Author Archives: Adrian Slade

Political breakaways are no easy option – a reminder of how the last one played out…

In 1981 and 1982 the Alliance between the two parties, under the leadership of Roy Jenkins and David Steel, was seen to be the perfect answer to Mrs Thatcher’s highly controversial first government, then two years old. Polls suggested that the Alliance could win power ‘if there was an election tomorrow’ as the polls liked to say, but, as many will remember, there wasn’t an election tomorrow. Instead there was the Falklands War, which Mrs Thatcher led us all into and won, thereby turning round many public perceptions of her. The Tories won the 1983 election comfortably, in the …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 20 Comments

Political breakaways are no easy option

Whichever way any sensible person thinks about Brexit, a disaster looms at the end of March. Nearly three years on from the Referendum and the decision to trigger Article 50 Parliament and the country are no clearer as to what they want from leaving Europe, and why they want it, than they were in 2016. Division is everywhere. Unhappiness, uncertainty and disillusionment are as rife today among electors as they are across the political spectrum.

When asked by the pollsters, a significant majority of UK electors now say they favour not leaving at all. That does not necessarily mean they would …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
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  • Steve Trevethan
    P. S. Here is an article from the current edition of "Counterpunch" which may be of relevance and/or interest. https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/10/23/france...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Thank you for a most incisive article which, so precisely, presents the cruelty and greed of Neolibealim. Would that the L.D Party renounced and denounced Ne...
  • Peter Davies
    I don't think we have the construction capacity to engineer a crash in house prices. The highest realistic target would probably only bring prices down by about...
  • Jenny Barnes
    You might remember the story of the inventor, the chessboard and the grains of rice. 1 on the 1st square, 2 on the 2nd, 4 on the 3rd and so on. Things that ca...
  • Jenny Barnes
    World fuel consumption rises by 2%pa, or doubles every 35 years. In any given 35 year period, as much energy is consumed as in the whole preceding history. Rene...