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  Bruce Anderson

• 9 Nov 2017
• In Politics
•    May, Theresa

Time for May to Go

Theresa May is to be congratulated. She has performed a feat which most political observers would have regarded as impossible. After Priti Patel's departure, she has ended up with a weaker Cabinet. Miss Patel has no political judgment and a mediocre intelligence. She could not run a department of state. All in all, she reminds one of the old adage: 'empty vessels make the most noise.' Noisiness is linked to ambition. She actually believes that she could become the Leader of her party.

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  Danny Kruger

• 9 Nov 2017
• In Politics
•    Alliance

The postmodern age in arms

The nihilists of right, left and centre are in alliance, says Danny Kruger.

Guy Crouchback, the listless hero of Waugh’s Sword of Honour trilogy, was energised at last by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact that brought the Nazis and Soviets together. ‘The enemy at last was plain in view, huge and hateful, all disguise cast off. It was the Modern Age in arms.’

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  Dermot Gleeson

• 7 Nov 2017
• In Politics
•    Brexit, European Union

Time for a national government

It is time to recognise that the UK’s approach to the achievement of Brexit, by far the most critical and complex task with which the government of the UK has been faced in many years, is fundamentally flawed and should be abandoned.

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  Bruce Anderson

• 6 Nov 2017
• In Politics
•    Politics, UK

This is not the time to be silly

Whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make silly. There are moments when one wonders, or even despairs. Is Britain still a serious country? Consider: Brexit is in a state of confusion. So is the British economy. The figures for growth and employment allow intelligent men to draw diametrically opposed conclusions. In Northern Ireland, some reliably level-headed characters are growing anxious. They are hearing the menace of distant thunder: of ancestral voices prophesying war. Inter-communal tensions may be sleeping. They are not dead, and it could be an increasingly uneasy sleep.

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  Bruce Anderson

• 2 Nov 2017
• In Politics
•    Conservative

No Space in Downing Street

What a mess, and the timing made it worse. The House of Commons can be a febrile, volatile place. In moments of tension, rumours spread and tempers fray - even before lunch. Later, the mood can turn really ugly. It would have been better if the Fallon-inspired reshuffle had been delayed until nearer the weekend, when MPs were about to depart for the calming influence of their constituencies, and their families - not that all Tory wives will be feeling calm at the moment.