Philip Collins

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Political history is full of surprises and we may be on the brink of another. It may be that all the effort required to understand Labour’s stance on a second referendum, the blizzard of parliamentary amendments and the varied proposals for Brexit delay are all beside the point. The point is now on the horizon and, if you squint a little, you can glimpse the distant sign of a deal passing. Not many in the political class are ready for the surprise that may be with them before long.

Brexit is the subject that it is impossible to keep in proportion.…  Seguir leyendo »

Famine used to be one of the world’s most effective killers. A tenth of England’s population died in the Great Famine of 1315. In the mid-17th century starvation wiped out a third of the population of Poland, a tenth of all Scots and a third of all Finns. A million people died in the Irish famine of 1845. Between 108 BC and 1911 there were 1,828 famines in China alone. Every successive century saw a decline in the incidence of famine but 70 million still starved to death during the 20th century. Then, at the start of the 21st century, famine looked to be disappearing.…  Seguir leyendo »

Today is the start of Epiphany. The story of Boris, Liam and David, the three kings bearing gifts, enchants children the world over. It has been immortalised in The Epiphany by Hieronymus Bosch. In some traditions “king’s cake”, a rich, dense, typically English fruitcake, is eaten on Twelfth Night. In the British version of the tale the cake is both eaten and not eaten. Epiphany, the striking manifestation of the new, is a moment for everyone involved in the European Union debate to stop and start again as if nothing has happened.

Indeed, nothing is exactly what has happened so far, as Sir Ivan Rogers pointed out in his parting shot as Britain’s ambassador to the European Union.…  Seguir leyendo »

The best thing to be hoped for is that the Liberals Democrats will behave loyally and modestly in the national interest; loyally when the going gets tough over reducing the deficit, and modestly with regard to the lack of enthusiasm for PR to which their bad showing in the election attests.

Sadly that is Cloudcuckoo Land, because the modern Liberal party is often to the left of Labour and sees this as a once-in-a-generation chance to muscle in PR. Every Government since the war has always been re-elected once — except Ted Heath’s in 1974 — so a minority Tory ministry is the second best thing to hope for.…  Seguir leyendo »