Author: robert.marchant

If recent events in Ukraine were not disturbing enough for those who might occasionally worry about the future for their children and grandchildren, one need only now look towards the Middle East, and a little further. The aftermath of the Arab Spring. Egypt. Syria. An isolated Israel that seems to have lost all hope of… Continue reading A decade has passed and the world is in chaos. For all our sakes, can we all move on from 2003, please?

The row between Michael Gove and Theresa May has – in Westminster, at least – somewhat overshadowed the immeasurably more important news that extremists are operating in our schools. A report out today is expected to put six schools into special measures. With a weary predictability, an idiot writer for – guess who? – the Guardian tried… Continue reading Trojan Horse: politicians from both sides to blame for mismanaging extremism in schools

If you work for a political party at some point in your life, you soon learn that the results of by-elections, as a rule, should not have too much attention paid to them. They are often special cases, with protest voting, or whatever other topical factor. However, every now and then they can throw up… Continue reading Newark. Not good.

The local and Euro-elections are done. As always happens in the unfailingly cyclical business of politics, we take a breather and start thinking about the next one. This year, of course, our normal annual cycle is disrupted by that pesky little referendum. Yes, the one that could conceivably break apart the United Kingdom and throw… Continue reading A No for Scotland may not be as positive for Labour as we might think

Last weekend, Lutfur Rahman was re-elected as Mayor of Tower Hamlets, after easily the most contentious polling day and count in recent UK electoral history. Even though the mayoral result was announced on the Friday night after recounts, thousands of spoiled ballots, accusations of intimidation and a count venue lock-in, the council result, extraordinarily, did… Continue reading As the Tower Hamlets disaster enters a new phase, it remains an object lesson to Labour

“Earthquake”, screamed the headlines of even reputable news outlets on Monday. Witnessing them, it seems as if a large chunk of the Europe’s 400-odd million voters had got up one morning, and said to themselves in unison, “instead of supporting the mainstream parties I’ve voted for all my life, you know what, I now really… Continue reading The Eurosceptic earthquake that wasn’t

My Euro-elections piece for Progress, on Labour’s hangover from two years of hubris about mid-term poll leads, is here.

My fourteenth piece for the Independent, on the conclusions from Thursday’s local elections, is here.

Barkashov – note the symbol behind him So, it seems the Ukraine referenda were fixed in a stunningly obvious and clumsy way. But don’t just take my word for it: read this piece in the Economist, an august organ not known for its casual use of words such as “bogus” and “farce”. One last word on… Continue reading BREAKING: world’s greatest poll-predictor system discovered in Ukraine

UKIP’s results themselves are not the issue It’s complicated. Next week’s election will not change very much in itself. We will send members of our favourite parties off to Brussels again in greater or lesser numbers to vote on things that, we tell pollsters on a regular basis, we care little about. Everyone’s eyes will be… Continue reading The Euros are the elections that don’t matter. Except they do.