Since 2010, the UK economy has been shaped by three critical government decisions: Austerity, Brexit and COVID. We have previously argued that the government mishandled all three (see Austerity, Brexit, COVID – an ABC of Economic Mismanagement). Now even the former Chancellor and would-be Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has admitted that the UK faces a […]
As Niels Bohr remarked, “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” And that general remark is particularly true about politics where decisions are taken on the basis of complex (and sometimes less than transparent) motivations. Given that, is it safe to make any predictions whatsoever about the result of the Conservative Party leadership contest? […]
There is great scope for improvement and, unfortunately, plenty of scope for being worse than Johnson. It has now become obvious even to his own ministers that Johnson is not fit to be Prime Minister. And of course, that raises the question of who will come after, both for the remainder of this term […]
Sometimes a moment can be pivotal in a way which is not obvious at the time. This article explores whether the UK is at such a critical moment now, without most of the population realising it. And it suggests what we can do about it. The challenge is that we have a government which is […]
3rd March 2022 Dear Parliamentarians, Re Health and Care Bill We stand opposed to the Health and Care Bill, which would represent a dangerous, undemocratic and extraordinary power-grab by ministers. As the 15th Report of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee of the House of Lords[1] explained: “The Health and Care Bill is […]
This article is a distillation of the paper produced by the 99% Organisation NHS Project team, which included former NHS consultants, management consultants, social workers and patients with extensive experience of the NHS. The full paper is available here: https://99-percent.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NHS-Fact-pack-v1.6.pdf. If you would like to see the Bill amended, please write to your MP […]
Many members of today’s cabinet are market fundamentalists who believe that ‘mass democracy’ amounts to nothing less than oppression of the ultra-wealthy. In British politics, the Left is traditionally associated with ‘big state’ policies and Right with ‘small state’ policies. Recently, several commentators have suggested that Prime Minister Johnson is pioneering a new kind of […]
Article by Heather Smith Here is Mark being interviewed by The Jist’s founder, Josh Hamilton, for his The Jist Podcast of political chatter. Click here to watch the interview or here to listen to the podcast. Here’s a summary of the interview, which had some really interesting observations from Josh, particularly from his perspective […]
The one significant group which does not appear to have undue influence on how Britain is governed is the bottom 99% of the UK population. There is an obvious and simple answer to the question: the UK has regular general elections; at each election, a party led by a proposed prime minister is elected; the […]
Prime Minister Johnson is a great admirer of Winston Churchill and wrote a book about him of which the publisher said, “The Churchill Factor is essential reading for anyone who wants to know what makes a great leader in a time of crisis.” Johnson now faces two crises – one, Brexit, of his own making […]
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