The liberal case for BBC independenceThe BBC faces two existential crises. The first is obvious: the licence fee is dying. Younger audiences don't watch linear TV. Coverage is declining. Enforcement costs over £100m annually to prosecute people who can't afford £174.50. Within a decade, the model collapses completely. The second crisis is worse: nobody trusts the BBC's independence anymore. And why would they? Ministers appoint the Board. The government sets funding levels. Every charter renewal becomes a hostage negotiation where editorial freedom trades for financial survival. Trust in BBC impartiality has fallen 15 points since 2018. The public sees the strings. Charter renewal in 2027 ... (more) |
America's SuezIn October 1956 Britain and France,with Israeli support, launched military strikes against Egypt. The military operation was entirely successful, and within a matter of days it appeared that all the operational objectives would be achieved. However, almost immediately, the United States put so much pressure on their allies that the operation became unsustainable. Nine days after the attack was launched the Eden government declared a ceasefire and within two months all of the British and French attacking forces were withdrawn, leaving Egypt the clear victor, Eden himself was forced from office in January 1957. The point was that even the ... (more) |
Iran: no more excusesThe Islamic Republic of Iran's theocratic dictatorship has, so far, murdered at least 2,400 protestors. That is the latest report from human rights groups monitoring the situation. This is on top of the expected execution of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani for the crime of exercising his right to protest peacefully. As previously stated in my piece, "In praise of destabilising tyranny", it has been incredibly encouraging to see and hear Ed Davey be so vocal about his support for the Iranian protestors, as well as hearing the UK government voice its support and Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, too. This is ... (more) |
Yes: Wonderous StoriesDeeply unfashionable though prog rock is, this still sounds lovely. (more) |
Beware the centreI am allergic to attempts to define Liberalism and the role of Liberal Democrats in terms of "the centre". If I thought Liberal Democrats were only aspiring to be a centre party I would have left years ago. More than sixty years ago I joined a party whose leader regularly described the Liberals as a "non-socialist radical alternative." In recent years the left/right terminology (which goes back to the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century) has become even less useful than it was in the Grimond era. The same may be said of "centre-ism." Even if we take seriously ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1461"The government continues to frame the cost-of-living crisis as a problem that can be solved largely through domestic policy choices. Announcements focus on price caps, fare freezes and measures like free school meals and breakfast clubs to ease pressure on family budgets. But these treat the symptoms, not causes." We need to recognise that geopolitics is driving the cost-of-living crisis, argues Anna McShane. Harriet Walter on the effect of the government's misbegotten treatment of Palestine Action: "By accusing them of being part of a terrorist organisation rather than a protest movement, the government ensures that these people who broke machinery ... (more) |
Leicestershire pensioner fined £225 by council for flicking snot out of van windowAshby Hub News wins our Headline of the Day Award for its tale of crime in Coalville. The judges were, however, concerned by the story below it. The first sentence states that the pensioner was fined for "snotting out his van window". If one accepts that "to snot" is a verb, then snotting out a window and snotting out of a window are surely two different things, the former being far more newsworthy than the latter. (more) |
Is the latest u-turn the final straw for Labour MPs?The Independent reports that Labour MPs are questioning whether Sir Keir Starmer can hold on to power after he performed yet another U-turn as prime minister by ditching plans for mandatory digital ID. The paper says that the government has reversed course on policy issues at least 11 times so far, including by raising the inheritance tax relief threshold for farmers after months of protest and scrapping a raft of benefits cuts under the threat of a backbench revolt. They add that the latest decision comes amid growing concern over the direction of Sir Keir's beleaguered Labour government in the ... (more) |
Politicians give private schools more leeway than state schoolsBackbenchers do not hesitate to voice their opinions about state schools and ministers do not hesitate to intervene. It's as though having lost confidence in their ability to do anything about the economy, politicians have lighted upon education as an alternative arena. But it is only state education that politicians comment on. Private schools are given a free pass. Here's the education minister Josh MacAlister replying to a Westminster debate, occasioned by an online petition calling for schools to move to a four-day week, with the remaining days each being an hour longer: It is essential that we do not ... (more) |
Why Plato Matters Now: Angie Hobbs in conversation with Jon Hawkins and Peter WestWhen I told my favourite teacher at school that I was interested in studying philosophy at university, one of the books he lent me was Plato's Republic. It was a brilliant choice because it encompassed so many topics and the debates it contained were still relevant. At university I found that one of the thinkers I was most attracted to, Karl Popper, had devoted the first volume of his wartime critique of totalitarian thinking, The Open Society and Its Enemies, to a critique of the Republic. Popper was not the first thinker of his era to treat Plato in this ... (more) |