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
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Mike Peters
    @Roland ‘Over capacity of airports in the country’? Really? Please post a link to an article about that. All I can find are articles about passenger numbe...
  • Ruth Clark
    The seat I stood in in 2005 had two ex PPCs from that seat (one with strong local connections) considering going again in 2024 - one with minority heritage, one...
  • Mike Peters
    As an observer of US politics, I find it deeply concerning that the US judicial system seems build around the practice of judicial shopping in which - in this c...
  • Roland
    The problem with carbon capture is going to doing it at scale. Currently the UK consumes circa 1.3m barrels of oil a day. The main supertanker (VLC) carries 2m...
  • Roland
    >” Most farming household income is well below the national average, contrary to the image portrayed by wealthy hobbyists like Jeremy Clarkson.” One of ...