To her biographer Rosa Prince she is Theresa May: The Enigmatic Prime Minister. Her notoriously terse, apparently intransigent statements of intentions, positions and demands do indeed mask options she can exploit and, as need be, present as stages duly achieved and victories hard won.Does she mean what she says? Yes, she does. But what she says is not as simplistic or … [Read more...] about Mayism or Maybe not
The triumph of Trumpocracy
Not actually rendered speechless at this end – but aghast at this political event as at no other, not even Brexit.A good reason for this: it is the most catastrophic political event to hit western polities since World War II and we have seen nothing like it. Catastrophic already in that it confirms the hollowing out and destruction of not one but two parties that have been … [Read more...] about The triumph of Trumpocracy
Aberdeen misses the boat in the oil boom
How much has Aberdeen missed out on benefits from the oil era?It’s a more interesting question than the usual story about how well Aberdeen has done, with a pause now to consider how the possibly terminal downturn in oil-related activities will affect its fortunes. The more important story is one of opportunities that never properly materialised and others that were blocked … [Read more...] about Aberdeen misses the boat in the oil boom
Istanbul: epic in its details
A Strangeness in My Mind is Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk’s ninth novel, six hundred pages that took six years to write. Much of the ground work was in earlier novels such as My Name is Red and Snow, part of an already large and impressive body of fiction and non-fiction that earned him a Nobel Prize in 2006.There were trails of allusion in the earlier works that could leave … [Read more...] about Istanbul: epic in its details
SNP surge rides the surf of social change
Polls of voting intentions in Scotland for May’s UK general election continue to suggest a huge increase in votes and seats for the SNP – and a remarkable flip-over in its position relative to Labour in previous UK elections.Indeed, if intentions turn into actual votes on the day, the SNP may go a long way towards reversing the 2010 situation. But let’s exercise a little … [Read more...] about SNP surge rides the surf of social change