Now Keir’s end is near and so he faces his final curtain. Regrets he has a few (MANDELSON), but of this much we can be certain. He did it his way. It is, I think, unlikely that politicians of future times will see the Starmer ministry as a blueprint; more likely a cautionary tale. Even […]
You could probably tell me about the first time you had sex (although I would prefer you didn’t). You probably couldn’t tell me about the seventh. That’s not to say you didn’t enjoy it. It may, indeed, have been better – practice, as they say, makes perfect. But if familiarity does not, in this particular case, breed contempt, it does breed forgetfulness. The first time
Trapped on the Hamster Wheel of History Read More »
Unlike the sixties, being able to remember the nineties is not a reliable sign you weren’t there. It is not that there were no drugs around, but with the noticeable exception of the rave scene, that generation didn’t decide to base their entire culture on them. Which may explain why we produced Take That and
The Politician of Futures Past Read More »
It’s coming home. They say. All it took was one match for England’s fans, and Britain’s media, to start inscribing the country’s name on the World Cup trophy. Sixty years of hurt are definitely coming to an end. They say. If you detect a slight tone of scepticism here, you would not be wrong (there’s
It’s Coming Home. Apparently Read More »
I have taken to watching Cathy Newman’s show on Sky News. A slightly strange beast, it has some news but most of it is Cathy and a couple of her chums discussing the day’s events. I say chums because although there is always a leftie and a rightie, the former is of the “don’t scare the horses” variety,
The Sneering Style in British Politics Read More »
It started in a wine-shop one November, one of those where, come lunchtime, they find some tables, rustle up some charcuterie and charge you corkage. The sort of place where you pair the food with the wine, not vice versa. My host had bought a decent bottle. I think. I couldn’t drink it. Even the
The Sense of An Ending Read More »
Neither of my parents were exactly space buffs but if, back in the heady days of Armstrong and co., you had asked them when their offspring would first see man in the general vicinity of the Moon, they probably wouldn’t have picked the early years of his sixth decade. Back then, there was a general
The Social Contract Read More »
Being a Homeric hero was, my tutor once opined, quite a sweet deal. Few of them actually die in battle, but they get huge amounts of status. And they spend most of their time eating roast beef. The Iliad shows both sides sacrificing a hecatomb (100 oxen) at the drop of a hat to win divine
It had been one of those weeks. It was not that anything had gone badly wrong, but more that nothing had gone particularly right. It could have been different – a push here, a nudge there, and it would have been a good week. But neither push nor nudge came and so it ended on
The Weather Inside Read More »
I went to bed on Thursday expecting to wake up in the People’s Republic of Faragia. That didn’t happen. Firstly, the count didn’t start until 9am and secondly, the Tories won the most seats. When the dust settled, in my target seat (although not a top target), it hadn’t even been that close. Still, that minor wrinkle aside, Reform had good local elections. A
Copyright © 2022 The New Conservative
Powered by The New Conservative
