The Mirror Crack'd

The unfolding tragedy of the 183-foot luxury yacht, Bayesian, sunk off the coast of Sicily in a sudden storm is, first-and-foremost, a human one but it is also emblematic of an escalating global crisis. Whether the unexpected and violent nature of the storm can be ascribed to climate change is open to question*. But even if it were not the cause, these are precisely the unpredictable weather conditions that will become the norm and wreak havoc for everyone.  Until now oligarchs may well have thought they could simply take to their yachts if rising sea levels swamped their beach retreats or tornadoes swept through their holiday islands. The fate of the Bayesian may give them cause to reflect. I know very little of Mike Lynch, his wife Angela Bacares, or their guests on this doomed cruise but what is quite clear is that, despite their being among the richest people on the planet, they were not insulated from catastrophe by their wealth.  The world they occupy may be far beyond my ken - s

Following her recent election as MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, Rachel Blake has stepped down as a Tower Hamlets councillor for the Bow East Ward triggering a by-election, which will be held on Thursday 12 September. The accepted forms of photo ID, introduced by the Tories in 2022, will be required in order to cast a vote in this by-election, which will be hotly contested by both Labour and Mayor Lutfur Rahman's ruling Aspire party. Figures released following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request into the impact of the legislation on the 2022 London Mayoral election revealed that, of those turned away from polling stations for lack of valid photo ID, three in ten did not return to cast a vote. Labour did not commit to repealing this mean-spirited piece of naked gerrymandering in its election manifesto but has undertaken to 'evaluate' it. While this is encouraging news what would be really exciting would be for Labour to announce a review into Proportional

It has already been remarked that the recent unrest following the murder of the three little girls in Southport has largely played out in England - but why? While there have been outbreaks of disorder in Belfast, Northern Ireland, there have been none recorded, so far at least, in Scotland or Wales. What is it about the English, and the Loyalist community in Northern Ireland, that gives rise to this xenophobic phenomenon, while in Scotland and Wales it is not apparent?  Population size may have something to do with it. England has by far the largest population in the Union, at 68 million. If such problems were liable to manifest themselves there was a statistically much higher likelihood of them doing so in England. But the fact that, with the smallest regional population of 1.8 million, Northern Ireland is also affected, suggests that something else is in play here. Scotland, with a population of 5.5 million, and Wales with 3.2 million, are unaffected. The largest metropolitan areas o

He wouldn't know a police dog if it bit him on the arse 28 year-old Hartlepool man, Ryan Sheers, had an unfortunate encounter with the police - specifically, with a police dog - "on his way back from the bingo". Clutching a can of lager (like you do) he goaded officers managing an anti-immigrant demonstration. According to a police statement 'he did not move back and as a result the police dog bit him on the right hip buttock area.' Apparently he cried in court as sentence was passed - well, if you'd been bitten on the butt you would, wouldn't you? The rest of us are crying with laughter - talk about the biter bit! One can only hope the dog's okay. Those who begin by burning books... The German-Jewish philosopher, Heinrich Heine, famously warned where book-burning can lead. So when far-right thugs in Liverpool set fire to Spellow library, destroying hundreds of books, any thinking person will have been alarmed. Okay, so as cultural vandalism goes it

I return to the UK tomorrow but what I'll find when I get there fills me with trepidation. I can't get British TV here and don't possess a smartphone but I do listen avidly to BBC Sounds on iPlayer and catch various snippets that pop up throughout the day on Google Discovery. The news from Southport, and now other English towns and cities, is extremely depressing and the progress of the new Labour government is worrisome too, but I will have to wait until I get back to see what it actually feels like in reality. I left under a Tory government and will return to a Labour one. I've already written about my thoughts on that subject so I'll reserve further judgment until I get some firsthand experience of it. I hope, though, not to encounter directly the shocking violence and race hatred that has reared its ugly head since the tragic killing of the three little girls in Southport. Viewed from abroad that has been truly appalling but it seems to be but the latest, and ce

I voted Labour in the general election on 4 July with very few expectations and, in that respect at least, I haven't been disappointed. I admit it was more than a little annoying to find myself almost immediately worse off by two hundred quid. Rachel Reeves' announcement that she was axing the winter fuel allowance for ten million pensioners was unexpected, though it was always apparent she was set on out-Osborne-ing Osborne as an austerity Chancellor. So why vote Labour, then? Well, had we had a sensible electoral system with PR I probably wouldn't have - goodness knows, there are myriad reasons not to - but that option wasn't available. My first objective was to get rid of the Tories for five, possibly ten, years, by which time I'll be beyond caring. Secondly, I wanted to support my local MP, Rushanara Ali, against a pro-Palestine independent. I'm pro-Palestine myself but, after supporting Oona King in the dreadful 2005 campaign which George Galloway won, I di