Opinion
Summer is coming: Game of Thrones’ chilling prediction about climate change
In the beginning there were seven. The North, The Iron Islands, The Vale, The Westerlands, The Stormlands, The Reach, and Dorne, all fiercely protecting their corner of Westeros and all pedalling a claim to the Iron Throne in a game that has become renowned on television sets world-wide. It is a synopsis that has become widely linked to political happenings in the real world since it first aired in 2011. The divisions between the proud north and the governing south...
Watch – How The Handmaid’s Tale reflects the real experiences of women and girls
Cast members from the award winning TV series The Handmaid's Tale are raising awareness about violence against women and girls by joining forces with women's rights group Equality Now to share real-life stories that eerily reflect plotlines from the show. In a two-minute film, cast members including Joseph Fiennes, Samira Wiley, Madeline Brewer and Ann Dowd, and lead production crew share the words of women and girls describing personal experiences of rape, sex trafficking and female genital mutilation. "This is not...
Splitting the (financial) atom: how public backing produces cheaper nuclear power
By Robert Seiler It's official: nuclear is back in Wales. After weeks of discussions over the risks of investing in large-scale energy projects, the British government proposed to become an equal investment partner in the new Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant. Under a tripartite financing structure, London is going to take a £16 billion stake in the plant, signalling that it has learned its lessons from past failures. Both in Wales and further east in Europe, a public stake plays a critical...
The Tories are about to make like a banana… and split
Conservative MPs are set to meet at Chequers this Friday to discuss crucial Brexit details. According to Robert Peston Theresa May is planning to deliver a soft Brexit in order to maintain access to the customs union. This includes a rehash of the new customs partnership, continuing with European standards and law and offering preferential rights to EU citizens to live and work in the UK. It sets the groundwork for a future commercial arrangement with the EU that "is not as deep...
The Tories will deliver a Brexit dividend – but not in the way you thought
The Conservative Party has been busy scheming ways to deliver the so-called Brexit dividend promised to the electorate before the referendum in 2016, but it is unlikely to come from money saved by leaving the EU. According to the latest reports Theresa May is set to end an eight year freeze on fuel duty and end the cap on alcohol taxes in order to keep her promise to spend an extra £20 billion on the NHS by 2023. The money was supposed to be collected from...
Brexit has provided camouflage for one of the most incompetent governments in recent history
It is rare that an event of such vast political magnitude allows domestic issues to be swept under the carpet, but along with the great wars it would seem Brexit has become one of the most significant camouflages in recent history. With the health service in disarray, public finances in a mess, the economy stuttering and most services enduring strenuous cuts the situation at home for most Brits is far from positive. Yet thanks to Brexit political incompetence is going...
We’re watching the slow death of American democracy
The United States of America is at a critical moment in its history. The president is a demagogue with a contempt for democratic norms and the rule of law. The party that elected him is filled with his lackeys, extremists who want to use him to push their regressive ideas and long-serving politicians who seem to have given up the fight. The Republican Party is now the Trump Party, as exasperated former Republicans have made plain. And the Trump Party...
Danny Dyer is right to call David Cameron a twat – he led Britain blindfolded to a perilous vote
There are very few elements of the Brexit process that we can talk about with absolute certainty, but one thing that is for sure is that Britain's exit from the European Union will have a negative impact on all regions under every scenario. That is the finding of the government's own research that until March this year was not available to the British public. Had it been released before the referendum one wonders whether the outcome would have been different,...
Brexit is the biggest “f*ck off” to business in political history
EU diplomats displayed shock following Boris Johnson's 'four-letter reply' to business over Brexit fears, but the Foreign Secretary is being as honest as he's been to date. Johnson and fellow Cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt came under attack for rounding on businesses which warn of the dangers of a hard Brexit. Airbus joined a host of multinational corporations issuing warnings over an economic fallout following the UK's divorce with the EU. Hunt had said that the company’s warnings had been “inappropriate”, while...