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The Best Laid Schemes (Part 2), by Duncan Sutherland
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The Best Laid Schemes (Part 1), by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Improbable though it may now seem, the supreme leader of the British was only recently reckoned by many of her (mostly southern) subjects to be a political magician who might well contrive to deliver what was conceived of in the heart of darkest England as a successful hard Brexit and thereby miraculously bring…
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Where There’s a Will (Part 2), by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already declared that she is determined that there will be a further Scottish independence referendum and at a time chosen by the Scottish Parliament.
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Where There’s a Will (Part 1), by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Improbable though it may seem, it happens that Guy Verhofstadt, who is lead Brexit negotiator for the European Parliament, envisaged immediately after the UK EU referendum result that Scotland would be able to hold an independence referendum before Brexit took effect (such as the Scottish First Minister is proposing) so that that country…
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Back to the Drawing Board, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
On Sunday evening, when it had been fairly confidently expected that UK Prime Minister Theresa May would be invoking Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon on Tuesday, thus initiating negotiations for the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union yesterday, news suddenly began to trickle in to the effect that there…
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Honest Abe foresaw dishonest Donald! by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post. Abraham Lincoln warned us : the day will come when Trump arises. Let’s be ready to denounce him.
Dear Paul,
It is noteworthy that the Trump executive order signed on January 27th, apparently discriminating against foreign nationals on religious grounds, seems to violate the US constitution (and thus undermine the…
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Chilcot Report – Rats in a sack, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Dear Paul,
On the subject of the video of Robin Cook’s resignation speech in 2003 which you show beside your regular Friday video, I just wanted to say how much I appreciated seeing that again. A model resignation speech, listened to intently by Jeremy Corbyn, as the video shows. At the…
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Another Blot on the Escutcheon, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Dear Paul,
I thought you might find it interesting to take a look at Nicola Sturgeon’s Twitter page following the publication of the Chilcot report into the Iraq war, “the UK’s most shameful foreign-policy action in years”, as the leader of the Scottish National Party’s group of MPs, Angus Robertson, has just said…
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How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
In the weeks and days leading up to the referendum on UK membership of the European Union a message was being transmitted loudly and clearly from Germany and indeed elsewhere: if the UK decides to leave the EU, it will be shooting itself in the foot. This was not some modern-day equivalent of…
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“Confusion Now Hath Made His Masterpiece”, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Dear Paul,
I’m rather fond of Shakespeare myself, not least Macbeth. With reference to your post on Boris Johnson and the tragi-comic events which are unfolding in England on a daily basis, I think it is as well to bear in mind that intense existential national debates are now under way…
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Ah, the endless complexities of English identity!, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post. As a comment upon Le temps qu’il fait le 30 juin 2016.
Ah, the endless complexities of English identity as defined by place and social rank but especially social rank in its relationship to forms of language, which function not only as communication, of course, but as mechanisms for defining and…