The Mirror Crack'd

Polly Toynbee writes compellingly about class and did so again this week in The Guardian in relation to politicians proclaiming their working-class roots, often tenuously and usually tendentiously. Toynbee, who has always been open about her own privileged middle-class origins, praised Sir Keir Starmer, who often refers to his working-class upbringing, for acknowledging that he is now, self-evidently, middle-class. As a millionaire he has just paid off his £2million mortgage but it is not just his wealth that makes him middle-class; his education (University of Leeds), his profession as a barrister-at-law and now his status as Prime Minister, would make any claim to the contrary preposterous. Roughly 46% of Starmer's cabinet had parents with working-class occupations and only 4% were privately educated, compared with 63% of Rishi Sunak's. This entitles them to lay claim to working-class roots, but to describe themselves as such would be  disingenuous; although, as Toynbee point

It was inspiring to hear Sir Keir Starmer, in his keynote speech to Labour's Party Conference 2024 in Liverpool today, speak of his support for the arts. Starmer doesn't often inspire but his acknowledgement of the importance of arts and culture in our society and his personal story of playing the flute in the Croydon Youth Philharmonic Orchestra as a fifteen year-old, which enabled him to enjoy a school trip to Malta, was as uplifting as it was unexpected. During fourteen years of relentless Tory philistinism we have become accustomed to the arts, if mentioned at all, only being the subject of financial cuts and anti-woke culture wars. In an interview with the Guardian, Labour's Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, said: “Over the last fourteen years, there’s been a vandalism of the arts. Violent indifference to areas of the country that are becoming arts deserts. They were just not interested in arts everywhere, for everyone.”  To someone like me who worked in local government

As Labour goes into its first Party Conference in power for 15 years the mood should be one of jubilation but some major own-goals will have taken the shine off the celebrations. And it won't just be the grey weather in Liverpool putting a damper on things. As if the immediate decision to axe ten million pensioners' winter fuel payments (arguably necessary but surely one that could have been deferred a year) hadn't done enough damage, now it's Wardrobegate, Frockgate, Specgate, Footiegate, Apartmentgate, Grace-and-favourgate - even frigging Swiftiegate for all I know.  On top of all of which tabloid froth comes a slew of more substantive, and potentially much more damaging, allegations of patronage in the form of jobs or access for the boys (and girls) who have been Labour donors and/or advisers. All the things, in fact, for which Labour rightly used to lambast the Tories. Angela Rayner, herself a beneficiary of the loan of a Manhattan holiday apartment from Lord Waheed

Giving good head  There's been a lot of grumbling recently about short measures in pints of beer served in pubs, with complaints usually focusing on too much foam on top. Turns out there could be health benefits, though, after a scientific research project persuaded a dozen pubs to serve beer in two-thirds pint measures. Results showed that punters judged their intake in glasses rather than liquid volume and thus drank less. The British imperial pint, introduced in 1698, is 568ml, making it one of the world's largest standard beer units. Europeans favour 500ml, a US pint is 473ml, the Australian schooner 425ml. I've often thought we missed a trick not adopting the continental half-litre but calling it a 'metric pint', equating to O.88 of an imperial pint. Seems I was on to something. Cheers! Well, I'll be burgered! According to the National Burger Awards (yes, it's a real thing) Britain's best beef burger of 2024 is served in a pub in Peckham, South Lond

Against the backdrop of homelessness, rising numbers of rough sleepers, families placed in temporary accommodation, a dramatic fall in the delivery of new homes, especially affordable ones, rising rents and a steep decline in rental properties, the spat about which Cabinet member gets which grace-and-favour mansion is particularly unedifying. The row broke over Keir Starmer's granting of Dorneywood, a substantial 18th century farmhouse in South Buckinghamshire set in 215 acres of private parkland, to Rachel Reeves as her country retreat. As Prime Minister, the bestowal of tenure is entirely in Starmer's gift but much (perhaps too much) has been read into his choice of his Chancellor rather than his Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, as the beneficiary. During Tony Blair's premiership use of the house was granted to his Deputy, John Prescott. After paparazzi snapped Prescott playing croquet on the lawn while Blair was in the US dealing with the Iraq invasion, the house wa

Back in June I made a prediction (a bout of summer madness perhaps?) that the Labour party might split but today I feel vindicated. At the time I was reacting to talk of the threat to the Labour Party as a 'broad church'. I wrote: "...churches can also suffer schisms within their walls. This is what I fear will happen with the Labour Party, particularly when, as the opinion polls consistently predict, it wins an overwhelming Parliamentary majority. Without a robust official Opposition in the Commons the opposition is likely to arise internally and this could prove very divisive and difficult to manage...".  Today I'm intrigued to read that Jeremy Corbyn yesterday attended a meeting to discuss the setting-up of a new leftwing party to be known as Collective. Does this mean he has now grasped the nettle of a formal alternative to the Labour Party? He said he had attended to “listen to and share a variety of views about the way forward for the left”. But he must be e

I sat up until gone 4am this morning watching Channel 4's relay of ABC's televised debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. If, as a result, I'm a bit dazed and confused it's not just through lack of sleep. It was a truly gob-smacking, jaw-dropping televisual experience, part gladiatorial contest, part circus knockabout. From a Western European perspective it offered a fascinating, if disconcerting, insight into the inner workings of US politics at the highest level. This is probably the most consequential political contest in the world and yet my feeling at the end of it was one of perplexity. Is this really the best the richest, most poweful nation on earth has to offer when it comes to its potential leadership? Unfortunately, this is as good as it gets. Former-President, Donald Trump and Vice-President, Kamala Harris, are the chosen candidates in the 2024 US Presidential election and the vote will be held on 5 November - a date which, in the UK, signifies firew

Only one Labour MP defied the government's three-line whip to vote against the means testing of pensioners' winter fuel payment but fifty-one others abstained or were 'absent'. Sir Keir Starmer at least had a valid excuse; he was speaking at the TUC's annual congress in Brighton, where he received a polite but hardly rapturous welcome. The lone brave Labour soul who voted against his own government was Jon Trickett, veteran MP for Normanton and Hemsworth since 1996. As for the absentees, it appears to have been a busy day for dental and GP appointments. But, really, what a shameful and farcical day it was in the House of Commons yesterday, and what a shocking waste of precious parliamentary time. From the general election on 4th July the House sat until the 31st and then went on summer recess for the whole month of August. It is off again on Friday until 7th October for party conference season. Perhaps when it gets back the government will finally settle down to som

This view of an unnamed Labour MP quoted in The Guardian is one way of looking at the government's unfathomable decision to press ahead with scrapping pensioners' winter fuel allowance. Another described it as "a shitshow", which arguably comes closer to the truth of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' shock announcement of the policy, which was not in Labour's election manifesto. This had the immediate effect of putting a damper on victory celebrations (already muted) and led to newly-elected MPs being inundated with angry and concerned constituents' reactions. I'm sure they could well have done without this controversy before even having had time to sort out their constituency and parliamentary offices.  Shortly after Reeves' bombshell parliament rose for its long summer recess, during which time the policy might have been tweaked or even quietly dropped. But no, seemingly determined to lose friends and alienate people, Labour pressed ahead with its misbeg

It was great to be able to sit down in front of the telly at 12.15 today to watch the much-anticipated return of BBC2's Politics Live  programme. To describe this niche show as the highlight of my day would perhaps be to paint a rather more dreary picture of my life as a pensioner than the reality warrants. Nevertheless, it is a very welcome part of my daily routine and, whilst the politics never goes away, despite Parliamentary recesses, the sensible analysis does - and is sorely missed. Of course, presenters such as Jo Coburn and Laura Kuenssberg richly deserve a break when Parliament isn't sitting, the more so after all the bullshitting, evasion and downright lying they have to put up with from politicians during term-time. They need to recharge their batteries as much as the rest of us - probably more so - but it's good to have them back on our screens. Today's Politics Live  was a good start to what is, effectively, the next five years of parliamentary cut-and-th