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SubscriptionsSection: Argument
Honestly held opinions and provocative argument based on current events or our recent reports.
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Johnson’s Jolly and Political Polarisation
The public’s attitude to the Prime Minister’s holiday shows that we are still stuck in an era of tribal political conflicts, contends Sam Bright
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Johnson’s Hypocritical Hand-Outs: How MPs Warp Perceptions of Poverty
The reality of deprivation in Britain is distorted by those who complain about earning more than £80,000 a year and rely on wealthy friends to pay for their holidays, says Maheen Behrana
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The Far-Right’s Corruption Paradox
Sian Norris explores why populist and far-right leaders win on anti-corruption platforms only to be accused of exploiting their positions for personal gain
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Luftwaffle: Fantasy Nostalgia Betrays the Past, and the Present
Otto English explores the trend among Brexiters to summon myths about World War Two It’s a day of the week, so right-wingers are busy invoking World War Two again. In a country where virtually no-one goes to church any more, ‘The War’ has become a de-facto religion for many a Brexit-minded Conservative. And several have…
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Money Over Morality: Saudi Arabia Feeds the Premier League’s Financial Addiction
As the Government turns its gaze to the regulation of the football industry, the takeover of Newcastle United shows the urgent need for reform, says Adrian Goldberg
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The BBC Has an Institutional Culture of Brexit Self-Censorship
Former BBC producer Patrick Howse explores why the broadcaster is unwilling to speak truth to power over Brexit
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A Turning Tide? Johnson’s Campaign to Turn Two Fingers Up at Business Continues
Mike Buckley reflects on the Prime Minister’s attempts to distract from the economic plague that the Government has inflicted on the nation
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A US-China War Over Taiwan Appears Not Only Inevitable, But Imminent
CJ Werleman explores what the rapidly escalating tensions over Taiwan reveal about the nature of the world’s two superpowers
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Three Key Reasons Why Boris Johnson Isn’t Serious About ‘Levelling Up’
Behind the gags, the Prime Minister’s plan for regional redistribution is woefully lacking, says Sam Bright
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Mirror Ball Journalism and the Revolving Disco Dance Floor of British Politics
Mic Wright argues that the private cosiness between political reporters and politicians doesn’t serve the interests of the public
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A Successful Climate Movement Won’t Be Radical Or Moderate – It Will be Both
We must not add the self-sabotage of ideological purism to the challenges of creating the mass movement required to tackle the climate emergency, says Rupert Read
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Boris Johnson Betrays a Common Misunderstanding of Misogyny
Making hateful behaviour directed at women because of their sex a hate crime does not mean adding cat-calls to the statute books, says Sian Norris
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Levelling Down – Boris Johnson’s Other Conference Speech
Byline Times is reliably informed that Boris Johnson has prepared two speeches for his appearance at the Conservative Party Conference tomorrow – Otto English has been leaked Version A
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Deception Management: How Mendacity Devoured British Politics
Hadley Coull and Chris Ogden consider why policies and principles have been subsumed to the art of political deceit
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UK’s Biggest Climate Change Challenge: Confronting the Gap Between Government Rhetoric and Reality
Thomas Perrett explores the ways in which the UK may be an embarrassing presence when it hosts next month’s COP26 climate change conference
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Fixing A Chaotic State: How Should Labour Tackle Brexit?
The ‘B’ word is Labour’s elephant in the room. Mike Buckley considers how the party could finally turn it into a vote-winner
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Preparation for Genocide? Modi Steps Up his Violence in Assam
CJ Werleman fears that the recent violence in India’s eastern state, combined with the construction of ‘transit camps’ for Muslims, is a further step in ethnic cleansing by India’s leadership
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The Naked Emperor and the Language of Offence
Angela Rayner’s comments showed how we must disturb the present to improve the future, says Reverend Joe Haward
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What I Learned Speaking to Anti-Vaxx Protestors
Psychiatrist Benjamin Janaway wanted to understand why people have turned to COVID conspiracy theories. This is what he found
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Why Insulate Britain and XR are Failing to Win Over the Public
Katharine Quarmby finds that eco-activists are divided about the best way forward to raise awareness of climate change
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Big Livestock Corporate Interests Dominate United Nations Summit
Jack McGovan reports on the strength of animal agriculture firms and efforts to convince investors to divest from the sector
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The Government Must Match Labour’s Ideas on Carbon-Free Steel
Cleaning up the industry will require immediate institutional action, says Iwan Doherty
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The Poverty Trap: How Boris Johnson’s Winter of Discontent Will Make Us All Poorer
Britain is facing another era of austerity and economic illiteracy, says Maheen Behrana
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The Rejection of Disabled Creativity – Enough Is Enough
Penny Pepper explores the failure of the diversity and inclusion trope for disabled people with a variety of stories to tell
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Can Women Be Safe in Britain when the Police Fail to Hold their Own to Account?
It’s been a bad week for violence against women, with a young woman killed on London’s streets and an exclusive report of how police found guilty of sexual misconduct keep their jobs – even when that job exposes them to victims of sexual violence
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The IPSO Jewish Chronicle Car Crash Just Gets Worse
The sham ‘regulator’ operated by the corporate press has blundered into one of its worst crises, says Brian Cathcart
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The New Winter of Discontent Will Expose the Corrupting Forces Strangling Our Society
With Brexit, the pandemic, the energy crisis and cuts to benefits all combining to create difficult months ahead, Reverend Joe Haward considers what can be learnt from the true meaning of ‘apocalypse’
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Saving Afghan Women
CJ Werleman detects a selective emphasis on women’s rights from Western liberals which echoes the Islamophobia of the ‘War on Terror’
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The Final Betrayal of Grenfell Victims Looms
Pulling down the Tower would be yet another act of scorn directed at the local community, says Tom Charles
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Can Biden Face Down the Agribusiness Industry which Drives Climate Change?
Unless the US President’s ‘Green New Deal’ deals with the stranglehold that big business has on food production, his climate emission targets aren’t going to be met
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Metrified – or Petrified? The Return of Imperial Measures is the Ghost of a Dead Cat
Though it stands no chance of return, trading standards officer Pippa Musgrave explains why the nostalgia for imperial measures is a deflection from the problems of Brexit
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The Sound of Silence: My Joey Doesn’t Need to Speak to be Heard
Stephen Unwin explores non-verbalism and how societal debates around disability are still too binary
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Murdoch and Morgan: The Reunion From Hell
Mic Wright unpicks the announcement of a new right-wing, Rupert Murdoch television station in the UK – and how it may have spotted a gap in the market following events at a certain beleaguered anti-woke news channel
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A Digital Danger: Nadine Dorries is the Last Person who Should be in Charge of Data Privacy
The appointment of the Conservative MP as the new Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary has been questioned by those familiar with her track record in the areaala
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The Government Fails to Understand the Complexity at the Heart of Adoption
With the guarantee for care for over-16s due to end, alongside a desire to speed up the adoptive process from policy-makers, adoptive parents and campaigners argue for greater support
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‘Ready for a Culture War’: Meet the ‘Common Sense’ Conservative MPs Behind the ‘Anti-Woke’ Manifesto
Otto English investigates the MPs behind the Common Sense Group, modelled on the ERG, which seeks to bring the vitriol of Brexit to the ‘War Against Woke’
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The Cunning Deceit of Press and Politics in ‘the Prime Minister’s Plan’
Mic Wright unpicks the modern shift towards personality politics and the media’s collusion in advancing this increasingly unaccountable mode of government
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Political Capture: How Donations Made in the Shadows are Putting Democracy in Danger
An investigation by the Byline Intelligence Team and The Citizens, revealing the profiles of Conservative Party backers in the UK, has exposed how a lack of transparency and the culture of political donations is putting British democracy at risk
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The ‘War on Terror’: Turning a Blind Eye to 20 Years of Brutality
Cloaked under the false dichotomy of the need for a trade-off between security and rights, the post-9/11 years are a shameful track record of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment which must not be forgotten, says Dr Maria Norris
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How Osama Bin Laden Made the US Succumb to Terror
From the disaster of Iraq, the creation of the ‘Islamophobia industry’, to defeat in Afghanistan, America has fallen into the trap set by the leader of al-Qaeda
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Johnson’s Conservatives are the Party of Wealth Conservation and Emotional Exploitation
Maheen Behrana explores how the rise in National Insurance to fund the broken social care system reveals how little the public understands about taxes – something the governing party is happy to take advantage of
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Fake History: The New Brexiter Great Crusade
In the second part of his look at Brexit ‘campaigning’ groups, Otto English explores the attempts of those trying to weaponise their versions of British history and turning it into an orthodoxy which cannot be challenged
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Blue Hydrogen is an Environmental Dead-End
Celebrated by the Government as part of its green energy solution, it will take more than switching to hydrogen to get the UK to net zero, says Andrew Taylor-Dawson
