Sir Patrick Moore, who Queen guitarist Brian May once described as the “father of astronomy”, died over the weekend, as many will have no doubt already heard. As I wrote something by way of a tribute to his work on Twitter and Facebook I was speedily reminded that he also had very hairy political views. […]
Payday loans: not a black and white issue (in reply to Chris Dillow)
Nov 29th, 2012 by Carl Packman.Nothing excites me more than a myth busting exercise on payday lending – it certainly beats what we read in the papers about it – and this is exactly what Chris Dillow has done today. However I have one or two comments I would like to make about it. Chris sets up three issues on […]
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Why President Obama won (translating Slavoj Zizek)
Nov 14th, 2012 by Carl Packman.The radical French philosopher Alain Badiou was asked, after the 2009 US election, what he thought of the then President-elect Barack Obama, to which he responded, only partly amusingly: “Obama? As actor or as politician?” It wasn’t meant negatively, he went on to explain, but rather that Obama had convincingly pulled off a return to […]
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Why I will miss Denis MacShane
Nov 2nd, 2012 by Carl Packman.So, Denis MacShane has stood down as an MP. It’ll be hard for anyone to find good to say about him today after it was revealed he had been effectively writing himself expense cheques. Nineteen invoices, covering 2004 to 2008, of over £12,000 were put down as covering “research and translation” for the European Policy […]
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The left are more realistic about the working class vote than some think
Oct 30th, 2012 by Carl Packman.Since the publication of Progress’ Class edition, and the polling that has been done through YouGov, there seems to be some confusion about how the left perceive the voting behaviour of working class people in Britain. Reading Luke Akehurst’s fair piece on LabourList, aside from the harsh reality-check that working class voters in this country […]
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On Trade Unions
Sep 12th, 2012 by Carl Packman.Chris Dillow says in a post, after pointing out “membership has fallen to its lowest level since the 1940s”, that even Conservatives should mourn the demise of Trade unions. After all this is about workers themselves collectively bargaining and not relying on the state to do all the hard work. I can think of a few Conservatives […]
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Socialism and homeopathy: what’s the quack?
Sep 7th, 2012 by Carl Packman.Was I not copied in on the email that said socialism and homeopathy were intrinsically linked? I wouldn’t have listened but it would have been nice to know. Though I suspect there is no such email knocking about. Which is all the more disturbing. Why do some socialists support this stuff? My mate Dr Amanjit […]
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Progressive Conservatism 2005-2012
Sep 4th, 2012 by Carl Packman.David Wooding, the political editor of The Sun, said during reports of the cabinet reshuffle that for him two things were at play: firstly moves were being made in order for the Tories to be more in touch with the public, and secondly Cameron wanted to temper the rabble on his backbenches. To be sure, […]
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One Nation Anti-Extremism
Aug 31st, 2012 by Carl Packman.Without naming names, I want to ask left wing people generally what they would think about an organisation that pitches itself against extremism and fanaticism, that has an LGBT division, a Jewish division, holds banners on protests proclaiming solidarity with Sikh groups and women’s rights. One prominent commentator recently told an audience about one such […]
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Labour and the 2015 progressive majority
Aug 20th, 2012 by Carl Packman.Though we have about 1000 days until the next election, Plaid Cymru have offered the Labour party a deal by way of a strategy should we find ourselves with a hung parliament in 2015. Jonathan Edwards, MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr and a key advisor to Plaid Cymru’s leader Leanne Wood, said: “We would […]
