The King’s Speech was a mishmash of bad ideas and retreads of even worse ones. From gerrymandering with votes for 16-year-olds, to digital ID, from an electricity levy to the restriction of jury trials, all while sneaking us back into the EU by the back door and promising to “regulate for growth” (whatever that means). 🤦🏻‍♀️

Wrapped in the usual “we’re here to help” flummeries, it contained a series of dangerous and damaging proposals that will ensure our country does not grow, does not succeed, and is not safe.

Time and again it left the real elephants in the room unaddressed. Changing the definition of ‘family’ while remaining under the jurisdiction of the ECHR will not stop asylum abuse. Making voter ID laxer and fiddling with election timetables will not tackle the serious problem of postal voting fraud. These are the issues that actually matter to ordinary people — and they were simply ignored.

The notes to the speech ran to over 150 pages of detail on the Bills that will harm free speech, burden businesses, and obliterate any chance of genuine economic growth. This is not a programme for government; it is a programme for managed decline.

I feel genuinely sorry for the King, having to read out this laundry list of ideological obsessions with such solemnity.

Britain deserves better than this. We need a general election.

The sooner the better.

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Labour, the most successful new British political party of the 20th century, is discovering that navigating the 21st is proving far from plain sailing. What began as a triumphant return to power now feels like a slow, inexorable descent — lights still blazing, band still playing, while the water creeps higher with every passing week.

From Blair to Brown …

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You have to hand it to this government – they do know how to put on a show. For the past couple of weeks it’s been all Mandelson, all the time. The Prince of Darkness, the security vetting rows, the Epstein connections, the civil servants shown the door. Sir Keir looking increasingly pained every time he’s asked about it. It’s been compulsive viewing, I…

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I love swimming. But not in England.

Swimming lessons at my school felt like torture. Yes, walking as a crocodile down the King’s Road in the 1980s, gawping at the punks’ elaborate mohicans and safety pins, was fun. I didn’t even mind t…

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There seems to be a pattern.

In government, appointments are never neutral. They signal priorities, reveal character, and often foreshadow trouble. Under Keir Starmer, a recurring theme has emerged: the elevation of close allies, long-standing associates, and figures with considerable baggage, often at the expense of rigorous scrutiny or wider public co…

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