I hear tell of George Osborne applying for the Evening Standard vacancy only after other people came to him for advice on their applications. What a charmer. Still, his landing the editorship of London’s biggest free sheet is as shocking as it is audacious. How is it someone barely able to string a sentence together, […]
Why the Right fears the four-day week
Mar 13th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.I’ve got a guilty secret. I subscribe to CapX‘s mailing list and occasionally, I like some of its output. For those of you who don’t know (or don’t care) what CapX is, it’s a fancy ass blog that styles itself as the home of some of the best politics writers going. And Daniel Hannan. It also […]
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Hammond’s National Insurance Nightmare
Mar 10th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.George Osborne may have been the worst chancellor of modern times, but he understood one thing. Subordinating the national interest, i.e. those of British business-in-general to the narrow concerns of the Conservative Party, allowed for good press and the accumulation of political capital. It didn’t matter if these actions weakened the economy or made life worse […]
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Meet the next Tory leader
Mar 9th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Let’s leave behind the argy-bargy and speculations surrounding Jeremy Corbyn and his leadership, and turn our attention to the Conservatives and who will succeed Theresa May. It’s not exciting anyone at the moment because the issue is beyond settled. May convincingly took the farce of the Tory party leadership contest and now rides high in […]
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The UKIP campaign in Stoke Central
Mar 6th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Time for a little talk about UKIP. Oh not, not another one. Yah, I’m afraid so. I want to talk about their campaign in Stoke-on-Trent, the character of its vote and their relationship to the Tories and, more significantly, Tory voters. What Stoke definitively showed was UKIP is something less than a political party. As a […]
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The Liberal Democrat campaign in Stoke Central
Mar 6th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Individually, some are great. I’d even count one of them as a friend. But as a party I cannot stand the bloody Liberal Democrats, and the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election reminded me why. The LibDems will be quite pleased with their performance last Thursday. As the spotlight was on the other parties, their vote quietly put on five percentage points, […]
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The Future of Work
Feb 24th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Having a wee break from blogging tonight. Here’s a piece I did last week for work on, um, the future of work. As it was for the powers that be I had to tone down and be less forthright. Still, writing for different audiences is good discipline … There has been a lot of concern […]
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Theresa May in Stoke
Feb 23rd, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.The Prime Minister managed a double whammy of the unexpected yesterday. First, she visited Stoke, which is something PMs rarely ever do. And second, her presence and parade in front of the local media means she’s effectively campaigned for a Conservative candidate who doesn’t stand a realistic chance of winning, which is usually a no-no when it […]
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A Saturday in Stoke-on-Trent Central
Feb 23rd, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Has this week been decisive for the by-election campaigns in Stoke-on-Trent Central? Paul Nuttall must be nursing a cracking hangover. Having been so thoroughly exposed hasn’t done his campaign any good at all, to the point where he cannot really go door knocking again – not that he did much except hang around campaign HQ and have […]
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The Latest Return of Tony Blair
Feb 22nd, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.It’s been a few months, so we were due another return of Tony Blair. And so we had today’s intervention in the Brexit debate, fulfilling his earlier promise that he was going to get more active in British politics again. Naturally, and it couldn’t have escaped His Blairness’s notice even as he moves among the higher planes, is […]
