Those snowflakes are at it again. Students of St John’s college, Oxford, have called upon their college to disinvest from companies that extract fossil fuels and thus contribute to global warming. In response, the principal bursar has told them that could not be done at a drop of a hat, but he’d gladly turn off the gas in their halls of residence if that would make them feel better. It seems that it would not. Contrary to the implication of…
The red deer’s mating habits are an exemplar of Darwinian selection. Every autumn virile stags, their veins coursing with testosterone, compete to claim the right to the herd’s females. The battles can be fearsome, sometimes even deadly. The victor, the alpha male, then claims the right to father the next generation, thus perpetuating his genes. However, there is only one stag with only one pair of eyes, and many hinds. As Benny Hill so wisely observed, a woman’s needs are…
Last week, Leo Varadkar called an early Dáil Election. Will his choice backfire or will he get another term? Find out below. Michael Martin (Fianna Fáil) has been putting the pressure on few quite some time, Fine Gael only won by a handful of seats last time (2016 election) and Leo is now starting to feel the heat. Leo has made a handful of school boy errors and according to the recent polls, Michael Martin should be elected as the…
Since the election, talk of towns has been the talk of the political town. Labour politicians and Conservative politicians alike have concluded that is the key to political success right now. This apparent unity conceals a string of latent ambiguities and confusions. What are towns? The Conservatives were mocked when they recently launched their Town Of The Year competition in Wolverhampton, which has been a city for nearly 20 years. The optics could certainly have been better. Lisa Nandy has…
The Custard Factory is one of Birmingham’s more striking developments. Its current incarnation is as Birmingham’s answer to Shoreditch (a question that probably did not need asking). Its history, however, stands as a warning to the government, a warning that it almost certainly will not heed. The Custard Factory’s name is not, like so many new developments, the product of a random buzzword generator, but a simple statement of its origin. Until 1964, Bird’s Custard was manufactured on that…
Memo to Mr Corbyn and his supporters: This is what the winning the argument looks like. So no Miss Long-Bailey, Corbyn’s doesn’t deserve 10 out of 10 as a politician unless you’re a Tory. I suspect once Labour come to terms that Blair is the only Labour politician to have won a majority in the 45 years then they will begin their road to recovery. TSE
Recent history suggests Boris Johnson will not see out a full term. It seems churlish to be talking about Boris Johnson’s exit date a month after he won a majority of 80 but two out of the last three Conservative leaders to win a majority didn’t see out a full term (and the third one was said to be in office but not power leading to a devastating defeat for the Conservative Party at the next election) so winning a…
Ladbrokes have a market up on the Conservatives increasing their majority at the next general election. I can understand why some will want to back the 4/1. Boundary changes would see the Conservative majority increase to around 104 if the vote shares remained identical at the next election and if Labour choose electoral Ebola in the form of Ian Lavery then this bet looks like a winner. I’m always wary of markets where the bookmaker doesn’t offer the other…