Blog and Latest Articles

To be honest, the last month has been just about the most depressing month in my whole political life, though I would probably have to admit to blanking a couple of Election results during that time! So there’s obviously only one way to deal with any residual blues: help get some new political…

For a couple of hours on Friday morning, for the first time ever, I felt old. At the age of 65 (nearly 66!), I am old, but I’ve never actually felt old. All it took were a few clips of Farage, Johnson and Gove, plus interviews with the likes of Liam Fox and Neil Hamilton (exhumed from his political…

It’s hard to believe that the single most important decision that the citizens of the UK have been asked to make in a very, very long time, may all come down to two imponderable questions. The first is about turnout on the day. There are still a huge number of people who are undecided in one way or…

It’s uncomfortable having to think back to 1996. At that time, there was still a real sense of hope that the agreements stuck at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, four years earlier, could still translate rapidly into real change on the ground. Unfortunately, that hope proved groundless. Indeed,…

Still barely a mention about the environment in the Referendum campaign – just another reminder that these issues still have very little cut-through in UK politics. Beyond the debate about climate change (which, to be fair, does get some cut-through, though rarely in ways that would be desirable),…

It felt like a little bit of a Lion’s Den challenge, but addressing the AGM of Gloucestershire CPRE turned out to be a very pleasant occasion – not least because I couldn’t help but be charmed by the full-on energy of a beautiful Spring day, the delights of a wonderful venue (Stowell Park), and the…