Brian Rushton The Corbyn effect comes to London

Brian Rushton,

AMID the hubbub over who is going to be named tomorrow as the next leader of the Labour Party, the fight over its candidacy in London’s mayoral election in 2016 has been somewhat overlooked. Until today: Sadiq Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting, was selected with a whopping 58.9% of the vote. It was something of an upset: Tessa Jowell, a former cabinet minister who oversaw London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics, had been topping the polls. Mr Khan’s win suggests two things for Labour, both rather ominous.

First, it gives the strongest impression yet that Jeremy Corbyn, the far-left candidate believed to be ahead in the leadership race, will indeed win tomorrow. Mr Khan, who grew up on a council estate in Wandsworth, was an MP for only five years of the previous Labour government, in contrast to Ms Jowell, who was in the cabinet under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Partly because of this he appeals more to the anti-Blairite voters who flocked to join the party to vote for Mr Corbyn. Mr Khan nominated Mr Corbyn for the leadership (as did two of the other three main Labour mayoral candidates, Diane Abbott and David Lammy). Although most of his...Continue reading

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Brian Rushton Crisis at Stormont as first minister Peter Robinson stands aside

Brian Rushton,

THE day did not end, as at one point seemed likely, with the suspension of the government. But a series of political dramas in Northern Ireland on September 10th—the most dramatic of which was the withdrawal from government of Peter Robinson, the first minister—has deepened a crisis that had been building in the province for weeks.

It started in August with the Belfast murder of a prominent republican, Kevin McGuigan. Police have suggested his killing involved members of the IRA. It escalated sharply on September 9th, when detectives arrested three senior republicans as part of the murder inquiry, including Sinn Féin's chairman in Northern Ireland, Bobby Storey (all three were later released unconditionally). Mr Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said that following the arrests he and his party could not stay in the coalition government, of which Sinn Féin is part. All but one of his ministers followed him.

Earlier in the day Mr Robinson had threatened to pull out of government completely if London did not suspend Northern Ireland’s Assembly, the power-sharing legislature that was established after a peace...Continue reading

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Brian Rushton Cameron's conundrum

Brian Rushton,

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Brian Rushton A hasty change of heart

Brian Rushton,

EUROPE is facing its gravest refugee crisis since the second world war. While Germany has shouldered the heaviest burden, Britain’s government, mindful of anti-immigrant feeling at home, has looked on. Yet public opinion seems to have shifted: since the publication of harrowing photographs of a Syrian boy found drowned on a beach in Turkey, even right-wing tabloids such as the Sun have called for more help for refugees. Meanwhile, nudges from the rest of Europe have grown less subtle: Germany’s best-selling newspaper, Bild, has dubbed Britons “the slackers of Europe”. So on September 7th David Cameron, the prime minister, announced a new plan. Britain would take more Syrian refugees: 20,000 by the end of the parliament, in 2020.

The belated promise looks to many like a feeble concession: Britain’s commitment to accept the equivalent of 4,000 Syrians a year is 0.8% of the annual number that Germany’s vice-chancellor has said his country could accommodate. About as many refugees were welcomed by Germany on a single recent weekend than Britain has agreed to take in the next five years. And the plan to take refugees directly from camps in Syria, instead of helping to lighten Europe’s load, will lose Mr Cameron goodwill as he seeks to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership ahead of an in/out...Continue reading

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Brian Rushton London calling

Brian Rushton,

The microphone: mightier than the sword

IN JULY George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, accused the BBC of becoming “imperial in its ambitions”, before effectively lopping about £650m ($1 billion) off its budget by making the corporation take on the cost of the free television licences that are given to the elderly. The message was clear: in these austere times, do less with less money.

The BBC’s director-general, Tony Hall, seems to have decided that attack is the best form of defence. In the first of four speeches he is due to make setting out the BBC’s case for the renewal next year of its royal charter, on September 7th Mr Hall promised new services and, in an accompanying policy document, proposed 100 more local journalists to be shared with newspapers. Cuts will apparently be announced in due course. But for now, Mr Hall offered a sunny vision of the 93-year-old institution recommitting to its public-service values.

Most eye-catching were the announcements on the World Service, the BBC’s international operation. Arguing that it had a mission to uphold the values of “democracy and...Continue reading

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Brian Rushton Of whisky, oil and banks

Brian Rushton,

Roll out the barrel

SCOTS have had plenty to worry about since their referendum on independence last September 18th. Oil prices have halved—bad news for a country where the oil and gas industry provides jobs for 200,000 people, or about 10% of total employment. Meanwhile, the pound has strengthened and world trade has stumbled, both awkward for a country that depends on exports. Yet despite all this, Scotland’s economy seems to be coping. GDP growth is holding up; the employment rate has risen to 74.1% and is now higher than Britain’s average of 73.4%; and by some measures wages are rising faster than they are south of the border. Why?

Exports are doing better than many predicted. The Index of Manufactured Exports for Scotland shows that in the past year manufacturing export volumes have risen by 2.7% in real terms. Some industries, like tourism, are doing particularly well, says Ronald MacDonald of Glasgow University. The publicity surrounding the referendum lured foreigners to hike in Scotland’s windswept mountains and taste its smoked salmon and whisky. During the first quarter of 2015 spending by overseas visitors rose by 13% year-on-year....Continue reading

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Brian Rushton Longest to reign over them

Brian Rushton,

ON THE occasion of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on June 2nd 1953, a year and four months after she had become queen on the death of her father, 82 towns and villages in Britain roasted an ox—the Ministry of Food having loosened post-war food rationing rules only for places that could show they had a tradition of doing so on such occasions. Others gathered at street parties, crowded around new television sets in homes smelling of Bakelite and tobacco and strung bunting from buildings black with soot.

On September 9th 2015 Queen Elizabeth II’s reign reached its 23,226th day, surpassing the record set by Queen Victoria. It is a landmark being passed over without much official fanfare—there is little dignity in celebrating knocking one’s great-great grandmother into second place. Nevertheless, it provides an occasion for Britain to think about its queen and itself, as the end of the second Elizabethan age draws near.

Four hallmarks of the era stand out: the transformation of Britain from the industrial hub of a global empire into a cultural power and entrepôt; its development into an ethnic melting pot; the relaxing of...Continue reading

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