Blenderlaw

of course gary younge is an englishman November 8, 2017

Posted by Bradley in : britishness , add a comment

How can a foreigner claim to know better than an actual englishman who counts as an englishman?

non-uk citizens not allowed to help with uk brexit work: more isolation (but it’s the opposite of splendid) October 7, 2016

Posted by Bradley in : britishness , add a comment

This is a shocking development from a country that claims it wants its universities to carry on being centres of excellence:

It is understood up to nine LSE academics specialising in EU affairs have been briefing the Foreign Office on Brexit issues, but the school was informed by a senior FCO official that submissions from non-UK citizens would no longer be accepted. Notes were subsequently sent to those in the group telling them of the instruction.

brexit – into uncharted territory June 24, 2016

Posted by Bradley in : britishness, eu, governance , add a comment

The BBC says that 52% of UK voters voted to leave the EU and 48% voted to remain. Winners take all – or rather lose all and impose significant losses on everyone else. The pound fell to the lowest rate against the dollar since 1985. Keith Vaz said the result was terrible. Nigel Farage said it was a victory for real people, ordinary people, decent people (I suppose the 48% who voted for remain are not real, ordinary, or decent). But all those people who believed they were taking back control are about to discover that it was all an illusion and they are even worse off than they were before. If Scotland becomes independent and joins the EU I wonder if I could get a Scottish passport (my mother was born in Edinburgh)?

cameron on benn March 14, 2014

Posted by Bradley in : britishness , add a comment

Here is the rather ungenerous reaction:

I am sorry to hear that Tony Benn has died. He was a magnificent writer, speaker, diarist and campaigner, with a strong record of public and political service. There was never a dull moment listening to him, even when you disagreed with everything he said

Is that really all he could think of to say? He might as well not have bothered. A magnificent writer? From the Guardian here’s part of what Shami Chakrabarti said:

In an age of spin, he was solid, a signpost and not a weathervane.

Nick Robinson writes that he was “one of the biggest political personalities this country has ever seen.”

Update: Tony Benn to become only the second politician (the other being Margaret Thatcher) to rest in Westminster chapel after request from speaker.

jubilee May 30, 2012

Posted by Bradley in : britishness , add a comment

I’m not quite sure what I think of the monarchy, but this picture is very cute:

little girl wearing crown

(from Mark Easton’s blog at the BBC).

more broken britain August 16, 2011

Posted by Bradley in : britishness , add a comment

This makes me feel quite ill.

broken britain? August 15, 2011

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Here’s some good evidence for the idea that Britain is in fact broken. Iain Duncan Smith (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) suggests that people convicted of rioting but not imprisoned should be deprived of benefits:

“We already accept that if people who are receiving benefits do not, are not prepared to seek work, take the work that’s available to them, we take the benefit off them. And if you go to prison we take your benefit off you.
“So what we’re looking at is, for criminal charges, should we take the benefit? And the answer is yes.”