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SubscriptionsAuthor: Jonathan Lis
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‘The Royal Family’s Sustainability In Its Current Form Can No Longer Be Guaranteed’
The social media frenzy around the Princess of Wales’ absence from public life reveals the most fundamental tension in our modern monarchy: the codependence of the Royal Family and the press, writes Jonathan Lis
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‘Sunak’s Election Date Guessing Game is Another Attempt at Distraction from his Government’s Incompetence’
The speculation will suck up the political oxygen and only serves to benefit the Prime Minister, writes Jonathan Lis
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Reshuffling an Empty Deck: A Government Totally Lost and Out of Ideas
The Prime Minister’s glaring political deficiencies have been highlighted in a disastrous week for the Conservatives
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Sunak’s Conference Speech: A Desperate Leader Without Any Plan
The Prime Minister knows that he has not shown any great vision of what he believes or how he wants Britain to look, writes Jonathan Lis
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Sunak on Net Zero: Desperate, Cynical and Doomed to Fail
The climate was the one last issue on which Britain could credibly claim a degree of global leadership – the Conservatives’ cheap electioneering has shattered that
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The Coronation: ‘A Spectacle of Apathy’
It is almost as though Queen Elizabeth’s death has brought down the old scaffolding, writes Jonathan Lis
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‘Sturgeon’s Resignation Makes Scottish Independence More Unlikely – But the Union is as Troubled as Ever’
The Scottish First Minister’s exit makes the possibility of a new referendum even less likely, writes Jonathan Lis
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‘Brexit – Three Years On: The Lie So Etched on Britain’s Body Politic’
Jonathan Lis explores whether telling the truth about leaving the EU would take the entire establishment down too
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Boris Johnson’s Most Lasting Brexit Legacy may well be the Break-Up of the UK
Boris Johnson has done more for the independence movement in Scotland and the possibility of reunification for Ireland than either the SNP or Sinn Féin managed in a generation, says Jonathan Lis
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The Government Continues to Stoke Burning Embers in Northern Ireland
As Boris Johnson prepares to change the Northern Ireland Protocol, Jonathan Lis explores how his recklessness, a hard Brexit and lasting questions of identity are threatening peace once again
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By Sticking with Johnson, the Conservatives have Picked an Epic Fight with Themselves
The party now stands for nothing and is plummeting in the polls – but still cannot conceive of life after Boris Johnson, says Jonathan Lis
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The Sue Gray Report: The Rotten Heart of a Political Culture
The ‘Partygate’ scandal represents a systemic failure of multiple British institutions – with the fault not solely lying with Boris Johnson, says Jonathan Lis
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Conservatives’ ‘Partygate’ Impunity for Johnson Shows the Entire British Constitution is Now At Stake
If the governing party proves that those in power can get away with anything, the essential contract between leaders and their people will be ruptured for good, says Jonathan Lis
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The Conservatives Face their January 6 Moment
Boris Johnson’s full embrace of Trumpian tactics poses a fundamental dilemma for his party – and for British democracy, says Jonathan Lis
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The Party’s Over and the Joke’s On Us: Johnson and the Integrity Deficit
The scandal of the Downing Street Christmas parties has exposed something important about the Prime Minister and his appeal, says Jonathan Lis
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The Disaster that Dare Not Speak Its Name
From the October print edition of Byline Times, Jonathan Lis explains how Brexit has distorted British politics to such an extent that its untruths will now keep everyone trapped in its chaos
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Cummings’ Brexit Confessions Reveal the Hollow Heart of a Hallowed Project
Jonathan Lis explains how the admissions of leading Brexiters five years on expose the continuing corruption of British politics by outright lies
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Own Goal: Government Faces the Consequences of its Culture War
In this turning point in the ‘war on woke’ may be the seeds of a new revolution, says Jonathan Lis
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The Trolley Strikes Again: How Boris Johnson is Pushing Britain to the Brink
In ordinary times, the Prime Minister’s lack of focus and consistency would be dysfunctional. In a pandemic, it is lethal, says Jonathan Lis
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Boris Johnson and the Rise of Make-Believe
It is no good offering people a ‘story to believe in’ if it ends in harm – but the Prime Minister does not know any other way, observes Jonathan Lis
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Why Johnson’s Imperious Attitude Appeals to Our Secret Need for Subjugation
Jonathan Lis explores the source of the Prime Minister’s untouchability
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Northern Ireland: Today’s Violence Is Not Just Due to Brexit but the Continued Contempt of the British Establishment
The trouble with borders is that once you’ve taken back control of them they come into existence, writes Jonathan Lis
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Greed is Good: The Conservatives’ Trope of the Pandemic
Jonathan Lis explores how the Government has hijacked the success of the vaccine roll-out by the NHS and ideologically repackaged it to selectively suit its agenda
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The End of the Union: Identity Meets Provocation
Jonathan Lis explains how English exceptionalism has forced the rest of the United Kingdom to decide between its identities
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Meghan and Harry: The Political Failure of the Monarchy
With the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the British Royal Family had an opportunity to change itself and, in a small way, to change Britain – but didn’t take it, says Jonathan Lis
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Dates Not Data: Johnson’s Roadmap Out of Lockdown is his Most Reckless Gamble Yet
Jonathan Lis assesses the risk of the Government’s over-reliance on the vaccine roll-out and the Prime Minister’s politically-motivated ‘charter for freedom’
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In his Upside-Down World, the Only Free Speech Johnson Cares About is his Own
The Government’s ‘free speech’ proposals aim not to invite conversation but to shut it down – an Orwellian allegory of epic proportions, says Jonathan Lis
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The Brexit Revolution Begins to Consume Itself
Jonathan Lis explores how once careful balances of identity and political power have been upended and Englishness has taken their place
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How Britain Sleepwalked Into Disaster
Jonathan Lis explores why a government which has presided over the deaths of more than 100,000 people can still be given the benefit of the doubt by the public
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Boris Johnson’s Ultimate Trick: Turning Personal Responsibility into Collective Blame
Jonathan Lis explains how the Government switches back and forth between laissez-faire laziness and puritanical censure while trying to shirk its Coronavirus failures
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In Its Search for Sovereignty, Britain has Defaulted to a Dangerous Sovereign
Jonathan Lis exposes the con at the heart of the Brexiters’ quest for independence – a quest that will hand more power to elites, not less
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‘Sorry, But We’re Not Sorry’: The Untouchable Johnson Regime
Jonathan Lis argues that the British public would have more respect for the Government if it owned up to its many mistakes – a taking back of control the administration cannot bear
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Biden Will Not Change Britain – Trumpism Is Here to Stay
Jonathan Lis explains why Boris Johnson will not simply abandon the divisive nationalist, neo-imperialist politics he has built his premiership on just because Donald Trump is on his way out of the White House
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The Trump Coup: A British Revolution Too
Taking in Theresa May, Brexit, immigration, Boris Johnson, cronyism and more, Jonathan Lis considers how four years of the Donald Trump presidency also transformed politics in the UK
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Johnson & the Brexit Bill: The Nexus of Destruction and Ego
Jonathan Lis assesses the motives of the Government in treating the public, the UK’s democracy, its international partners – everyone outside of itself – with contempt
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Boris Johnson: The Anti-Prime Minister
Jonathan Lis explains why Boris Johnson’s lack of interest in leading the UK in any meaningful way is the role he always wanted – and how the public and media are playing along
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Britain is Back on the Road to the Brexit Cliff-Edge: Is Anyone Even in the Driving Seat?
As the EU’s chief negotiator warns of a ‘no-deal’ crash-out, Jonathan Lis assesses whether the chaos is a villainous plot or pure incompetence
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The Truth About Trump: Neutrality Gets Us Nowhere
Jonathan Lis argues that the inability to call out Donald Trump’s white supremacism is not impartiality and caution – it’s a dereliction of duty.
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Regeneration Will Only Come by Accepting Our Grief Over a Broken Britain
The first step towards rebuilding our country is to acknowledge the profoundness of the damage symbolised by Boris Johnson’s rise to power.
