Dec 17, 2019Freedland and the Blame Game: What Centrists are getting wrong about Labour’s electoral collapseAn Opinium poll from September 2019 conducted just over two months before the 2019 general election, suggested that the climate crisis would influence how the majority of the public would vote in the next general election. Two-thirds of people felt the climate emergency “was the biggest issue facing humankind”, 63%…Politics10 min readPolitics10 min read
Jul 16, 2019Does Labour Have an Antisemitism Crisis or Does it Have a Perceived Antisemitism Crisis?Some might argue that the question posed in this title is simply academic. “Whether they have one or not isn’t the point,” they might say. “The point is that they are perceived to have one, and therefore they must act on antisemitism as if they have an antisemitism crisis.” This…9 min read9 min read
Feb 4, 2019Global DistortionsCorporate protectionism through disproportionate news coverage — Most of the news media is either corporate owned or heavily tied to corporatism. This is a big problem because they have a huge influence over what society ends up thinking is important. And media coverage tends to be generally favourable to corporatism. The relentless focus on Brexit in news…Climate Change4 min readClimate Change4 min read
Oct 12, 2018The Champagne TipplerWe are living at a time, at least in my lifetime, when we most need to engage with those whose views differ from ours, even — perhaps especially — when those views seem drastically and fundamentally opposed. This creates a rather unnerving paradox if you also accept a harsh but…Wine6 min readWine6 min read
Sep 25, 2018Meersseman: Mastermind or Snake Oil Salesman“Now, you listen here. He’s not the Messiah; he’s a very naughty boy. Now, go away!” Life of Brian, 1979 Jean Pierre Meersseman is the founder and former head of the Milan Lab — an institution given near legendary status by many football journalists. Throughout the years, Meersseman and his…Medicine21 min readMedicine21 min read
Jan 10, 2018The Guardian: Accusers and Purveyors of Fake NewsPart Four— Fake News in The Guardian, Improved Journalism in General and What That Could Lead To — This is the fourth and final part of my essay on journalism with particular focus on The Guardian. Part One looked at · the dangers of exaggerating the impact of Big Data and Fake News on those recent elections And explained: · how and why The Guardian are exaggerating the…Labour Party32 min readLabour Party32 min read
Nov 30, 2017The Guardian: Accusers and Purveyors of Fake NewsPart Three — What Should Journalism Be and How Does The Guardian Fit? — This third part of a four part essay looks at principles of journalism and how The Guardian frequently fails to meet them. Part One, examined and explained: · the dangers of exaggerating the impact of Big Data and Fake News on those recent elections · how and why The Guardian…Syria40 min readSyria40 min read
Nov 23, 2017The Guardian: Accusers and Purveyors of Fake NewsPart Two — Complicity in Propaganda — This second part of a four part essay examines and explains The Guardian’s complicity in state-corporate propaganda through an introduction of Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model. It then examines The Guardian’s output in relation to the model’s five filters. Part One, examined and explained: · the dangers of exaggerating the…Journalism22 min readJournalism22 min read
Nov 16, 2017The Guardian: Accusers and Purveyors of Fake NewsPart One — Big Data and Fake News: How and Why Their Impact is Being Exaggerated, and Why This is Dangerous — Over the last twelve months, if you’ve been a regular newspaper reader, particularly of The Guardian, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that Big Data and Fake News were the pivotal tools used by the Right and by Russia to decide the outcome of the EU Referendum and the…Politics27 min readPolitics27 min read
Aug 23, 2017Leave LogicThe EU Referendum was just over a year ago, but the political fall-out from the result will reverberate for decades. There is plenty that has already been said and there is plenty still left to say about the position we are in and the further damage to expect when we…Brexit17 min readBrexit17 min read