The phrase National Identity has become increasingly familiar in current political discourse, despite the fact that nationalism and nationhood are far from being new ideas in Europe. Typically, it is the Right and Far-Right which profits from and occupies itself with concerns over identity. Excluding Gordon Brown’s occasional remarks on possibly considering planning a “British [...]
Three months after David Cameron held a public meeting in Bath, Nick Clegg, better known as leader of the Shadow Conservative Party, has managed to find time in his busy, busy, schedule to do likewise. When Cameron came to visit, the Lib Dems criticised the Tories over the amount of information participants were asked to [...]
Bloggers launch the “Coalition Against No Platform“ Today I am pleased to publish a new page, the Coalition Against No Platform, a directory of bloggers and articles from all political parties. We believe that the No Platform policy, where speakers refuse to participate in debates at which the BNP or other undesirables are present is foolish [...]
Tom, I’m glad you start your reply (to my reply of your reply to my article) by acknowledging that “this topic arouses passions.” As you will have noticed, it is a topic that not just arouses passions but makes my blood begin to boil, mainly out of sheer frustration that I’m not getting through. I’m not [...]
Recently I wrote a piece denouncing the Labour Party’s No Platform Policy and its attitude towards the BNP. (Link to that) Shortly afterwards, fellow Labour Colleagues came forward with their own pieces agreeing with me, including Bryony King, Adam Connell, James Alexander and Olly Deed. (Each name links to each post) Even on the Right, [...]
We’ll kick off EuropeWeek with the biggest topic in British-European policy; The Lisbon Treaty. Let’s look at how it’s been handled rather than what it entails; we’ll save that one for later. In 2004, the European Union underwent a “Big Bang” enlargement and added 10 Eastern European countries to its membership list. Meanwhile, the Convention [...]
Welcome to EuropeWeek! In the final run-up to the elections to the European Parliament, I’m going to be blogging mainly on the topic of Europe. I’ve decided to launch my own little campaign because in Britain, at least, the debate over Europe is farcical at best and dangerous at worst. Hopefully, this website can become [...]
My good friend Simon Budden has written in to give his account of the event on Friday. Here he tells us what happened from inside the building. By Simon Budden While Hadleigh stayed outside during the protest at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute (BRLSI), I managed to make my way into the building [...]
Further to my previous posts here and here regarding the controversial decision to invite the BNP to speak at a debate on the European Elections of June 4th 2009, this is my account of what occured at the meeting. Arriving at about 1830 (I had aimed to get there at 1800, but the bus hit [...]
There have been some changes to the BRLSI event regarding the hustings for the European Elections. In light of the wave of walkouts lead by Labour’s Glyn Ford MEP, followed by Lib Dem Graham Watson MEP and Green Party Ricky Knight who all refused to share a platform with the British National Party candidate Jeremy [...]
