Western Line

Devolution: what Ministers think, but won’t say

When Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid decided to show a South West audience of business leaders and politicians there was a new sheriff in town, you could be forgiven for thinking that at least Mr Javid isn’t one for mincing words.

His blunt “no mayor, no deal” line followed up by the damning of Cornwall’s devolution deal as “unambitious”, previously described by…

Why the Government’s broadband policy is in the hands of the private sector

Complaints by South West MPs that BT has scaled back its commercial investment in superfast broadband in Devon and Somerset once again raises questions about the Government’s reliance on the private sector to deliver a critical area of public policy.

Central to this is whether the Cameron Government was naive to assume that when it offered tax-payer subsidies for rural broadband contracts, the…

Is Jeremy Corbyn Labour’s Moriarty?

  Having won two landslide victories among the party membership, Jeremy Corbyn has earned the unassailable right to lead this current incarnation of the Labour Party to whatever outcome the next General Election holds.

He is, as Norman Smith observed, politically “bomb-proof” from a further challenge unless something goes catastrophically wrong for him. However, the horrible dilemma for Labour…

From Clegg to Corbyn, the narrative defines their fate

Reading an interview with Nick Clegg about his thoughtful account of the Lib Dems’ near-fatal marriage of convenience with the Tories in the Coalition Government, I am struck, not for the first time, how often it is that clearly intelligent, talented people in politics have such a hard time seeing the wood for the trees.

I’ve always thought Nick Clegg to be a decent man, but not a politician to…

Meet the new boss – what happens next in Boris’ brave new Britain?

So what happens next for post-Brexit Britain? Jeremy Corbyn gets a new job as crowd dispersal officer for the Labour Shadow Cabinet, Michael Gove is down the Job Centre looking for experts to write a Brexit plan, and David Cameron enrols for treatment with Gamblers Anonymous.

This is what we know:

Jeremy was just kidding when he said he backed the Remain campaign; Leave politicians thought the…

Why I’m casting my vote for Remain

We’ve reached the midpoint of this final day of a bitter, tragic and at times bizarre campaign for Britain’s future.

Any idea that this serious issue would be debated with respect for the facts, tolerance and common decency has been shown to be hopelessly naive. Truth was quickly dragged into an alley and battered senseless, often to be shouted down every time it staggered back into open view.

T…

Connectivity is vital for South West’s future prosperity

The Peninsula Rail Task Force’s decision to postpone its final report to Government is frustrating for all concerned but sensible.

The Task Force is only as good as the sum of its parts. If key sources of information such as GWR, Network Rail and the Local Enterprise Partnership need more time to complete their work then the only prudent course of action must be to delay.

The economic case,…

Why it may be all or nothing now for Brexit’s leaders

Michael Gove’s admission on the Today programme that he will consider his position if Britain votes to remain in the EU is an interesting development in the referendum narrative.

Hitherto, it’s the political futures of David Cameron and George Osborne that have attracted attention, but with Leave’s surge collapsing faster than Devon Loch the focus is turning to Brexit’s leaders.

Make no mistake,…

Grit our teeth and get through this effingendum

Not for the first time and I fear not for the last in this shouty, shouty effingendum campaign, I’ve warmly hoped the Queen would pull out some ancient writ that empowers her to tell the entire ragbag of flimflam artists, conspiracy theorists, haters and rug chewers to go straight to their rooms, never to emerge until June 23 has passed.

The one bright glimmer in this shoddy enterprise is that…

I’d like to hear more from Tony Benn. But he’s dead

If a British voter can’t find three random strangers or Sir Trevor McDonald is busy, chances are we’ll settle for a straight talker. Someone who says what they really think. Or sounds like they do.

Asked by Lord Ashcroft’s pollsters who they’d like to hear more from in the EU referendum debate, focus group members in Leamington and Muswell Hill mentioned Alan Sugar, The Queen, Russell Brand and,…

Scored any boris lately?

There’s an aspect of the Brexit debate which is being overlooked and that’s the increased availability of “legal hype” on the street.

Generically referred to as scoring a boris, you’re probably familiar by now with brands of legal hype such as Kebab Brows — the risk that standing too close to a Turkish kebab seller will make your eyebrows fall off — or Brussels Jackboot — the theory, never…

Why is there so little poetry about the beautiful game?

peterdoyle282:

A year ago I posed the question why is there so little fine poetry about football. Its claim to be the beautiful game may be open to debate, but there is surely no doubting its mantle as the people’s game and yet so little of that fervour finds a voice in our most expressively personal of arts.

I returned to this thought on hearing the news that Jimmy Greaves had been struck by a…

Dying on our doorstep: the grim reality of Europe's migrant crisis

Tonight in the floodlit waters of the Mediterranean, a sea most of us only associate with happy memories of holidays and romance, the heartbreaking task of recovering the bodies of drowned migrants, men, women and children, possibly in their hundreds continues.

This is the grisly reality behind the immigration debate raging in Britain and across the European Union. While hot words are exchanged…

Poem of the Week: Digging by Seamus Heaney

I find myself thinking of my father a lot these days, perhaps because I am nearly his age when he died. I am drawn to the memory poems of Seamus Heaney, Brendan Kennelly, Michael Longley and others; poems that decant a blessing from recollections of the past.

Heaney was born the eldest of nine on this day in 1939 and I have chosen “Digging” which is one of his most famous and included a link of…

Charles Causley once said “a good poem is almost always about something else, which is why they are hard to write.” The same could be said for political manifestos, though you’d probably be hard pressed to describe a manifesto favourably. Cameron famously sent one back to the policy wonks half read he was so bored with it and Farage disowned UKIP’s 2010 effort, albeit after the event.

Whatever…

Spring has sprung and I do wonder where dat boidie is...

“Der spring is sprung, der grass is riz”, as the Bronx poem about all things vernal goes and yes, dear reader, this morning I was wondering “where dem boidies is?” Specifically, at 6.15 am, I was wondering where datdratted boidie is? The one that has  consistently woken me from my slumbers for the past fortnight with a tedious two-tone call that grates on the weary sleeper’s nerves like silver…

The bloody-minded resilience of poets and politicians

Mo Mowlam once said it takes courage to push things forward.

What does it take to keep going when others say it can’t be done? The latest batch of opinion polls prove if nothing else fortitude is a defining characteristic of successful political leaders. Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats have drawn level with UKIP, Ed Miliband is winning points for leadership and David Cameron is bouncing back…