Brexit: it’s all about the fish

In a year of such bad news the headline that a Brexit deal has been signed counts as good news but it is only relatively, and minimally, so.

For the country at large it means duty and quota free access for manufactured goods and that’s surely good news for those who’ve exported a substantial part of their production to the EU and there are many of them. In particular I’m pleased that Welsh sheep farmers now have a chance of survival. However they and the other exporters will now have to contend with export documentation, which was unnecessary as long as we were still a part of the EU, and that’s not inconsiderable.

What’s the point of being moderate?

Recent, and not so recent, events fill you with despair and you wonder what’s to be done to prevent this country drifting further away from being a functioning ‘liberal’ democracy.

How facist is Boris Johnson?

I ask because I’ve just been watching the excellent Andrew Marr series History of Modern Britain and the scenes from Germany and Italy in the 20s and 30s chime unpleasantly with this week’s Republican convention in the US. Googling the question ‘is Donald Trump a fascist’ connects to several interesting articles and although the answer in general seems to be ‘no’ you’ve got to worry.

Remembering is not the same as celebrating

I’ve been a long time supporter of the idea that you shouldn’t rewrite history, errors and omissions excepted, and I’ve got a bit of history myself: born in South Africa, 2 years living an expat life in Indonesia and then three years in Hong Kong. So you could say that I’ve experienced first hand the consequences of the colonial era and, to be honest, enjoyed it too.

A day in the life

It’s good if Friday can be a good day. It draws a line under the week and sets the tone for the weekend. And for it to be a good day it needs a good start and that for me means one of my standard breakfasts.

Election stories II: the campaign

We started this year’s campaign pretty early of course and certainly well before all the candidates were announced. That happens about 4 weeks before Election Day itself which results in a final election push when you know with whom you’re actually competing.

Polemics weekend: 9/10 Apr 16

Twice a year we get the Cambridge Literary Festival. It is what is says, a literary festival, and showcases lots of authors talking about their books. Some of these are political and I attended two this weekend which were complementary and fronted by people with strong views which they’re comfortable promoting. You might say they’re polemicists.