2,216 words
Election special
There is only one game in town at the moment in the Disunited Kingdom, and it’s the imminent General Election. Until a month ago it was as dull as ditchwater, with Labour expected to trounce that loose collective still inexplicably using the name “Conservative Party” and take the uniparty baton from the oldest political party in the world. There was nothing of interest other than the scale of the drubbing. (more…)
One of the Ramadan messages that appeared on the signboards at London’s King’s Cross railway station last week. Photo courtesy of @surplustakes on Twitter/X.
One of the Ramadan messages that appeared on the signboards at London’s King’s Cross railway station last week. Photo courtesy of @surplustakes on Twitter/X.
2,120 words
That elusive last puzzle-piece
The jigsaw puzzle that is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland has a piece missing. Of the puzzle’s four parts, as of this month the only non-white premier in Great Britain is Michelle O’Neill, a worryingly white-skinned blonde who obstinately stands in the way of an ethnic minority clean sweep of the UK’s top posts in government.
With the resignation of Welsh premier Mark Drakeford, a black man, Vaughan Gething, was duly elected in his place, and he wasted no time celebrating the fact that he is the first black premier in the European Union. There, you might be tempted to say, goes the neighborhood. (more…)
Vaughan Gething, the newly-elected First Minister of Wales. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)
Vaughan Gething, the newly-elected First Minister of Wales. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)
2,228 words
’Twas but a century ago that the British Empire ruled over roughly one-quarter of the world’s people and had control over one-quarter of the planet’s land, making it the largest empire in world history.
And then, as this son of the British Isles has repeatedly lamented, the British populace was persuaded that it was a good idea to feel guilty about such a tremendous accomplishment. (more…)
Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s new First Minister.
Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s new First Minister.
71 words / 9:12
Jim Goad has produced a short video to accompany his latest essay, “Despite All the Progress We’ve Made, There Is Still, for Some Strange Reason, a Ridiculous Amount of Work to Be Done” — on how progressives keep telling us “there’s much work to be done,” despite the fact that it’s never made clear exactly when the work of social justice will be done. See below. (more…)
Martin Luther King III
Martin Luther King III
1,157 words / 9:05
Audio version: To listen in a player, use the one below or click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”
Probably due to some traumatic event in the womb or early childhood, I have chosen an avocation which constantly forces me to expose myself to things that upset me. (more…)