Friends, Radix followers, countrymen, lend me your ears I come to bury May not to praise her The evil that men or women do lives after them The good is oft interred with their bones So let it be with May. The noble Johnson Hath told you that May was incompetent If it were so, […]
OPINION
Why defining Islamophobia might not be such a good idea
There is perhaps no more explosive combination than religion and politics. Which is why so many tend to steer away from it. But we can’t all ignore it. So here goes. The most recent fracas has been about Islamophobia. An All Party Parliamentary Group has come up with a suggested definition that the government has […]
Why China will never dominate Asia
Will 21st century China some day dominate Asia? Will it succeed in building its neighbourhood that which the United States, guided by the Monroe doctrine, built in the Americas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? My betting is – No. There are ideological, geopolitical and economic factors that will prevent China from subjugating its Asian neighbours. Ideologically, China […]
What next for Change UK?
It just hasn’t happened for Change UK. There was a moment when it could have, but a combination of naivety, poor timing, bad organisation and a lack of leadership – or maybe too many leaders – has probably done for it in its current form. It is not unheard of for parties to lose MPs […]
Towards a radical pragmatism
What is the radical centre? Isn’t it just a re-hash of the Third Way, of Blair, Major and Cameron? With hindsight, New Labour was far preferable to the current manifestations of the Labour Party; and – for all their flaws – Major and the coalition were the least bad governments we have had in my […]
Might we see a dawning of the yellow-greens?
Every political groupie will tell you never to attach too much importance to a single opinion poll, while at the same time moving from ecstasy to agony and back again at a two-point swing. It is hard to remember a time when the opinion polls have been more volatile and more confusing, so the advice […]
European elections that are no longer European
More than any other organisation on the planet, the European Union (EU) assembles countries whose democracy works well. When you travel in Europe from East to West and North to South, whether you are in Poland or Portugal, Ireland or Greece, and you talk to citizens, the vast majority of them will be able to […]
Brexit Party versus Change UK – why is one winning (and has Farage read our book)?
There is already a booming cacophany of op-eds, columns and think-pieces surrounding the coming EU elections. I hope I can offer a slightly different approach, drawing on our new Radix publication, A Guide to New Political Movements, written by Nick Silver and myself. In it, we pick out the key ingredients required for new political parties […]
It’s enough to make Remainers scream
It really is enough to make Remainers scream. Not only could the ‘Remain parties’ not manage any kind of joint front for the European elections, they have now managed to make a hash of the Peterborough by-election, thanks also to the non-co-operation of the People’s Vote campaign who, reportedly, finally killed off the chances of […]
The coming squabble over the centre ground
When I was editor of Liberal Democrat News, during the Ashdown era, I became fascinated watching the real divisions inside the Lib Dem party. Year after year, it always seemed the same. There were highly successful, local government elections run by the teams who would eventually transform Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle and other places. By 1994, […]
