting and making it tougher for Kiwis to get ahead. This month,
The classic movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore has an amusing opening scene: the boy is lying on the floor listening to All The Way From Memphis and the eponymous Alice asks, “Why do we need to listen to Mott The Hoople 24 hours per day. Can you tell
As Orwell described it in 1984, the Memory Hole was the means by which The Party controlled the past, the present and the future. When history was only ever what The Party said it was, the present was only ever what the Party said it was. Oceania is at war
David Seymour ACT Party Leader It’s important that any lessons taken from Liz Truss’s downfall are based on actual data. The risk is New Zealand takes the wrong lesson from lazy analysis, particularly those on the political left who bleat on like the sheep in Animal Farm: tax
October 19th 2022. If a writer was to pitch the current events to a BBC commissioning editor as political mystery series it would be given short shrift as it possessing not a shred of reality. Today saw the “resignation” of the Home Secretary Suella Braverman after a mere 40 days
Steve Schifferes City, University of London Andrew Burlinson Catherine Waddams University of East Anglia Brian Scott-Quinn University of Reading Morten O. Ravn UCL Steven McCabe Birmingham City University Professor Schifferes was Marjorie Deane Professor of Financial Journalism and the first Director of the Financial Journalism MA at City from 2009-2017,
Jack thecommoner.substack.com Information Opinion It’s quite something that the clown world in which we now live has evolved to such a terrifying degree that Piers Morgan — of all people — somehow believes he is best placed to arbitrate an entire planet’s sense of morality, but sadly, that
October 17th 2022. It’s been a while since my last letter as I have been laid low with non-covid Covid. All the benefits and symptoms but with negative tests. This is apparently a not uncommon occurrence in parts of the country. The remedy recommended was the same as it
As the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, accused of raping Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019, remains on hold, the social media left are in full flight. Higgins has been “unavailable to take the stand”, mid-testimony, all week. That hasn’t stopped her supporters screeching day and night. How dare
