Five Most Popular Posts in June

Another month has flashed by in the blink of an eye. There were only 20 posts to shout about this month, but they were all killer. Even the music video. So here's what the internet travelling public viewed the most in June.

1. Solidarity with Jamie Driscoll
2. Boris Johnson's Final Farewell
3. UFO Disinformation as Social Control
4. Hegel's Political Uses
5. Why do Millennials Hate the Tories?

Labour's exclusion of the sitting mayor for the North East, Jamie Driscoll, from the shortlist for his job led the pack. It was and is a straightforward case of skulduggery, and the Labour hierarchy can get away with it because there are no means of a come back. The unions have either acquiesced, and no doubt look forward to the boom time in membership if Keir Starmer sticks to his pledge about workers' rights (and who knows if he will), or are concentrating their fire on industrial disputes. If Brother Driscoll decides to go independent he might well win, but even then the Labour machine won't learn its lesson. After all, this is the outfit that lost Scotland and that trauma did not force the slightest bit of self-reflection. In second place it was news of Boris Johnson's final departure from Westminster. He might not be done with politics, but so far his two Mail columns have steered clear of matters contentious. Then a bit of a weird one. The "disclosure" from a US intelligence officer that they have alien craft in their possession was interesting. No evidence, naturally. And so I took a scalpel to the social consequences of UFO/government cover up conspiranoia. Many thanks to James Meadway for giving it a boost on Novara too. Then came my lengthy piece on Hegel, which describes his basic positions, his politics, and how we might find him useful today for thinking through the centrist/state bureaucrat mindset. And lastly, I had a look at a friendly (to the Tories) report on why 25-40 year olds hate them so much. Their analysis didn't produce any insights, and if anything soft soaped the depths of antipathy toward the government among that generation. In other words, another confirmation of the long-term decline of the Tories.

In the second chance saloon in June is Triangulating Trouble, a look at the medium to long-term consequences of Starmer's mix of pledge-breaking, conservative-posturing, and expulsions of leftists.

And that's our lot for the month. July will bring with it more politics and more events, and more comment from me to accompany it. As ever, If you haven't already don't forget to follow the free weekly newsletter, and if you like what I do (and you're not skint), you can help support the blog. Following me on Twitter and Facebook are cost-free ways of showing your backing for this corner of the internet.