One moment he is One Nation the next a Warsaw Pact strong man. Who is Boris Johnson?

  • 30 May 2020

For reasons beyond my comprehension (discuss) a certain noisy cult on Twitter seem to think that the retention of Cummings is some sort of victory for Boris Johnson. That he has faced down a biased and driven press. That he emerges as a strong leader. It is not the mood of the...

There is only so much, bluster, arrogance and lies that the public will take

  • 26 May 2020

It stretches irony to almost breaking point that Barnard Castle is Durham slang for, ‘pathetic excuse’.   I watched the press conference with a mixture of incredulity and anger. Downing Street was asked for comment by the Guardian about the Cummings road trips over six w...

This is no the end of the matter

  • 23 May 2020

Like everything else in political life the cover up can be seen to be more serious than the crime. What I find so shocking about the Cummings allegations is that nobody at the centre of government thought it a wise precaution to have a ‘line to take’ in case his trip to Durham...

Margaret Thatcher would have regarded Priti Patel as Un Conservative

  • 21 May 2020

The clue that there was a massive bust up in Cabinet over the immigration surcharge for health and care workers came from that wise old bird Michael Gove on Marr. ‘It’s under review”. A sensible holding line which holds no hostages to fortune and gives everyone a bit of wriggl...

Boris Johnson gave the nation the advice that I have been giving my pupils for years. Have fun but don’t be a cunt

  • 10 May 2020

I always used to encourage ministers to read one Greek tragedy a month just to be prepared for their inevitable political doom. But perhaps this weekend Boris Johnson should reach for a spot on Wodehouse. ‘It’s always just when a chappie is feeling particularly top hole and...

Covid19 will be Johnson’s Momenti Mori. It will make for more informed decision making and will upset the lockdown deniers

  • 28 Apr 2020

It is rather depressing how relentlessly tribal issues have become. I don’t mean party political tribal. Just generally. It started with global warming. Then Scottish independence. Then Brexit. And now coronavirus. Both sides are unrelenting. The mad left scream that the Torie...

The Cummings non story is politically motivated bollocks

  • 25 Apr 2020

Is it at all surprising that journalists are even less trusted than politicians when the Daily Telegraph spews out a daily diet of poison and disinformation and the Guardian runs Ickeian conspiracy theories about Dominic Cummings’s presence at SAGE meetings ‘corrupting’ scient...

Soon there will be no room at the Inns for the criminal Bar. They must be shamed into finding their moral compass

  • 18 Apr 2020

The publicly funded criminal Bar has weathered many storms. Fees regularly slashed since the days of Jack Straw. The threat of extinction by the Grayling wrecking ball. Filthy and unsafe courts that are not fit for purpose. And a minority of martinet judges demanding the impos...

‘The best way to find ourselves is to lose yourself in the service of others’. Ghandi

  • 12 Apr 2020

The real hero of this government is Isaac Levido, wisely drafted in to pummel the government back on message. Boris is at his best when not acting extempore. His autocued addresses to the nation were sharp and clear. But where Levido really has become a miracle worker is makin...

An easy to make Moussaka

  • 8 Apr 2020

Because politics and the news is so utterly depressing I have decided to cook a cheap and easy to make recipe each day which I will share with you. And to make it a little bit special I have asked my chum, Margaret Rand, the internationally feted wine writer to pair something ...