BY JIM BARRINGTON One of the banners raised by Animal Rebellion at their demonstration at Smithfield meat market last week stated that the “No. 1 cause of climate change is animal agriculture”. It was pointed out in a tweet by environmental journalist, Charlie Pye-Smith, that according to the Intergovernmental Panel Read more…
BY TIM MAYER I don’t know about you, but I’m getting rather tired of the lectures and disruption caused by lefty, beardy-weirdy, tree-huggers, telling us that our leaders have failed and that Government must act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025. As free marketeers, we Read more…
BY ALICIA KEARNS Turkey has said its offensive in North East Syria will last eight further days. Eight more days of a unilateral and undisciplined offensive which has seen Turkey bomb a detention camp holding Daesh (ISIS) prisoners likely allowing some to escape; and almost shelling a US military base. Read more…
Julian Dutton is a writer, actor and comedian. His writing credits include The Big Impression, Scoop, Pompidou (which he co-created), and many radio series such as The Harpoon, Truly Madly Bletchley, The Secret World etc. On television, he has appeared in The Big Impression, Scoop, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Time Read more…
BY TIM DAWSON Go home British politics, you’re drunk. Hippies on yoga mats blocking London Bridge. A giant puppet octopus being ‘kettled’. John Bercow speaking to the EU on behalf of Remain. It’s like something from a 1970s apocalyptic novella. Or Monty Python. But, no – this is British politics, Read more…
BY JAMES BICKERTON It is no exaggeration to say Extinction Rebellion has the potential to become one of the deadliest political movements in human history. Should their policy programme be applied across the globe I am confident that millions, in all probability tens of millions, would die. Famine, preventable disease Read more…
BY SAM WHITE British politics, a place of stirring oratory, robust cut and thrust, and an effectively adversarial tradition, between politicians, parties, and the public they serve. Or at least, that was British politics until about five minutes ago. Suddenly though, the political arena is highly strung and in a Read more…
BY CHARLOTTE GILL A few weeks ago on Twitter, I had to do a double take. Tom Watson had posted that an organisation employing Johnny Mercer needed “investigating” – as it had received government funding while hiring the Tory MP. The intricacies of what this company did weren’t what shocked Read more…
BY SUSAN HALL Do you know what could be a brilliant idea? A 4-day week. There’s some evidence that it might boost productivity as employees work harder in the time they are at work and are more refreshed when they return to the office after their break. It may also Read more…
BY MO METCALF-FISHER Thursday saw yet more drama in Westminster. This time though, it didn’t come from the chamber of the House of Commons. The hard-line environmental group, Extinction Rebellion (XR), found themselves at the centre of a humiliating PR disaster. Likely one that will haunt them indefinitely. Bungling activists Read more…
BY TOBY YOUNG The Labour Party’s manifesto in 1983, when Michael Foot was leader, was famously described as “the longest suicide note in history”. But the next one looks to be an even bigger exercise in self-harm, judging from the last week’s conference. The flurry of policy announcements was hard Read more…
BY TIM DAWSON It was standing room only at our fringe event yesterday. On the panel were Steve Baker, Andrea Jenkyns and Jacob Rees-Mogg, and the chair was Dia Chakravarty. Brexit heroes, all. The conversation was wide-ranging and good-humoured. Particularly noteworthy was the number of young people in the room. Read more…
BY TIM DAWSON The protesters decided to stay at home. And who can blame them? Overthrowing capitalism is important work, but not as important as keeping toasty and updating your showreel. I salute the few Revolutionaries and Remainsessives who made it out. There were a couple of Socialist Worker-types in Read more…
BY SUSAN HALL Would anyone like to join my campaign to have the 1997 General Election annulled? Now, I know what you’re thinking, but hear me out. I was never John Major’s biggest fan, but I was certain at the time that he would make a better Prime Minister than Read more…
BY MOLLY GILES There is no point berating the Supreme Court for its decision or attempting to discern the supposed political leanings of the Judges of the Supreme Court. The decision was entirely within the reasonable ambit of what it had been asked to decide. However it is imperative that Read more…
BY MO METCALF-FISHER In his speech to the extremist animal rights group Viva! – who brand dairy farmers as rapists, Michael Mansfield QC has suggested that eating meat could be made illegal, with offenders having to do jail time. Whether you eat meat or not, no rational person should be Read more…
BY JIM BARRINGTON Sue Hayman, Labour’s shadow environment minister, recently announced the party’s 50 point animal welfare plan. While many of these policies make sense and would indeed improve animal welfare, others showed signs of prejudice or ignorance. One point covered wild animals, saying that a Labour government would remove Read more…
BY TOBY YOUNG The Liberal Democrats’ new Brexit policy is quite audacious, to put it mildly. At the party conference last weekend, Jo Swinson, the new Lib Dem leader, announced that she wasn’t going to campaign for a second referendum any more. What would be the point, when she’s already Read more…
BY JOHN REDWOOD I did not expect so many MPs to devote a whole Parliament to trying to thwart the referendum result. They are infuriating Leave voters, letting down the many voters that voted Conservative or Labour on the understanding those parties were pledged to get us out on time, and Read more…
BY RUTH LEA I have long believed that membership of the EU, tied to the EU’s Single Market, with its regulatory straightjacket, and tied to the Customs Union, with the inability to unilaterally negotiate free trade deals and modify tariffs, has been a drag on the UK economy, not an Read more…