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Mike Doyle
Mike Doyle
10 months ago

Simply repeal all constitional and electoral changes made by Heath and Blair.

Michael Walsh
Michael Walsh
10 months ago
Reply to  Mike Doyle

Two utter disasters

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Michael Walsh

Voted by the people.
TB won 3 elections – he won even after the Iraq Debacle (no WMDs).

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Smith

The greed of the Patrician class and the primitive instinct of the masses saved Blair.

Last edited 10 months ago by Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Smith

The greed of the Patrician class and the primitive instinct of the masses saved Blair.

Last edited 10 months ago by Charles Stanhope
Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Michael Walsh

Voted by the people.
TB won 3 elections – he won even after the Iraq Debacle (no WMDs).

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago
Reply to  Mike Doyle

And bring back the old regiments

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

Which ones?
Rather a lot to choose from!

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

Which ones?
Rather a lot to choose from!

Michael Walsh
Michael Walsh
10 months ago
Reply to  Mike Doyle

Two utter disasters

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago
Reply to  Mike Doyle

And bring back the old regiments

Mike Doyle
Mike Doyle
10 months ago

Simply repeal all constitional and electoral changes made by Heath and Blair.

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago

Let’s have parish councils, borough/district councils, city councils and county councils.
No metropolitan councils, no regional bodies, no devolved assemblies, no mayors (other than ceremonial ones like the Lord Mayor of London).
One parliament in Westminster, representing the whole country, with no more than 250 MPs. 250 London properties to be acquired, varying in size and allocated according to family need. MPs should not be able to make a killing on the property market at the taxpayer’s expense.
A second (revising) chamber, again of no more than 250 and probably a lot less, composed of representatives of parishes, boroughs, counties etc, plus appointed experts in their fields, possibly chosen by lottery.
I await the call.
N Bonaparte, St Helena.

Last edited 10 months ago by Andrew D
Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Andrew D

Shouldn’t that be ‘Les Invalides’ Paris?

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago

No, I’m still alive, awaiting the nation’s call in its hour of need (the inhabitant of the tomb at Les Invalides is an imposter, as any fule kno)

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago

No, I’m still alive, awaiting the nation’s call in its hour of need (the inhabitant of the tomb at Les Invalides is an imposter, as any fule kno)

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Andrew D

Shouldn’t that be ‘Les Invalides’ Paris?

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago

Let’s have parish councils, borough/district councils, city councils and county councils.
No metropolitan councils, no regional bodies, no devolved assemblies, no mayors (other than ceremonial ones like the Lord Mayor of London).
One parliament in Westminster, representing the whole country, with no more than 250 MPs. 250 London properties to be acquired, varying in size and allocated according to family need. MPs should not be able to make a killing on the property market at the taxpayer’s expense.
A second (revising) chamber, again of no more than 250 and probably a lot less, composed of representatives of parishes, boroughs, counties etc, plus appointed experts in their fields, possibly chosen by lottery.
I await the call.
N Bonaparte, St Helena.

Last edited 10 months ago by Andrew D
Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago

It is ‘Mr Plod’ who really needs serious reform .
With something like 41 Constabularies and thus 41c Chief Constables this really is a case of ‘jobs for the boys’(and girls).

National detection rates for what most regard as heinous crimes are at an all time low, whilst detection for ridiculous ‘hate/woke’ offences at an all time high!

Additionally the hard earned reputation of the nations premier Police Force, the ‘Met’,* lies in tatters.

Never in my lifetime has the image of the Police been so low. Sir Robert Peel, the founder of the Met in 1829, decreed that ‘consensus’ policing was what was required.
How he would weep if he saw todays Blobies!

(* ‘Best Police money can buy’ as they used to say in the 1970’s.)

Nicky Samengo-Turner
Nicky Samengo-Turner
10 months ago

Metropolitanazi secret police and Gestaplod! Some of the thickest, most biased, moronic automatons I have ever had yhe displeasure to meet, too stupid even to see how much they are despised, and how bent they are!

Clive MacDonald
Clive MacDonald
10 months ago

Policing needs to have a local/regional underpinning. ‘Police Scotland’, with one chief constable for the whole of Scotland, is a very bad idea.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago

Agreed!
And as we have just discovered with that wonderful faux Police Unit somewhere near Glasgow!*

The present arrangement works out at about one Constabulary per 1.5 head of population. In Scotland one per 5 million.
So perhaps something in between may suffice?

(* The one that left a young couple dead in their car for 9 days was it?)

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago

Agreed!
And as we have just discovered with that wonderful faux Police Unit somewhere near Glasgow!*

The present arrangement works out at about one Constabulary per 1.5 head of population. In Scotland one per 5 million.
So perhaps something in between may suffice?

(* The one that left a young couple dead in their car for 9 days was it?)

Nicky Samengo-Turner
Nicky Samengo-Turner
10 months ago

Metropolitanazi secret police and Gestaplod! Some of the thickest, most biased, moronic automatons I have ever had yhe displeasure to meet, too stupid even to see how much they are despised, and how bent they are!

Clive MacDonald
Clive MacDonald
10 months ago

Policing needs to have a local/regional underpinning. ‘Police Scotland’, with one chief constable for the whole of Scotland, is a very bad idea.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago

It is ‘Mr Plod’ who really needs serious reform .
With something like 41 Constabularies and thus 41c Chief Constables this really is a case of ‘jobs for the boys’(and girls).

National detection rates for what most regard as heinous crimes are at an all time low, whilst detection for ridiculous ‘hate/woke’ offences at an all time high!

Additionally the hard earned reputation of the nations premier Police Force, the ‘Met’,* lies in tatters.

Never in my lifetime has the image of the Police been so low. Sir Robert Peel, the founder of the Met in 1829, decreed that ‘consensus’ policing was what was required.
How he would weep if he saw todays Blobies!

(* ‘Best Police money can buy’ as they used to say in the 1970’s.)

Matt M
Matt M
10 months ago

I agree that we should return to the pre-1974 boundaries for English counties.

Make Lancashire Great Again!

Last edited 10 months ago by Matt M
Martin Bollis
Martin Bollis
10 months ago
Reply to  Matt M

Bring Back Westmorland!
(Probably best not to google BBW)

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Martin Bollis

At least the splendid little town of Appleby has done its best in that respect.

William Edward Henry Appleby
William Edward Henry Appleby
10 months ago

I’ll raise a glass to that!

William Edward Henry Appleby
William Edward Henry Appleby
10 months ago

I’ll raise a glass to that!

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago
Reply to  Martin Bollis

And Rutland.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Martin Bollis

At least the splendid little town of Appleby has done its best in that respect.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago
Reply to  Martin Bollis

And Rutland.

Mark Goodhand
Mark Goodhand
10 months ago
Reply to  Matt M

Perhaps some historic counties deserve to be revived, but a lot of the old boundaries were changed because they didn’t match urban agglomerations.
I live in Oxford, and naturally identify with Oxfordshire, but Oxford once sat on the border with Berkshire.
Even city-centre locations like Grandpont and New Hinksey were apparently in Berkshire until 1889. Caversham went the other way in 1895.
See Wikipedia’s “List of Oxfordshire boundary changes” for details.
Rivers and streams make easily-identifiable borders, but not administratively sensible ones.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Mark Goodhand

Until about 1540 ‘you’ were in the Diocese of Lincoln.
Then you got your own Diocese based on the magnificent Augustinian Church of Osney Abbey.

Sadly a few years later in 1546 ‘you’ binned that for the rather miserable, stunted nunnery church the former St Frideswide’s Priory, and so it remains today.

Thus the greatest medieval building ever to grace Oxford is gone forever.

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago
Reply to  Mark Goodhand

And Surrey went right up to the river (the county cricket club still plays at the Oval). As an erstwhile Kennington resident I’d have been more than happy to be returned to Surrey County Council and liberated from the Khan jackboot.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Andrew D

Hear, hear, Khan should be returned to Karachi, ‘Red Star’’, and recorded delivery as soon as is humanly possible.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Andrew D

Hear, hear, Khan should be returned to Karachi, ‘Red Star’’, and recorded delivery as soon as is humanly possible.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Mark Goodhand

Until about 1540 ‘you’ were in the Diocese of Lincoln.
Then you got your own Diocese based on the magnificent Augustinian Church of Osney Abbey.

Sadly a few years later in 1546 ‘you’ binned that for the rather miserable, stunted nunnery church the former St Frideswide’s Priory, and so it remains today.

Thus the greatest medieval building ever to grace Oxford is gone forever.

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago
Reply to  Mark Goodhand

And Surrey went right up to the river (the county cricket club still plays at the Oval). As an erstwhile Kennington resident I’d have been more than happy to be returned to Surrey County Council and liberated from the Khan jackboot.

Martin Bollis
Martin Bollis
10 months ago
Reply to  Matt M

Bring Back Westmorland!
(Probably best not to google BBW)

Mark Goodhand
Mark Goodhand
10 months ago
Reply to  Matt M

Perhaps some historic counties deserve to be revived, but a lot of the old boundaries were changed because they didn’t match urban agglomerations.
I live in Oxford, and naturally identify with Oxfordshire, but Oxford once sat on the border with Berkshire.
Even city-centre locations like Grandpont and New Hinksey were apparently in Berkshire until 1889. Caversham went the other way in 1895.
See Wikipedia’s “List of Oxfordshire boundary changes” for details.
Rivers and streams make easily-identifiable borders, but not administratively sensible ones.

Matt M
Matt M
10 months ago

I agree that we should return to the pre-1974 boundaries for English counties.

Make Lancashire Great Again!

Last edited 10 months ago by Matt M
William Edward Henry Appleby
William Edward Henry Appleby
10 months ago

I’ve never properly understood why the people who arrange my bin collection have to have a political philosophy.

Dougie Undersub
Dougie Undersub
10 months ago

An 18 year old A-level student is standing in my ward today on that very platform. Good luck to him, I say.

Bob Downing
Bob Downing
10 months ago

It seems to give them confidence that they aren’t alone. Unfortunately it doesn’t enable them to actually take any decisions which conflict with what their employees – the all-powerful council officers – have decided.
The end result (predicted by “Yes, Minister”) of the 1974 changes is that no elected representatives are allowed to decide anything at parish, town, district or county level. They are all told that they don’t understand the complexities and must therefore do what the ‘civil servants’ advise. The Party system (which is wholly irrelevant) then prevents them all agreeing to stand up for themselves, as one lot will always undermine any such move, purely to score “political” points.

Dougie Undersub
Dougie Undersub
10 months ago

An 18 year old A-level student is standing in my ward today on that very platform. Good luck to him, I say.

Bob Downing
Bob Downing
10 months ago

It seems to give them confidence that they aren’t alone. Unfortunately it doesn’t enable them to actually take any decisions which conflict with what their employees – the all-powerful council officers – have decided.
The end result (predicted by “Yes, Minister”) of the 1974 changes is that no elected representatives are allowed to decide anything at parish, town, district or county level. They are all told that they don’t understand the complexities and must therefore do what the ‘civil servants’ advise. The Party system (which is wholly irrelevant) then prevents them all agreeing to stand up for themselves, as one lot will always undermine any such move, purely to score “political” points.

William Edward Henry Appleby
William Edward Henry Appleby
10 months ago

I’ve never properly understood why the people who arrange my bin collection have to have a political philosophy.

John Greatorex
John Greatorex
10 months ago

The traditional county borders that existed before 1974 had a millennia of heritage to shape them, and often came to consist of a balance between urban areas, market towns and rural landscapes…all undone by a Conservative government unwilling to conserve anything. And then New Labour went beyond failing to conserve and into the realm of deliberate constitutional vandalism.

John Greatorex
John Greatorex
10 months ago

The traditional county borders that existed before 1974 had a millennia of heritage to shape them, and often came to consist of a balance between urban areas, market towns and rural landscapes…all undone by a Conservative government unwilling to conserve anything. And then New Labour went beyond failing to conserve and into the realm of deliberate constitutional vandalism.

Martin Bollis
Martin Bollis
10 months ago

A rather odd argument. Societies flourish when allowed to grow organically. A top down rationalisation made a mess so what we need is … a top down rationalisation.

Last edited 10 months ago by Martin Bollis
Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Martin Bollis

Yes, but there is not such thing as “organic”.
Was the English Reformation organic?

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Martin Bollis

Yes, but there is not such thing as “organic”.
Was the English Reformation organic?

Martin Bollis
Martin Bollis
10 months ago

A rather odd argument. Societies flourish when allowed to grow organically. A top down rationalisation made a mess so what we need is … a top down rationalisation.

Last edited 10 months ago by Martin Bollis
Richard Rolfe
Richard Rolfe
10 months ago

France has got a Napoleon. It’s not going well.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Richard Rolfe

It is going well – the fact that (few) people are rioting is the proof that Macron has done the right thing for the country – long term.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Richard Rolfe

It actually is.
Macron is doing the necessary reforms. French will protest – what did you expect?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Richard Rolfe

Perhaps a “whiff of grapeshot “ might help!

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Richard Rolfe

It is going well – the fact that (few) people are rioting is the proof that Macron has done the right thing for the country – long term.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Richard Rolfe

It actually is.
Macron is doing the necessary reforms. French will protest – what did you expect?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Richard Rolfe

Perhaps a “whiff of grapeshot “ might help!

Richard Rolfe
Richard Rolfe
10 months ago

France has got a Napoleon. It’s not going well.

Clive MacDonald
Clive MacDonald
10 months ago

‘The Holy Roman Empire was impenetrably messy but gloriously superior to many of the Germanies which followed its violent destruction.’ All of them in fact. And of course it was Napoleon who dismantled it, resulting in three European wars under Bismarck, two racist, jingoistic and militaristic dictators (the Kaiser and Hitler), and two horrific global wars, followed by the inevitable reconstitution of the HRE in the form of the EU. 

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago

Was Kaiser any different than the British ruling class? Or French? or Russian?

Clive MacDonald
Clive MacDonald
10 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Smith

Yes, because unlike those rulers, he was strongly influenced by the racist and anti-Semitic writer Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Kaiser Wilhelm is recorded as having read Chamberlain’s ‘The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century‘ twice, ‘page by page.’ Chamberlain had himself been influenced by the French racist writer Arthur de Gobineau, who developed the theory of the Aryan master race. The Berliner Zeitung newspaper complained of the close friendship between Wilhelm II and such an outspoken racist and anti-Semite as Chamberlain, stating this was a real cause for concern for decent, caring people both inside and outside Germany. Regarding the First World War, Wilhelm wrote to Chamberlain in January 1917: ‘The war is a struggle between two Weltanschauugen [world views], the Teutonic-German for morality, right, loyalty and faith, genuine humanity, truth and real freedom, against … the worship of Mammon, the power of money, pleasure, land-hunger, lies, betrayal, deceit and—last but not least—treacherous assassination! These two Weltanschauugen cannot be reconciled or tolerate one another, one must be victorious, the other must go under!’

Clive MacDonald
Clive MacDonald
10 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Smith

Yes, because unlike those rulers, he was strongly influenced by the racist and anti-Semitic writer Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Kaiser Wilhelm is recorded as having read Chamberlain’s ‘The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century‘ twice, ‘page by page.’ Chamberlain had himself been influenced by the French racist writer Arthur de Gobineau, who developed the theory of the Aryan master race. The Berliner Zeitung newspaper complained of the close friendship between Wilhelm II and such an outspoken racist and anti-Semite as Chamberlain, stating this was a real cause for concern for decent, caring people both inside and outside Germany. Regarding the First World War, Wilhelm wrote to Chamberlain in January 1917: ‘The war is a struggle between two Weltanschauugen [world views], the Teutonic-German for morality, right, loyalty and faith, genuine humanity, truth and real freedom, against … the worship of Mammon, the power of money, pleasure, land-hunger, lies, betrayal, deceit and—last but not least—treacherous assassination! These two Weltanschauugen cannot be reconciled or tolerate one another, one must be victorious, the other must go under!’

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago

“Neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire”*

(*V.)

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago

Was Kaiser any different than the British ruling class? Or French? or Russian?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago

“Neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire”*

(*V.)

Clive MacDonald
Clive MacDonald
10 months ago

‘The Holy Roman Empire was impenetrably messy but gloriously superior to many of the Germanies which followed its violent destruction.’ All of them in fact. And of course it was Napoleon who dismantled it, resulting in three European wars under Bismarck, two racist, jingoistic and militaristic dictators (the Kaiser and Hitler), and two horrific global wars, followed by the inevitable reconstitution of the HRE in the form of the EU. 

Milton Gibbon
Milton Gibbon
10 months ago

How do you reconcile this view with the near-constant decline of France since Napoleon? Before and during his rule it was the leading power in continental Europe. Subsequently it slipped not into second but third place with many seeing the future axis of Europe lying to Germany’s east rather than west. The riots in France are, in small part, due to this sense of national decline and the inability of the french government to stop the rot. That rot set in with the Sun King and only really accelerated after the Corsican ogre tried to give a fudge (so despised by the author) to the revolutionary government which really did try to rewrite the rules in a genuinely ground-zero way.

Barmy article but more please Unherd!

Last edited 10 months ago by Milton Gibbon
Clive MacDonald
Clive MacDonald
10 months ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

The concept of ‘man the barricades’ entered the French political consciousness in 1789. They’re still at it in 2023, this time over a modest pension reform which was implemented peacefully in the UK over a decade ago.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago

True, but look how Tory governments (ever since TM’s debacle) have run away from reforming the elderly care sector.
And British did try to do their own version of Yellow Vests…they were frankly embarrassing.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago

True, but look how Tory governments (ever since TM’s debacle) have run away from reforming the elderly care sector.
And British did try to do their own version of Yellow Vests…they were frankly embarrassing.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

By 1914 France had the 2nd largest empire in the world, had industrialized and it was at the forefront of human achievement (literature, art, science). What more do you want?
The riots in France are the riots in France. The pension system needs to be reformed so Macron went ahead with it. There is no legal/legislative way to turn over the reforms. Long term a big plus for France.
What happens after Macron? No idea. But whoever comes to power will face the same financial and demographic situation.

Tony Price
Tony Price
10 months ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

It depends how you define ‘decline’. If you think that success is the ability to invade non-French countries, kill and miserate millions of non-french people and then try to rule them, then indeed there was a decline. But if you think that learning to largely mind its own business (albeit badly and painfully) and live really rather well is success then…..

I have always been impressed that France shook off total, or near total, defeat in 1815, 1871, 1918 and 1945 to get back to that nice life. Maybe that was due to Napoleon’s reforms? BTW, my personal opinion is that Napoleon was a butcher and war criminal of the highest order, but as a leader he did rather well, before hubris and overreach toppled him.

Milton Gibbon
Milton Gibbon
10 months ago
Reply to  Tony Price

I would look at it the other way round. The ability to invade other countries successfully (as we are seeing in Ukraine) depends on relative success at home. If you think the French largely mnd their own business you obviously need to look into their meddling in Francafrique – the level of immiseration designed to keep a french “sphere of influence” isn’t trivial.

Better to not suffer those humiliations in the first place I would say. They didn’t have to lay down their arms in WWII. By your final logic bringing your country to the point of total ruin is now the mark of a good leader. As I said before, this article is just a little bit over the top. The cult of Napoleon is hard to sustain in France, let alone anywhere else.

Tony Price
Tony Price
10 months ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

I don’t think that you read my comment carefully enough!

Tony Price
Tony Price
10 months ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

I don’t think that you read my comment carefully enough!

Milton Gibbon
Milton Gibbon
10 months ago
Reply to  Tony Price

I would look at it the other way round. The ability to invade other countries successfully (as we are seeing in Ukraine) depends on relative success at home. If you think the French largely mnd their own business you obviously need to look into their meddling in Francafrique – the level of immiseration designed to keep a french “sphere of influence” isn’t trivial.

Better to not suffer those humiliations in the first place I would say. They didn’t have to lay down their arms in WWII. By your final logic bringing your country to the point of total ruin is now the mark of a good leader. As I said before, this article is just a little bit over the top. The cult of Napoleon is hard to sustain in France, let alone anywhere else.

Clive MacDonald
Clive MacDonald
10 months ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

The concept of ‘man the barricades’ entered the French political consciousness in 1789. They’re still at it in 2023, this time over a modest pension reform which was implemented peacefully in the UK over a decade ago.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

By 1914 France had the 2nd largest empire in the world, had industrialized and it was at the forefront of human achievement (literature, art, science). What more do you want?
The riots in France are the riots in France. The pension system needs to be reformed so Macron went ahead with it. There is no legal/legislative way to turn over the reforms. Long term a big plus for France.
What happens after Macron? No idea. But whoever comes to power will face the same financial and demographic situation.

Tony Price
Tony Price
10 months ago
Reply to  Milton Gibbon

It depends how you define ‘decline’. If you think that success is the ability to invade non-French countries, kill and miserate millions of non-french people and then try to rule them, then indeed there was a decline. But if you think that learning to largely mind its own business (albeit badly and painfully) and live really rather well is success then…..

I have always been impressed that France shook off total, or near total, defeat in 1815, 1871, 1918 and 1945 to get back to that nice life. Maybe that was due to Napoleon’s reforms? BTW, my personal opinion is that Napoleon was a butcher and war criminal of the highest order, but as a leader he did rather well, before hubris and overreach toppled him.

Milton Gibbon
Milton Gibbon
10 months ago

How do you reconcile this view with the near-constant decline of France since Napoleon? Before and during his rule it was the leading power in continental Europe. Subsequently it slipped not into second but third place with many seeing the future axis of Europe lying to Germany’s east rather than west. The riots in France are, in small part, due to this sense of national decline and the inability of the french government to stop the rot. That rot set in with the Sun King and only really accelerated after the Corsican ogre tried to give a fudge (so despised by the author) to the revolutionary government which really did try to rewrite the rules in a genuinely ground-zero way.

Barmy article but more please Unherd!

Last edited 10 months ago by Milton Gibbon
Chris Wheatley
Chris Wheatley
10 months ago

This article is just plain terrible. This ‘clever’ person clearly doesn’t know anything about sport – his starting point not mine. Why are our council elections sometimes called midterms ? – because people like him steal words and slogans from the US. He does not understand the frequency of council elections. The whole article is just meaningless drivel.

Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
10 months ago
Reply to  Chris Wheatley

Why do you think he doesn’t know anything about sport? All the observations made in the first paragraph are perfectly true. Nor do you offer any reasons for your subsequent criticisms, in view of which they are simply pointless insults.

Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
10 months ago
Reply to  Chris Wheatley

Why do you think he doesn’t know anything about sport? All the observations made in the first paragraph are perfectly true. Nor do you offer any reasons for your subsequent criticisms, in view of which they are simply pointless insults.

Chris Wheatley
Chris Wheatley
10 months ago

This article is just plain terrible. This ‘clever’ person clearly doesn’t know anything about sport – his starting point not mine. Why are our council elections sometimes called midterms ? – because people like him steal words and slogans from the US. He does not understand the frequency of council elections. The whole article is just meaningless drivel.

Nicky Samengo-Turner
Nicky Samengo-Turner
10 months ago

Please get your research right, author- The House of Lords was not merely hereditary landowners, but was complemented with new peerages from a variety of sources, not least in the 19th century, from post industrial revolution self made wealth from industry, finance, manufacturing, and commerce of all sorts: previously senior legal and administrative figures and others were added.
Pre- judice and bias should not create innacurate ignorance by an author.

Tony Price
Tony Price
10 months ago

Indeed so, but I did rather like his line: “a House of inherited privilege has been replaced with an instrument of political corruption”

Tony Price
Tony Price
10 months ago

Indeed so, but I did rather like his line: “a House of inherited privilege has been replaced with an instrument of political corruption”

Nicky Samengo-Turner
Nicky Samengo-Turner
10 months ago

Please get your research right, author- The House of Lords was not merely hereditary landowners, but was complemented with new peerages from a variety of sources, not least in the 19th century, from post industrial revolution self made wealth from industry, finance, manufacturing, and commerce of all sorts: previously senior legal and administrative figures and others were added.
Pre- judice and bias should not create innacurate ignorance by an author.

James Kirk
James Kirk
10 months ago

We do need a benign dictator. Preferably a bloke down the pub with 3 pints inside him but not 6. (We have those already) An advisory cabinet of barbers and taxi drivers to keep him in touch with the road situation, general morale, grumbles etc. But wait, all the barbers are Turkish and the taxi firms run by Bangladeshis. OK, those who service gas boilers go into the homes of the public and must hear all…No women need apply, they’re quietly running enough as it is.

James Kirk
James Kirk
10 months ago

We do need a benign dictator. Preferably a bloke down the pub with 3 pints inside him but not 6. (We have those already) An advisory cabinet of barbers and taxi drivers to keep him in touch with the road situation, general morale, grumbles etc. But wait, all the barbers are Turkish and the taxi firms run by Bangladeshis. OK, those who service gas boilers go into the homes of the public and must hear all…No women need apply, they’re quietly running enough as it is.

james elliott
james elliott
10 months ago

Britain needs a dictator?

Uhm, no thanks.

We are already experimenting with being ruled by WEF diktat – and it is a disaster.

What we *need* is democratic policies, with it least two parties driven by *different* ideologies and offering *different* directions, so we can choose between them and mold both.

Currently, we have two parties who both agree to do whatever the WEF ‘recommends’. It is, I repeat, a disaster.

99% of voters in the UK do not want net zero. So why are we as a country hotly pursuing it?

james elliott
james elliott
10 months ago

Britain needs a dictator?

Uhm, no thanks.

We are already experimenting with being ruled by WEF diktat – and it is a disaster.

What we *need* is democratic policies, with it least two parties driven by *different* ideologies and offering *different* directions, so we can choose between them and mold both.

Currently, we have two parties who both agree to do whatever the WEF ‘recommends’. It is, I repeat, a disaster.

99% of voters in the UK do not want net zero. So why are we as a country hotly pursuing it?

Paul Devlin
Paul Devlin
10 months ago

Even more confusingly, one of the home nations, Northern Ireland, isn’t a nation in any sense of the word

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
8 months ago
Reply to  Paul Devlin

And it isn’t even northern Ireland; there are parts of Donegal that are even further north!

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
8 months ago
Reply to  Paul Devlin

And it isn’t even northern Ireland; there are parts of Donegal that are even further north!

Paul Devlin
Paul Devlin
10 months ago

Even more confusingly, one of the home nations, Northern Ireland, isn’t a nation in any sense of the word

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago

And bring back tge old regiments.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

The .

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

The .

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago

And bring back tge old regiments.

Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
10 months ago

Free Australia!

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Tony Taylor

Are the ‘Warders’ still in control then?

Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
10 months ago

No. The inmates.

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago

‘The problem with Australians is not that so many of them are descended from convicts but that so many are descended from prison officers’. The late Clive James.

Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
10 months ago

No. The inmates.

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago

‘The problem with Australians is not that so many of them are descended from convicts but that so many are descended from prison officers’. The late Clive James.

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
8 months ago
Reply to  Tony Taylor

With purchase of Australia of equal or greater value.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Tony Taylor

Are the ‘Warders’ still in control then?

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
8 months ago
Reply to  Tony Taylor

With purchase of Australia of equal or greater value.

Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
10 months ago

Free Australia!

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
10 months ago

Oh boy. How can I vote for you. And either you possess a memory or have done real research, or both.

Stephen Quilley
Stephen Quilley
10 months ago

What?

Stephen Quilley
Stephen Quilley
10 months ago

What?

Bruce V
Bruce V
10 months ago

~

Last edited 10 months ago by Bruce V
Bruce V
Bruce V
10 months ago

~

Last edited 10 months ago by Bruce V
Neil Ross
Neil Ross
10 months ago

“After the chaos of the revolution, the population wanted conservatism, and Napoleon gave it to them.”
Nope – Napoleon gave France continuous warfare and dictatorship. There was nothing conservative about Napoleon!

Neil Ross
Neil Ross
10 months ago

“After the chaos of the revolution, the population wanted conservatism, and Napoleon gave it to them.”
Nope – Napoleon gave France continuous warfare and dictatorship. There was nothing conservative about Napoleon!