Britain entered 2025 amidst a welter of blizzards, flooding and abandoned public celebrations across the country. And we hadn’t even begun to talk about the government. It seems remarkable that Labour should enter the...
Blog
Alan SimpsonCOP(OUT)29 – The Afterstory
They did their best – the climate activists, NGOs, environmental scientists, most of the delegates and civil servants – but it wasn’t enough. Big Oil won the day. From the Azerbaijani hosts to the flock of...
The gathering storms – politics in an age of drivel and distraction
As all eyes focussed on Labour’s first Budget in 14 (long) years, barely anyone saw fit to link it to events in Valencia, the Amazon or the heat dome over central Africa. Yet these are the bigger issues around which...
Life on Mars – politics of a different planet
You could almost touch the euphoria of an election outcome that comprehensively ditched the Tory government. Park any anxieties about what lies ahead. For Labour, 14 years has been a long wait in Opposition. So, the...
Is there a rainbow beyond the riots?
Building a better Britain Let’s start with the language and analysis. The tidal wave of racist gatherings that swept across Britain was designed for riot, not protest. It isn’t enough to describe them in terms of...
Brave New World Revisited
rethinking Britain’s energy system There was a lovely news interview with Ed Miliband MP in which Britain’s new Secretary of State was asked about Labour’s policy over on-shore wind farms. Ed smiled and said “We’re...
Metanoia for the many – can we save the planet from ourselves?
Is it all too late? I hope not. But we are cutting it fine. In all recorded history, there has never been a more urgent need for an new societal vision. This is not just about redistribution from rich to poor. It...
Alan SimpsonWielding Power
Britain: a case study of how wealth corrupts Dennis Skinner once referred to David Cameron as ‘Dodgy Dave’. It may have seemed a disrespectful remark from an MP to the (then) Prime Minister, but Dennis was just telling...
Stuck in the muddle with you – the politics of complete confusion
“This is the new extinction and we are half way through it. We are in terrible, terrible trouble and the longer we wait to do something about it the worse it is going to get.” Sir David Attenborough I want to weep. The...
Crap politics – from the rivers to the sea
The headlines about illegal sewage disposals have been stark enough. They make the nation’s map look like a bad case of chicken pox. Now the owners of Thames Water have defaulted on the debts they owe. The situation...
