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SubscriptionsSection: Argument
Honestly held opinions and provocative argument based on current events or our recent reports.
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‘I Was Cancelled by Sunak’s Government For Criticising Them on Twitter’
Renowned weapons expert Dan Kaszeta reveals how he fell victim to a Soviet-style blacklist after UK officials discovered he had criticised Government policy on Twitter
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The Profitable Nexus: How Ex-British Military Leaders Find Lucrative Roles in Business and Defence
Concerns swirl in Whitehall around retired senior British officers looking to advise foreign governments – conflicts of interest persist even if there is no wrongdoing, writes Iain Overton
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‘From Uganda to Rwanda: The British Political Class’ Ever-Present Hostility to ‘Aliens’’
Jon Bloomfield examines the similarities between the 1905 Aliens Bill and the current Illegal Migration Bill and inflammatory rhetoric around refugees
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‘Britain’s Global Military Engagements: At What Cost?’
As the Prime Minister declares dedication to safeguarding peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region, Iain Overton asks: what is the price of Britain’s global projection of power?
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Gambling White Paper: a Feeble Response to a Social Scourge
Robin Burgess, the first CEO of the Responsibility in Gambling Trust, argues that both Labour and Conservative parties have focused on a few damaged ‘addicts’ and not the wider structural harm
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‘It’s Not the Economy, Stupid. It’s the Press’
The right-wing papers have trashed the country and they mean to go on doing so whoever wins the next election. We must stop them, writes Brian Cathcart
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‘The ‘Crimea Dilemma’? There is No Dilemma’
Many appear to believe it would be reasonable to offer the peninsula as some sort of final settlement of the war in Ukraine to Russia – why? asks Paul Niland
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Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Kremlin Contradictions
The MP’s recent comments on Ukraine and Brexit sit oddly with his stance on Russian aggression in 2014 – and with his firm’s investments in companies close to Putin’s regime, reports Tom Scott
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Police Protest Clampdown: How the Met Arrested a Non-Violent Training Group
Mic Wright explains what happened to non-violent Animal Rising activists on the day of the Coronation
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Rishi Sunak: ‘An Authoritarian With No Authority’
The Prime Minister’s attempt to stop the clock on social progress is backfiring as Britain becomes increasingly tolerant and open-minded, reports Adam Bienkov
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The End of America’s Title 42: ‘Immigration Needs to be Treated as a Humanitarian Crisis Rather than a Political Football’
Under Title 42, many migrants to the US were blocked from requesting asylum at all – what lies ahead with the policy expiring?
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Coronation Clampdown: 18 Hours in Elephant and Castle
While covering the arrest of Republican demonstrators last weekend, Mic Wright also discovered Westminster volunteers the Night Stars had been caught up in the Met dragnet
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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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Ukraine and Georgia Should be Welcomed into NATO
On the anniversary of VE Day, Mark Temnycky argues that Europe is more united than it has been since World War Two, but still needs to secure two more nations against Russian aggression
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‘Putin’s Russia is the Antithesis of Eurovision – Let’s Keep it Off the Stage’
In the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and brutal suppression of its culture, Matt Smith says Eurovision can provide another story of international solidarity and appreciation
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Republican Arrests: ‘The Right to Protest is Dead. We Need a New Movement to Win it Back’
When ministers and police argue the ability to protest is based on ‘context’ like TV viewing figures at the King’s coronation, it ceases to exist, says Josiah Mortimer
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The Coronation: ‘It’s Only by Chance Prince Andrew Isn’t Being Crowned King’
Baroness Jenny Jones explores how reform of the monarchy could work better for our democracy
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The Coronation: ‘Picking the Wrong Constitutional Fights’
Introducing an electoral system of proportional representation should take priority over conversations about the future nature of Britain’s head of state, writes AC Grayling
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The Coronation: ‘Is It Lese Majeste to Want Less Majesty?’
King Charles’ Coronation is a missed opportunity to move monarchy into the modern era, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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LOCAL ELECTIONS 2023: Rishi Sunak Falls Victim to his Own ‘War on Woke’
The Conservative Party’s huge defeats in the local elections reveal a party that is increasingly out of step with modern Britain, reports Adam Bienkov
2019 General Election, Austerity, BBC, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Broadcasters, Class, Conservative Party, Democracy, Equality and Diversity, Extremism, Gender, Immigration, Journalism, Keir Starmer, Labour Party, LGBT, Liberal Democrats, Media, Newspapers, Populism, Racism, Racism and Structural Inequality, Rishi Sunak, Rupert Murdoch, Sexuality, Suella Braverman, The Far-Right, UK Politics
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Crowns, Codes, and Conflict: King Charles III’s Military-Filled Coronation Endangers the Nation
For all its claims of modernity, the ‘Corps’ still joins the Crown and the Church in a god-ordained trilogy of state power in the forthcoming ceremonies
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The UK’s ‘World-Beating’ Rhetoric: A Distraction From Reality?
Iain Overton looks at the hyperbole around post-Brexit Britain, and how nationalist exceptionalism blinds us to our real problems and their remedies
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Rishi Sunak’s New Far-Right Ally and the International Authoritarian Elite
Sunak’s warm welcome of the far right Italian Prime Minister exposes the increasingly authoritarian direction of his own Government, reports Adam Bienkov
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‘Shifting Political Landscape on Island of Ireland Requires More Cross-Border Journalism’
We need a diverse media landscape that recognises the added responsibility of operating in a post-conflict society, writes Emma DeSouza
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Western Democracies Stay Silent as India Falls Further Into the Abyss
With Congress Party opposition leader Rahul Gandhi facing prison, CJ Werleman explores how the UK is ignoring serious warning signs in the world’s largest democracy
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Demonising Inflation and the True Cost of Living
Anthony Yates looks at Rishi Sunak’s promises over inflation which might help him cynically suppress public pay demands but do nothing to address the roots of our economic malaise
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Professors, Power and Projection: the Case of Matthew Goodwin
Martin Shaw looks at Goodwin’s new book and its claims that Britain is run by a ‘woke’ new elite
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How Climate Change-Induced Food Inflation has hit the Poorest Hardest
Prolonged inaction on climate change has left those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder exposed to the fluctuations of an unpredictable global market, writes Thomas Perrett
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Dominic Raab’s Resignation: ‘A Man So Unwilling to Learn is Undeserving of Our Sympathy’
The relationship between ministers and civil servants is, by definition, an unequal one – it takes courage to stand up to a minister or offer an opinion contrary to their own, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Dominic Raab’s Resignation Exposes the Rotten Heart of Sunak’s Government’
The former Deputy Prime Minister’s bullying behaviour was long tolerated and excused by Rishi Sunak and his media supporters, reports Adam Bienkov
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‘A Great Power for Evil’
In Byline Times’ fourth anniversary print edition editorial, Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu explore how and why the established media continue to have a monopoly over the damaging narratives shaping our politics and culture – more than a decade after the phone-hacking scandal
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Geopolitical Hypocrisies: TikTok, Insecurity and Sino-US Relations
Chris Ogden shows how the logical extension of banning the Chinese platform for its data collection would be to clamp down on other forms of social media, including Facebook and Google
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Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
24-hour news, smartphones, social media, Simon Speakman Cordall explores how the incessant and diverting streams of news and comment are radicalising us all
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Rishi Sunak is Still Trying to Hide His Financial Interests
The Prime Minister’s pledge to bring in a new era of transparency, integrity and accountability now looks irretrievably broken, reports Adam Bienkov
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Lessons from Dunblane: UK’s Response to Mass Shooting Offers Insight into Gun Control Debate in US
Iain Overton looks at the evidence that gun control measures lead to a decline in gun-related deaths
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Democracy in Crisis: What Next? Populism or Woke Capitalism?
With inflation up, growth down, and 80% of Britons unsatisfied with the political system, Matthew Gwyther explores a catastrophic loss of faith in our economic system
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The Brexit Disaster: A Tale of Five Prime Ministers
As the final rites are played out, Chris Painter assesses the procession of Conservative Premierships since 2010 and their failure to articulate any coherent political project
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Overdue Impartiality: GB News and the Voice of the Octopus
With mounting Ofcom complaints, Julian Petley looks at the ‘person’ behind the controversial new broadcaster and its biases toward climate change
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Fortress Europe and the Suppression of Climate Migration
Europe has helped to create the conditions for ecological breakdown but is accepting fewer and fewer victims of it through migration says Thomas Perrett
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Biden in Northern Ireland: ‘Landmark Moment Reduced to No More than a Photo-Op by Downing Street’
The limited nature of the US President’s Northern Ireland visit stands in stark contrast to the scenes on the other side of the border, writes Emma DeSouza
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‘Braverman Wants to Wage a ‘Culture War’ than a War Against Serious Criminality – It is Highly Dangerous for Potential Victims of Sexual Abuse’
The former Chief Prosecutor who brought the Rochdale ‘grooming gang’ to justice believes the Home Secretary’s rhetoric will have real life consequences
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Former President Proves Russia is Pursuing Modern-Day Fascism
The claims of Dmitry Medvedev denying the existence of Ukraine remove all doubt about the Kremlin’s genocidal thinking. But what of its totalitarian methods?
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The Lies that Bind: Post-Truth on Trial
Putin, Trump and Johnson all face legal jeopardy. The charges reveal as much about us as them says Simon Speakman Cordall
