Will Trump name his candidate for the Supreme Court, but slow the appointment process so that it will depend on whether he wins the election, or will he appoint her before the election to secure an ever more conservative majority in the Court irrespective of the outcome of the election? One suspects that the Republican … Continue reading A Nice Calculation

“If I see the rule of law being broken in a way that I find unacceptable then, of course I will go”(emphasis provided). Those words might be spoken sincerely and be adhered to strictly by any dictator such as a Putin, a Kim Jong-un or a Xi Jinping without hindering in anyway their tyrannical reign and their … Continue reading The Law Rules: OK or Not?

It may seem that Boris Johnson and Donald Trump live in parallel universes. In both their universes, they came to power and remain in power on a raft of lies calculated to fire up nationalism and mislead an already resentful 'left behind' working and middle class. Both have found scapegoats in erstwhile friendly allied countries … Continue reading Parallel Universes

We and our cousins in the USA once lived in societies where Presidents and Prime Ministers who wished to impose their will on their country would ask "May I do it: does the law allow it". On either side of the Atlantic we now have a President and a Prime Minister who ask a much … Continue reading Maybe I Can

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?