Kester Brewin

  It’s perhaps too soon to work out what the hell really happened in London last night, or why. I stayed up til 2am following the news and the Twitter feeds, and I have to say it was one of the saddest nights I’ve ever spent in the capital. There has already been some debate [...]

A brilliant ad in The Times today, which comically captures the absurd tragedy of the government’s new idea to tackle the lazy, work-shy unemployed: make them do voluntary work. Which will benefit the councils having to put thousands out of work because of spending cuts. Discussing this today with a colleague he mentioned the disparity [...]

This time last year I asked what might be a suitable guiding thought as we headed for bonfires and fireworks in this peculiarly English celebration on 5th November. A year ago it was a time for lamenting the parlous state of our democracy: Nick Griffin’s BNP sweetening the fascist message again, government advisors being sacked [...]

Nick Clegg – Deputy Prime Minister – has travelled to Pakistan to ‘see for himself’ the horrific destruction that the recent flooding has caused. It annoys me that politicians always feel the need to do this, especially when environmental issues are involved. Everyone has to fly off and see the melting polar ice caps for [...]

I’m really excited about the new book coming out in the next few weeks, especially as the over-arching theme of engaging the other is so current. British politics has historically been about governing by majority. One party gets enough seats to be able to vote through whatever legislation it sees fit. Rebellions are uncommon; the [...]

Great cartoon from Steve Bell as usual. The question now is, what should Clegg do? Having seen support for the Liberal Democrats deflate at the polling stations more quickly than a balloon in a pin factory, he now faces the most important political decision of his life. Does he trust the Tories enough to believe [...]