UK politics

My report about the failures of the COP27 climate summit, the implausibility of keeping the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the widespread actions by protestors over the last two months, and the need for a velvet revolution to bring about the change we need, in the face of paralysis from our leaders.

The latest fundraiser for my ongoing photo-journalism project ‘The State of London’, which began ten and a half years ago when I started cycling throughout London’s 120 postcodes, and taking photos. Five and a half years ago, I started posting a daily photo and a detailed accompanying essay on Facebook, in what is an entirely reader-funded project, for which any donation you can make will be very welcome.

My photos of, and my report about a UK Guantánamo Network vigil for the closure of Guantánamo that was held outside the US Embassy in London on November 2, 2022. At the vigil, we held up laminated posters of “the Guantánamo 20”, the 20 men (out of the 35 men still held) who have been approved for release but are still held.

Marking 2,000 days since I first began posting a photo a day, plus an accompanying essay, on my Facebook page ‘The State of London’, taken from my archive of photos taken on daily bike rides throughout London’s 120 geographic postcodes, which I’ve been undertaking since May 2012.

Now that Rishi Sunak has become the Conservative Party’s fourth Brexit Prime Minister in six years, I look at the colossal challenges he faces — on the ‘cost of living’ crisis, the climate crisis, and Brexit in particular — and express serious doubts that either he, or his Cabinet, are capable of providing anything like the leadership that we need.

Linking to, and discussing my recent interview with Chris Cook of Gorilla Radio in Canada, about the collapse of Liz Truss’s government, after just 44 days, the baleful influence of the Tufton Street ‘think-tanks’, and the unending agony of Brexit, plus discussion of the plight of Julian Assange and the current situation at Guantánamo. Chris also played the Four Fathers’ anti-Brexit anthem, ‘I Want My Country Back (From The People Who Wanted Their Country Back)’, and my article also includes some post-interview reflections on Rishi Sunak as the new Prime Minister, and the many challenges he faces, not least on Brexit.

With Liz Truss resigning just 44 days into her role as Prime Minister, after crashing the economy with her irresponsible ‘mini-budget’, delivered by Kwasi Kwarteng just 27 days ago, and with the Tories now shamelessly jostling to elect a successor in the next week, they need to recognise that they have completely run out of legitimacy and credibility, and call a General Election instead. Labour currently have a 36-point lead, but it will mean nothing, if an election does go ahead, if they fail to recognise the damage caused by Brexit, and don’t take steps to address it, if they don’t fully take on board the catastrophic nature of the climate crisis, and if they remain tied to too much economic orthodoxy.

A link to, and discussion of my interview with Andy Bungay of Riverside Radio in Wandsworth, in which we discussed the woefully inept government of Liz Truss, Guantánamo and the plight of Julian Assange, and Andy also played ‘Forever Prisoner’ by my band The Four Fathers.

With the government of Liz Truss in chaos, having crashed the economy, but still committed to widening inequality and trashing the environment, there’s never been a better time to get involved in protests taking place in London from October 1 to October 16, involving Just Stop Oil, Enough Is Enough, the UK Guantánamo Network, the Don’t Extradite Assange campaign, and Extinction Rebellion.

My detailed analysis of the extraordinary coup staged by Liz Truss and her Cabinet, who, without a mandate from the British people, have delivered an energy price cap that will be paid for by taxpayers, and an energy policy that prioritises new fossil fuel extraction over renewables, and, via the new Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, a ‘mini-budget’ that further widens the chasm between the rich and the poor. This is through tax cuts that overwhelmingly favour the rich, accompanied by a promise to punish the unemployed, as well as attempts to set up rights-free “investment zones” across the country — all policies drawn from the adherence of Truss and her colleagues to the far-right ‘libertarian’ think-tanks in Tufton Street in Westminster that also helped to secure the Brexit vote, and are now seeking to fulfil their dream of an utterly unregulated Britain, with no workers’ rights or environmental protections.