The Mirror Crack'd

It's going to be an uncomfortable weekend for the Starmer family, and not just due to the returning heatwave. In the immediate aftermath of Andy Burnham's historic Makerfield by-election victory, the heat now is of the political rather than meteorological variety and, in politics, as the adage has it, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. This weekend break, with all the key combatants tired and frazzled, offers a welcome pause for reflection. If Starmer and his wife, Victoria, are at the PM's official country retreat of Chequers, what better opportunity to contemplate their future than the rural calm of Buckinghamshire and the discreet comfort of an English country house weekend. Of course, contemplating the loss of this extraordinary perk of office might make it even more difficult to throw in the towel but all good things must come to an end - in politics usually much sooner and more unexpectedly than in other walks of life - and Starmer's time as ...

In my piece yesterday I wrote about putting the UK on a war footing, only to awaken this morning to news that the opening salvo may just have been fired. I refer to the overnight boarding by Royal Marine Commandos of the Russian shadow fleet oil tanker, Smyrtos, in the English Channel, to my mind not before time. Such vessels (estimated to be 700 worldwide) are responsible for carrying 75% of Russia's sanctioned oil, providing a critical lifeline for the Kremlin according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD). This UK naval operation was enabled by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and, besides, it's worth bearing in mind that there are no international waters in the Strait of Dover, where the Channel is so narrow that it is shared equally between the UK and France, with no international waters in between. Not that there is any legal impediment to such an operation in international waters, simply that the nature of the Channel makes it easier - and far mor...

After yesterday's piece, here's another bit of unsolicited advice I'm happy to share gratis  with the new Labour PM when he takes power: put the UK on a war footing. I mean de facto rather than de jure, of course ;  I'm not suggesting we declare war on Russia, which would be suicidal, merely acknowledging honestly the realpolitik of the situation we currently find ourselves in as a nation. With Russia pushing at the eastern borders of Europe, attacking an ally, Ukraine, in a hot war while testing our resolve nearer home by flagrantly encroaching into our airspace and territorial waters, it is clearly testing our resolve. And by poisoning its own citizens on UK soil, attempting to sever undersea cables and pipelines and allegedly interfering in our elections, sowing mis- and disinformation via our press and social media while initiating cyber attacks against our institutions and arson attacks on our Prime Minister's family, it is acting as a rogue state. To deny th...

When Sir Keir Starmer finally stands down as Prime Minister of the UK - and please let it be soon - I have some advice for his successor. Of course, it won't be seen, and wouldn't be heeded if it were, but I make it in all seriousness, nevertheless: don't rush to appoint a new Chancellor of the Exchequer to your cabinet, consider instead abolishing it, or at least temporarily suspending it while reimagining it. It is painfully apparent that the relationship between the Prime Minister and Chancellor has always been, and under the status quo will always be, one of tension - and usually not a creative one. The two main 'great offices of state', based uncomfortably next door to each other at numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street, have different agendas which are bound to clash - the Prime Minister always wanting to spend more on pet projects and the Chancellor, the holder of the purse strings, determined to resist or curb such impulses.  Disharmony is designed into the ver...

Ghanaian migrants are being forced to return to their home country following protests against illegal immigration in their adopted one.. No, not here in the UK - although it can only be a matter of time* - but in South Africa. So what are we to make of such African-on-African xenophobia and what lessons, if any,  can be drawn from it? Europeans might like to think of it as tribalism, remembering the horrors of the Rwandan Tutsi genocide whilst conveniently forgetting the role of the colonial powers (in this case Belgium) in promoting it. I suspect, though, that this tendency may be universal. For starters, it shows that resentment against migrants is not intrinsically race-based. Fear of strangers and the ostracism of outsiders seems to be a common human response, heightened by obvious signifiers of 'foreigness' such as skin colour, language, or dress codes and symbols specifying particular religious allegiance. It also appears to be exacerbated by numbers of migrants (perceive...

As I relax in the relative cool of my inner-city council flat the temperature outside is reaching 30° Celsius. I'm lucky enough to live on a post-war estate with tower blocks interspersed with lawns and mature trees, surrounded by lower-level homes with private rear gardens (good socialist mid-century urban planning in other words). At this time of year it is something of a green oasis but, with the windows open to encourage a cooling through-draught (something else socialist architects, inspired by principle rather than the profit motive, understood), I'm aware of the sounds of my neighbours enjoying a rare sunny Bank Holiday weekend  alfresco.  As I type I can hear Bob Marley from one garden and Bangla from a parked car, which has set me thinking about our supposed multi-cultural community, and multi-culturalism in the wider national context. As far as the former is concerned, the prevailing atmosphere could optimistically be described as 'live and let live' although ...