Great Newsnight feature on ROI border. 5 people interviewed in a row pushing the ROI case.
No wonder everyone wants to watch royal engagement coverage.
Emily Maitliss only asking "Is this the border that could derail Brexit?" - and not once "Is this the border that could cost the EU £40 billion they have already spent?"
In my view the linked article is spot on. Says a few things that have been said on here as well.
That's an interesting read, thanks for the link.
I would disagree with the idea that the fact the Telegraph and Times have dumbed down over the years is a sign of the intellectual vacuity of the right - the Guardian is equally as full of clickbait articles and seems to enjoy stirring the pot. One might argue, despite being two stops short of Dagenham, more radical ideas are being put forward by The Canary.
To suggest that two dead tree press newspapers, with dwindling circulations and hiding behind paywalls online, represent the vanguard of intellectual thought on the right is disingenuous at best.
However I do agree that the Conservatives have become intellectually barren - with neo-liberalism falling out of fashion, Conservatives are retreating into a reactionary response to the culture wars rather than making a case for free markets, lower taxes, less regulation. Meanwhile they become more authoritarian and statist - May is a perfect example of that.
Perhaps it is because neo-liberalism has been on life support since the credit crunch, perhaps it is because we have faced a lost decade of stagnant wages and declining living standards, but few are making the case for capitalism any more, on the left or the right. This despite the fact it delivered the longest, most sustained period of peace and prosperity in our history.
Good article - and I am encouraged some Conservatives are planning to develop ideas rather than slogans. As I see it a big problem they have in somewhere like America is the utter dominance of their donor base in setting the agenda, through think tanks, media control etc.
Republican politicians have been relatively open about the fact that their current tax plan isn’t even conservative - it’s just to keep the donor money flowing.
In the UK I think things are more positive - but there is still a danger of groups like Taxpayers Alliance who aren’t doing much thinking taking away from proper ideas organisations.
Comments
Good on the Post for publicising.
Hits
Jared Phillips: George VI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crown_(TV_series) and Ulysses S. Grant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_(film)
Anthony Hopkins: Richard I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_in_Winter_(1968_film) and Richard Nixon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_(film) and John Quincy Adams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_(film)
Near misses
Rufus Sewell: Charles II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II:_The_Power_and_the_Passion and Alexander Hamilton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_(miniseries)
Alan Rickman: Louis XIV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_Chaos and Ronald Reagan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Butler
James Cromwell: Prince Phillip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen_(film) and George HW Bush https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._(film)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHW8VHHgHZF/
Republican politicians have been relatively open about the fact that their current tax plan isn’t even conservative - it’s just to keep the donor money flowing.
In the UK I think things are more positive - but there is still a danger of groups like Taxpayers Alliance who aren’t doing much thinking taking away from proper ideas organisations.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42147156