The EU has granted Boris Johnson another extension on Brexit. But, however long Brexit takes, Neal Ascherson writes that the ugliness of it all has destroyed the United Kingdom and the bonds between Britons: It’s commonly said that the Brexit years have made the English more xenophobic, less tolerant, more
Continue readingTag: Brexit
Northern Reflections: One Hundred And Seventy Years Later
What’s really behind Brexit? Owen Jones writes that it’s all about Margaret Thatcher’s attack on workers: Seven years ago, a group of Tory MPs published a book entitled Britannia Unchained that argued that Britain “rewards laziness”, that British workers were “the worst idlers in the world”, and that “too many
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Richard Partington discusses the rise of inequality and some of the options to combat it. And PressProgress points out the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s conclusion that the NDP’s plan for a wealth tax can turn money currently being hoarded by the ultra-rich into tens
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Revolution Has Arrived
There is a revolution going on in Britain. Jonathan Freedland writes: When some of the best-known Conservative figures of the last half-century are booted out of their party, when a new prime minister loses his first parliamentary vote and his governing majority on the same day, when historians are referring
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why Canadian media won’t call post-Brexit protests ‘pro-democracy demonstrations’
If there are riots in Britain after the hard Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party cronies have scheduled for Halloween, will mainstream media in Canada describe them as “pro-democracy demonstrations” as they do when similar violent outbursts take place nowadays in Hong Kong or Moscow? On the
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Is Andrew Scheer in the closet about Quebec sovereignty?
Not being a conservative, I disagree with most of Andrew Scheer’s pronouncements, but they rarely surprise me. One, however, surprised me very much. Indeed, I was surprised that any Anglophone Canadian politician would express such an opinion. I refer to his extraordinary admission that he supports Brexit. He said his
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post by Olav Rokne: How Alberta missed a chance to fix the inherent problems of geographically based voting
The troubling rise of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom and President Donald Trump in the United States can both be traced to the inherent problems of geographically based electoral districts. Before Alberta’s election in April, we had a chance to fix those flaws. Instead, the work of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Can Boris Johnson do what some of history’s most notorious villains failed to do – destroy the U.K.?
Is it likely Boris Johnson will accomplish something neither Napoleon nor Hitler could manage – to wit, destruction of the United Kingdom? Perhaps it’s not likely. States like trees, even badly broken ones, possess a powerful life force. But it’s definitely now within the bounds of possibility. The Royal Navy,
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: The Hidden Conservative Voter
They’re hidden. They showed up, however, at Brexit. They showed up in the U.S. presidential race in 2016. They showed up in Alberta in 2019, and Ontario in 2018, too. They’re the THCV – The Hidden Conservative Voter. And they’re changing politics. June 2016: shocking just about everyone, 52 per
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Canada Day! In a troubled world, Canada stands out as a genuine triumph of bureaucracy
Happy Canada Day! One way or another, our Canada always seems to end up on every list of the world’s Top Ten economies. Granted, we are almost inevitably No. 10 of 10, which may leave the intensely competitive dissatisfied. But, realistically, this also means we’re No. 10 of 193, if
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Tribalism and the global challenge
This, the 21st century, is a unique time in human history. It is unique in many ways, of course, but most importantly it is the first time in the history of our species that the greatest challenges facing us are not local, not national, but global. The most urgent of
Continue readingReferendums or Citizens’ Assemblies?
Holding a referendum on whether to remain or leave the European Union was one of the dumber decisions in the long history of the British political class, as is becoming increasingly apparent. Obviously, when David Cameron took his fateful decision, he hadn’t the slightest idea of what his Conservative Party
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Justin Fisher laments the fact that we’re still talking about first steps toward combating a climate crisis after decades of understanding the problem. Jake Woodier points out that Brexit has been the UK’s recent distraction from the most important issue facing humanity. And
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Cambridge Analytica – "In the Beginning"
It began as a means to thwart Islamist recruitment. But then… Here is Chris Wylie describing how they built the technology that came to be diverted into the effort to skew Brexit and the 2016 American elections. What many don’t know is that Cambridge Analytica has its origins in another
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Democracy on Trial – In the United Kingdom
The New York Times headline reads, “‘We’re in the Last Hour’: Democracy Itself Is on Trial in Brexit, Britons Say.” As I’m going through the article, over on LBC radio, London, callers are having their say on whether the UK needs electoral reform, an end to “first past the post.”
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Another Mad Week for Westminster
The meltdown continues. I expect to spend a few hours this week watching live stream coverage from the UK House of Commons. Prime minister, Theresa May, just acknowledged that her controversial television address last week was a tantrum, an act of frustration. May went directly to the British people and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Why the Brits Ignored How ‘Leave’ Rigged the Brexit Referendum
The Leave campaign had its thumb on the scales in the Brexit referendum. Through various devices it was a rigged outcome. Now the national crime agency is investigating some of the culprits. The list of suspects includes a number of shady Brits but also a few prominent Americans and perhaps
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Linda Givetash discusses how the consequences of climate breakdown include impending water shortages in the UK. But rather than recognizing and acting on that danger, Theresa May’s Conservatives are looking at Brexit as an excuse to do even less to protect the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Trump Backers Sought to Bury Cambridge Analytica So Deep No One Would Uncover Its Secrets
Cambridge Analytica, the now defunct company believed to be instrumental in the Brexit Leave campaign and the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, is now before a British court. The company, once owned by ultra-right billionaire, Robert Mercer, and directed by noneother than Trump aide, Steve Bannon,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Forget the Queen, save the Magna Carta.
If the Brexit-related events in the next few months get ugly, the Brits have a plan in place to keep the Queen and her immediate family from harms way. We can only hope that these plans are somewhat better than prime minister Theresa May’s ongoing revisions to Brexit. And frankly
Continue reading