The populist herd that voted in the likes of Balsonaro in Brazil, Trump in the USA and Johnson in the UK may be about to become immune to their infection. The one comforting fact about populism is that, like a virus exposed sunlight, its virulence evaporates once it is exposed to facing and dealing with … Continue reading Herd Immunity

Yesterday this blog argued that the author and all those others of us who have the resources and the 'flexibility' to survive the lockdown in relative comfort should recognise publicly the sacrifices of those who do not. Today, this blog argues that we should also recognise the unique burden being borne on our behalf by … Continue reading Them, Not Us.

Of course, flexibility in the rules around the lockdown is desirable. Without it we would face the absurdity of people acting in ways that defeat the purpose of the law in order to obey the letter of the law. Take, for example, the lockdown rule that requires infected people to isolate themselves in their main … Continue reading Flexible Friends

On Monday, the fleet footed El Dom survived the corrida in the Rose Garden to fight and, like many matadors, perhaps to die another day. This afternoon, there will be a new beast in the arena. We can expect a classic display of ground pawing, snorting, feints and head tossing from Boris the Bull as … Continue reading Bull

Played brilliantly. Had Cummings been a matador he would have been awarded both ears and the tail of the slaughtered press. Like bulls in the arena, the journalists and commentators (including the author) were provoked by the matador and his cuadrilla into repeatedly attacking a proffered red rag of bluster.  Not until the finest of … Continue reading Ole!

One nightmare worse than Boris having his ropes pulled by Cummings is that of Boris bereft of Cummings and left rudderless and adrift in the perfect storm conjured up by pursuing Brexit in a time of plague. That there is no obvious Thatcherist Willy to replace this Borisonian Gaveston is not surprising. Any pretenders to … Continue reading If Not Rasputin, Then Who?

Thatcher was right that every PM needs their Willy. However, as Edward II discovered to his cost, no political leadership benefits from elevating and maintaining a favourite. For political leaders, there is a vital difference between being advised by a wise and trusted confidante and putting yourself in the hands of a favoured and devious … Continue reading Willies, Yes. Piers, No.

The message from China is that they have the  virus beaten but there is the possibility of a resurgence as the result of travellers bringing the infection into China from abroad. Worth recalling that China's preferred means of government is lies and misinformation. How convenient would it be if future deaths and disruption in China … Continue reading Opportunity Knocks, Perhaps?

It is possible that the economic and social chaos inflicted by the corona virus pandemic will overwhelm us and that questions about the ‘big issues of yesterday’ will then appear wholly irrelevant or painfully trivial. But all that aside, we face three Brexit scenarios.   The first is a fully-fledged UK/EU trade deal, agreed and … Continue reading When It’s Over

Poor Saj. Despite being the son of a bus driver and educated at ‘a bog standard’ state school’ and a ‘non-Oxbridge’ university, he nonetheless did what he could to keep in with the ‘posh boys’ with their posh parents and their public school\Oxford educations. He sucked up the humiliation when ‘posh boy’ Dominic sacked his … Continue reading It Takes Some Sucking UP