1.The Labour Right's Political Strategy
2. A Rude Reminder
3. The Problems with The Three-Body Problem
4. From Rochdale to Botchdale
5. A Reliably Loyal Servant
If there's an iron law in politics right now. It's that the Labour leadership are compelled to select a (progressive-sounding) policy and see how far they can roll back on it. So frequent is this event that it barely raises an eyebrow any more. Instead, I thought it might be fruitful to look at this internally - from the standpoint of the rubbish they tell themselves. There are three components to their "theory", and it does make logical sense. Albeit in the thin, path-of-least-resistance way we've come to expect from Keir Starmer and crew. Coming in second was the viral-for-five-minutes clash between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lewis Goodall at the misnamed Popular Conservatism conference. Rees-Mogg lashed out after our intrepid hack broke the cardinal rule of politics: he dared suggest there was a relationship between what politicians do and the interests they serve. Shocking. In third comes my comment on The Three-Body Problem, my first SF post of the SF turn to do quite well. Pleasing! The debacle in Rochdale following Labour's disowning of its candidate came next, and bringing up the rear is another mess: the fixing of the SNP's opposition day to prevent a big split in Starmer's rank over Gaza. Where the protection of establishment power is concerned, Lindsay Hoyle is always your man.
Because I'm writing at reduced capacity, there's comparatively little left to afford a second chance. But I'm going to offer a couple of posts more time to shine. As, by the time you're reading this the result of the Rochdale by-election will be known, let's look back at February's two catastrophic by-election losses (for the Tories) and the stabilising effect this will have on Conservative and Labour strategy. And the second is off the science fiction pile, mainly because no one read it. Which is fair enough: it's a review of an obscure book after all.
Next month, there might be a comment on a theory book (what?), and the usual diet of politics and SF. There are sure to be things to write about. As ever, if you haven't already don't forget to follow the monthly free 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.
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1 comment:
I did read the Hello America piece at first posting, and agree that it belongs firmly in the rear echelon of Ballard's writing (along with Rushing to Paradise and the three clones of Millennium People). I'm sure I wasn't the only nobody to see it.
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