16th July 2021
England’s green and pleasant belt It’s just over 1,100 days away. In our world of politics that’s a blink of an eye. So, what will the next Labour government *checks notes* do about, say, the green belt. But there won’t be a Labour government, […]
9th July 2021
Could you be a politician? Seven Secrets for Success Over the past, a-hem, let’s say many, years, I have hired politicians of all colours. There was the mad, the bad, the sad, chisellers, liars, fantasists, losers, winners, crooks (you know who you are)… I […]
2nd July 2021
Head for the hills: are cities dying? At the end of every world crisis, be it a pandemic or war, there is always a time for reflection. What have we learnt and what can we do better? Too often the answer is SFA. The […]
25th June 2021
The REAL reason the Tories lost the by-election The pundits have numerous perfectly reasonable reasons as to why the Conservatives were annihilated at the Amersham and Chesham by-election. And they’re all wrong. The real reason is that the well-healed people of Buckinghamshire have not […]
18th June 2021
When is a planning permission not a planning permission? The Council chamber is empty. The Nimby’s have packed up their placards and gone home. The officers heave a sigh of relief that their recommendation has been approved. The developer and the army of consultants […]
11th June 2021
Is Mrs Thatcher’s dream coming true? In her first speech as leader to the Conservative Party Conference in 1975, Mrs Thatcher pledged a property-owning democracy. She wasn’t the first, the concept had been around since the 1920s. The Tory Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, whose family […]
4th June 2021
I’m proud to be an oik We love to label people by class. It helps us put them in boxes. The best effort was by John Cleese and The Two Ronnies and you can see it here. Nice and simple – just three classes: Upper, […]
21st May 2021
Shock as housing crisis ends I am the harbinger of good news: the housing crisis is over. Now just because I’m Irish, there is no need for comments about my infamous drinking. Look at the map. You will see that for the vast majority of […]
14th May 2021
Mama, we’re all sleazy now* Welcome back to my weekly – and sometimes irreverent – look at the world of politics. I call it ‘Just a Minute’ because it only takes SIXTY SECONDS to read it. Last week’s elections proved one important point. The ordinary […]