The current challenges that face Boris Johnson both in relation to ending the automatic early release of terror offenders from prison and the impending Brexit negotiations could be solved very easily by him taking one decisive position – to govern in the national interest while repealing that crumbling lawyer’s charter, the Human Rights Act 1998. … [Read More]
Britain’s own Brexit negotiator David Frost was both eloquent and thoughtful in his speech on Monday, setting out the British government’s attitude and plans for a trade deal. His speech pictured Brexit as a kind of counter-revolution. Having pursued the creation of the European Union itself in which a new European, transnational governmental system “overlaid… [Read More]
Almost nobody seriously thinks the latest Meghan-Harry debacle jeopardises in any way the permanence, long-lasting respect or pride of the monarchy in ordinary British civil society. The only potential real decline in favourable public opinion (according to recent YouGov polling) belongs to Prince Harry falling from 71% to 55% from October to January and Meghan,… [Read More]
We are a far journey from the British Broadcasting Corporation born in the 1920s. Formed out of a need for public information and education for the beginning of its history, it now competes in an age of misinformation, a lack of impartiality over its party- and Brexit-coverage, a wider plurality of viewing habits and an… [Read More]
It is no secret that there has been a significant repositioning by many European social democratic parties in recent years towards the more radical left. In the past week, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s brand of what he calls “democratic socialism” suffered a sizeable defeat in the general election, gaining only 203 seats compared with… [Read More]
In a new book, the entrepreneur and Labour donor warns the demise of the centre-left will continue unless it re-focuses on delivering economic growth and higher living standards for all The centre-left faces ‘extinction’ unless it can break free of neoliberal economic dogma and find a way to credibly deliver significantly higher rates of growth… [Read More]
Have you ever stopped and questioned whether the output of BBC news and current affairs is as balanced as it could be? Have you found yourself screaming at the Today programme, switching off Question Time, or getting angry listening to Any Questions? Do you ever find yourself questioning its impartiality and how the BBC measures that? Now… [Read More]
Not a day seems to pass in this Conservative leadership contest without promises of tax cuts. Today The Times brings news that Boris Johnson is contingency planning an emergency No Deal budget to ensure the economy is ‘going gangbusters’ by October 31. Central to that is said to be an idea to abolish stamp duty… [Read More]
In the early transformation of Hong Kong from a “barren rock” to a trading outpost of the British empire, the Crown representatives took one decision in particular that would be pivotal to its future. Rather than selling the land to the traders who relocated there from mainland China, it was auctioned on a leasehold basis,… [Read More]
On Monday May 20th, The Rt Rev Bashar Warda, Archbishop of Erbil, addressed a seminar at Civitas on the plight facing Christians in Iraq and the wider Middle East. This is the full text of his address. Thank you David Green, and thank you Civitas, for organising this discussion. I came to London to… [Read More]