Brexit

A pause to reflect.

— With the Northern Ireland Protocol talks looking set to continue, some reflections on how narratives of the success and failure of Brexit are developing and how these will eventually coalesce into a ‘received image’.

Watch Now

It’s the newspapers’ fault if Boris Johnson was pictured on a train maskless – Business minister.

— On Monday morning, Good Morning Britain’s co-host Adil Ray asked Paul Scully, the Minister for small business, whether he thought PM Boris Johnson had no common sense after he was recently photographed maskless on a busy train and already maskless a few days before that in a hospital.

Analysis

Sleaze: Why Boris Johnson is being reminded of the lurid scandals of 1990s Britain.

— There are important similarities between the current PM’s woes and John Major’s – but a very important difference, too.

Brexit

Welcome to Brexit 2.0.

— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis, looking at different scenarios arising from the Article 16 threat, how that threat is an attempt to re-run the Brexit process and the political implications of doing so for Johnson and for Labour.

Analysis

Corruption: How the UK compares to other countries.

— Just because corruption is very difficult to measure doesn’t mean that it can’t be felt and that high profile scandals don’t have an impact. The politicians implicated in these scandals neglect the impact that they can have at their peril.

OPINION

The moral vacuum that is Johnson’s Westminster.

— The eyes of the world saw a British Government desperately trying to evade democratic scrutiny and oversight as it helped to water down vital resolutions on the future of the planet. The Conservatives have trashed the UK’s international reputation.

COP26

Claims of COP26’s success have been unpicked – but political journalists have repeated the spin.

— Mainstream reporters not familiar with the topic may spin the summit as a huge success or devastating failure.

Analysis

The handling of the Owen Paterson case is a danger to the entire fabric of British politics.

— Own Paterson has now resigned but the damage caused by MPs voting to block an independent decision has already been done.

Climate Change

COP26: Here’s how much progress the UK has made on three key net zero pledges.

— Electric vehicle sales are booming and coal power is dwindling, but structural obstacles to net zero remain.

Brexit

Wanted: A serious post-Brexit policy.

— Professor Chris Grey's latest analysis on how the silence on Brexit in the budget and the ongoing Northern Ireland Protocol row show that on core post-Brexit issues of trade, labour market, and its relationship with the EU, the UK has no serious policy.

Analysis

Pathological power: The danger of governments led by narcissists and psychopaths.

— The mind is a powerful thing – it can generate both symptoms of illness and symptoms of healing. Here’s what this could tell us about consciousness.