I put for the general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death.
Thomas Hobbes
There is little in the business conducted in the Palace of Westminster and the surrounding offices, ale-houses and dark corners which is not in the nature of a grotesque performance more suited to the Comedia dell’ Arte, but of this performance comes the government of the nation. Sovereignty is indivisible (and entrusted to an three-headed assembly consisted according to the laws of the Constitution in Monarch, Lords and Commons) but the great authority exercised each day and over which those contending with and for power struggle amongst themselves is in the multitude of levels of delegated authority which, notwithstanding that they are not the Sovereignty itself, exercise power amongst the subjects of the state almost as great in effect.
Therefore on these listed pages and related blog posts I should endeavour to cast an eye on the Comedia so performed, and with it see the privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject, but man only.
- Downing Street: and so it begins 18 May 2019
- Is Boris Good Enough? 24 May 2019
- Rudd, Amber: Green light for Boris 25 May 2019
- The quiet leadership contest 26 May 2019
- Mindless commentary; victorless result; pointless election 28 May 2019
- Leadership or caution 28 May 2019
- Supporters come out, but no Kingmaker 3 June 2019
- Where it all went wrong for – Change UK 5 June 2019
- Green light, red faces, and Amber 10 June 2019
- And then there were seven 13 June 2019
- Ten new Constituencies now under offer 14 June 2019
- Chuka who chucked ChUK chuckles and swallows the bird 14 June 2019
- Five try to squeeze through one door 18 June 2019
- How would I answer last night’s leadership questions? 19 June 2019
- Winner is coming 20 June 2019
- Believe in the bin 24 June 2019
- Jeremy, hunted by his own quick hounds 5 July 2019
- Gyimah gymnastics 7 July 2019
- Has the hour of the SDP come at last? 10 July 2019
- The Leadership election falls asleep again 16 July 2019
- Boris, the chosen one 23 July 2019
- Our plan for the new Prime Minister 25 July 2019
- Questions for Boris Johnson 26 July 2019
- Brecon and Radical Rethink 2 August 2019
- Sarah Wollaston joins Plaid Cymru 17 August 2019
- Exclusive leaked footage of Brexit talks 23 August 2019
- Have I missed something…? 27 August 2019
- See how they run 29 August 2019
- Operation Casement: still no arrests 3 September 2019
- Quid pro quo: repeal Section 13 4 September 2019
- Court of Session prorogation case: full judgment published 7 September 2019
- If it prosper 9 September 2019
- Court of Session – Inner House prorogation full judgment published 11 September 2019
- Counter-cheque Quarrelsome 13 September 2019
- It’s not about Europe 18 September 2019
- Top people are people too 19 September 2019
- New comedy act opens in Brighton 23 September 2019
- Supreme Tangle 24 September 2019
- From the Conservative Conference 2019 29 September 2019
- Conservative Conference Report: Day 3 1 October 2019
- Conservative Conference 2019: The Speech 2 October 2019
- Rory Roars off into the sunset 4 October 2019
- What happens next for Boris? 8 October 2019
- I don’t know what has happened but… 17 October 2019
- Agree, withdraw and move to Stage 2 19 October 2019
- The whirligig of time brings in his revenges 31 October 2019
- 101 Uses for a Dumped MP 1 November 2019
- Bizarre self-defenestrations 7 November 2019
- The five stages of Grieve 13 November 2019
- Round 1: both challengers still standing 19 November 2019
- Boris unleashed 25 November 2019
- Even Corbyn opposes Corbyn 10 December 2019
- Knockout 12 December 2019
- The Last Tory Government? 13 December 2019
- The work begins: Get Brexit Done 16 December 2019
- The year begins – 2020 2 January 2020
- Titanic to appoint new Captain 9 January 2020
- The next eleven months 29 January 2020
- Blood on the carpet 14 February 2020
- Geoffrey Cox: an appreciation 17 February 2020
- Oh the things we said in dark corners…. 18 February 2020
- The grossest abuses of power 26 February 2020
- Titus Oates 27 February 2020
- Where is the text, Boris? 3 March 2020
- Sir Humphrey’s logic 9 March 2020
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar Budget 11 March 2020
- The necessity of normality 18 March 2020
- Competitive panicking 19 March 2020
- Praying for Boris 7 April 2020
- Demanding sacrifices to the baalim 26 May 2020
- Dane-geld 27 May 2020
- Iphigenia’s sisters 29 May 2020
- The Casement Award: no entries yet? 2 June 2020
- Ochlocrats 10 June 2020
- A cabal of its enemies 8 July 2020
- A hard rain’s a-Cummin’ 10 July 2020
- The Russia Report: was that it then? 22 July 2020
- Enter Ross 5 August 2020
- New party leader! And? 27 August 2020
- The maddening of a paper MP 29 August 2020
- The patient is dying. There is one cure 2 September 2020
- Last year was so last year, lads 15 September 2020
- Build Back Britain, Boris 6 October 2020
- Jacobean court farce 16 November 2020
- A Great Deal to Do 24 December 2020
- The new challenges for 2021 1 January 2021
- Rishi Sunak’s budget speech 3 March 2021
- It’s a funny old game, politics 20 April 2021
- You dirty, double-crossing chatty rat 26 April 2021
- Reading between the worry lines 14 June 2021
- Holes in the Blue Wall 18 June 2021
- MP: vital importance of my Bill 21 June 2021
- Who are hypocrites? 29 June 2021
- Lockdown breakdown 17 July 2021
- Jump off the bandwagon 29 July 2021
- A revolutionary in the Ministry 16 September 2021
- Sir Keir Kneeler: speech in full 29 September 2021
- What do we make of Boris now? 7 October 2021
- Lashings of a wounded tiger 14 October 2021
- The silence; the shock 16 October 2021
- The shadow of John Wilkes 21 October 2021
- No-escape Budget 28 October 2021
- Paterson and Liberty 4 November 2021
- Matt Hancock book exclusive 15 November 2021
- What happened to the hard rain? 1 December 2021
- Hebdomas horribilis 11 December 2021
- Losing believers 22 December 2021
- New Yeet Resolutions 4 January 2022
- Spies, lies and mince pies 17 January 2022
- I’d Do Anything for Boris (But I Won’t Do That) 23 January 2022
- Waiting for the Barbarians 27 January 2022
- Go out amongst the land 10 February 2022
- Closing the web – 2 22 April 2022
- A new programme, and how to mend it 11 May 2022
- Measures, four Measures 26 May 2022
- Boris Enigma 9 June 2022
- Borisdämmerung 6 July 2022
- Put not your trust in princes 11 July 2022
- The contenders of 2022 13 July 2022
- Differences Of Fit And Unfit Counsellours – 1 15 July 2022
- Differences Of Fit And Unfit Counsellours – 2 18 July 2022
- The Borisiad 22 July 2022
- The Moderate Candidate 4 August 2022
- Moderation, in moderation 12 August 2022
- The Wild One 23 August 2022
- From Boris to Liz 3 September 2022
- The Truss issue 7 September 2022
- Easing money 26 September 2022
- Illogical crisis 10 October 2022
- What happened; what happens 17 October 2022
- Inability in politicians 24 October 2022
- Twisted narrative 30 October 2022
- Anti-Conversion laws 22 January 2023
- Colombeylesdeuxeglisesiste 8 February 2023
- Disaster planning – 1 21 February 2023
- Where did it all go wrong for Boris? 11 June 2023
- Boris Bounced 18 June 2023
- No, and neither did she 3 July 2023
- Artifice of intelligence 20 August 2023
- All said, and none done 7 October 2023
- Getting the band back together 19 November 2023