Politics

  • President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria is a lone voice

    The attempt to rebuild Syria is a national hope that may take a long time to realise. It’s not an easy place to rebuild, and it’s difficult to make reasonable contact with most people, as its previous leader knew. The unity and continuity of business activity needed for its survival and credibility in the Middle East is hard to come by in these circumstances.

    Credit: @AH_AlSharaa/X.

    Yet, President Ahmed al-Sharaa is making his efforts known to the world that he intends to try to do it himself. The success of it is now a likelihood that’s built on his respect for such realities in the region. He too has to navigate the complex dealings of peoples that are never really settled. He also has to make contributions in a state of affairs that is fast moving, and doesn’t look back to find out the losers.

    His messages in public are conciliatory in tone but they have underlying principles in mind. These are peacemaking initiatives in a Syrian way of thinking. The launch of a new currency looks like a signal of intent but it’s not founded on printing it for friends and foes alike. The outstretched hand of Ahmed al-Sharaa is also a clenched fist if they fight him, which is well known because of his diplomacy.

  • The Prime Minister has to think about everything

    The job of a Prime Minister is a salaried role with high expectations for performance. The management involved is complex and involves an organisation of significant size. The daily duties range from cyber threats to the nitty gritty detail of documents produced by his own staff. This is a daily range of activity that is definitely not for the unqualified.

    It also takes a whole approach to the role that enables people to understand what it is. This is called transparency and it defines a lot of what people want to see right now from their top executives. The PM’s primary role is to balance functions across tasks, and this means involving people appropriately.

    We all have to work at the same level of ability and this management bubble is entirely the Prime Minister’s own. His performance is rated on it, and his approval rating rises or slips based on a public perception of how he’s doing it. It may vary in terms of opinion, but there are objective facts to it, too.

  • Thatcher knew about reality

    The truest test of character for a leader is a grip on reality. This is tried in politics by their recollection of what’s important by the questioning of those that believe it matters most to their very own lives.

    At least, this is what Margaret Thatcher – the former Conservative Prime Minister and first female in the position – said about the duty as she spoke about her time in Number 10 to me over a brief lunch.

    It’s not that I admired her at first, but I was able to put together what she said with what I had seen to gather that she was a real Conservative, a true libertarian at heart.

    It didn’t just matter if some said it, she felt it was also necessary to reason it through, too, and this point, I considered, had helped her to deepen her understanding of all that she needed to know.

    Her gift was for getting to know people well, or at least getting into their company to find them out and start it off.

    She had principles – or rules – in mind that helped her to do it. “There is nothing to be gained by being familiar,” she said, “everything is lost in that way, always.” She retained a moderate approach to doing this always.

    The practice helped build up a knowledge base of what it is people wanted. It stopped her assuming it and led her into the “realm of knowing,” as she put it. It’s how most of her assumptions were road tested before going to print.

  • Figures Of Change: Giorgia Meloni

    As the first female politician of an Italian party to make it to being Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni holds a title that already stands her in good stead. However, it’s only her ‘platform’ for a further review of Italian politics and the way it’s done. This is what she was known for plotting long before her election in October 2022, also being called a “globetrotter” for her obsessive attention to the detail of the political systems of other nations.

    Her ideas are said to be more important to her than her ideals, two separate things that are called ‘pursuits’ by some in high politics. These circles see leaders by their real efforts and eventual, overall endeavours, counting and clocking up the time spent in making sure they work out, and are true.

    Therefore, Meloni is somewhere up there in terms of how she does things, understanding that’s is meaningful time spent with others and in deep thought that counts. Her active participation in a political system is also a guarantee of the future of her contributions, because this is how most people want it done.

  • Nigel Farage is a game changer

    Nigel Farage MP (Clacton/Reform UK) is a classic example of marksmanship in UK politics. He’s said to not be understood but polling suggests he’s understood by most people. The model of fitting paper thin accusations against the relevant days events allows for an ongoing, long-running narrative of decline. It’s not true, however, that Farage does this in our political system at all.

    He’s known as a sociable, affable chap amongst many different types of people. It’s hard not to be. There are many “decent” people in politics, as he usually says to me, and it never dims in his spirit. He’s always been a welcoming part of the Westminster folk, even if his prior platforms were European-based. He’s not been accused of racism by any of our major, leading institutions. It’s tattle that follows him otherwise.

  • Like most States, North Korea is still trying

    In some sense the embattled state of North Korea is still trying to flex its muscles as it pursues the same policy of might over right. It doesn’t want to engage South Korea in much meaningful dialogue and so it looks to itself and the future for inspiration.

    This is how States are doing it right now. They’re managing their own affairs much better than handling the matters that occur elsewhere.

    It’s not cowardice at who’s in the world but a closer focus on each persons place in it. If new strength leads to new prowess, the old times of direct conflict may return.

    North Korea, meanwhile, is seeking to lead itself into a new place. It’s not necessarily built on weaponry alone, and even though there’s a lot to those rumours, there’s more to be fathomed elsewhere.

    It’s believed the State now allows citizens a level of personal responsibility beyond its former limited remit.

    This means, mainly, education is improving and at a rate in consideration of access to literature and freedoms we associate with a free mind.

    However, it’s a North Korean’s new duty to think about it rather than just admire its beauty or its art. It’s an intellectual revolution over a technical revolution, if we’re to think in those terms.

    This doesn’t change the state of affairs internationally, but it helps us to understand what’s going on meanwhile, and maybe apprehend reactions a lot better.

  • Reform UK aim for Scotland

    Reform UK has taken its fight to Holyrood after its biggest defection yet from the Conservatives turned out to be Lord Offord of Garvel.

    It means Reform UK Scotland will contest a seat in Scotland’s Parliament with the former Peer as its potential breadwinner.

  • Everyone understands the EU, except itself

    The Brexit vote left us without the commanding structures of the EU to govern over our lives.

    Its reach was more extensive than law, and reached into our daily lives by its mode of regulation.

    It had a remit far beyond the reasonably set back nature of Parliament for us.

    While our regulators may take days out, the EU’s do not, and they worked away on us for decades.

    The self-awareness a Union needs was not present in the EU for a long time.

    Its structures were deaf to our calls, and to our cries for change.

    It didn’t heed a need for relief from some of its punitive measures.

    It laid wreck to some farming and made ruin of some other industries. It made a joke out of our schools and interfered in our Universities.

    It proved there’s a problem if we’re not aligned on common interests.

    Now, we may see its negative effects and have cause to criticise it. It’s also now possible to raise our towns and cities up from their sea beds to be restored to health.

    They can live again as places worth having special status as local areas for local communities.

    This is the focus we get to have because we’re not guided by a providing hand that’s closed to us.

  • Russia won’t befriend America anytime soon

    It’s believed that a President of Russia cannot befriend an American President, no matter how convenient an opportunity it may be.

    The fact that he met President Trump in Alaska for talks about Ukraine is not seen as the start of a friendship, but as more of a layover.

    It’s like a connecting point on a chilled out international diplomatic scene, or a necessary meeting point but a quick one at that.

    The restriction of a Russian leader is not out of character, but it puts the nation out of sync. It cannot know things as well as others.

  • America is a rogue state

    The news that Venezuela is now in the crosshairs of a mighty American state is concerning.

    The fact is, America is a nation at war with itself. It’s reputed to not have a real border with Mexico because of constant trespassing. It’s suffered infiltration before via airports and it looks likely it’s happening again.

    The populace is desperate for defence, and protection, but its President is beset by legal interventions. They want to be safe, they want to be secure, they want to be protected.

    The thought of a war or a small scale conflict is outrageous under these state of affairs. The conditions in many American cities are dire. The President has to call off the rogue state, lock America down, and plan a path ahead.

  • Revealed: “The Russian Project”

    Russia is a fast developing state but it’s not reflected in its population. This is because there is a two- pronged approach to its affairs. The first is the improvement of its overall capabilities. The second is the advancement of its people.

    The former is taking shape and happening at a pace. It’s found in its recent announcement about nuclear. It’s also discovered in its increasing Intelligence capability.

    The latter is a project that isn’t yet seen but it’s on its way. It consists of a new state of affairs for a people that have felt misunderstood. It may be a similarly detailed plan to reassert their culture and values.

    These things are not slight initiatives but are representative of a new set of challenges. It’s the healthiest way for people to restart on a journey to normality and therefore offers diplomatic challenges that we can’t afford to overlook here.

  • We must keep to strong leadership

    The fourteen years of Conservative ‘rule’ that the now Prime Minister says he hates actually constituted an era of strong leadership.

    It helped prove us through trying times that had erupted on our landscape.

    The housing crisis in which people tried to steal our houses. Such housing insecurity indirectly led to the public emergencies in some parts of the UK.

    A schools infiltration program run by poor quality graduates and non-University educated citizens that led to a national program of warnings and exercises in part.

    The rapid crimewave that is the small boats crossings crisis that erupted and led to a response across the UK that is still ongoing.

    These are moments of strong leadership by democratically willed men and women. It may be we need them back one day.

  • Our opinions need to be validated

    The trouble with democracy is that it brings it up everywhere. The views of some may be held by some elsewhere, but it isn’t necessarily indicative of where they are. This isn’t the right fit for politics in the UK, where it’s important to note who said it and where they live. It’s because much of what we feel about things is informed by how we’ve experienced it in the first place.

    The random conjecture of many national titles has ill-served us for far too long. The precious few conversations I’ve had at length with people about their real opinions are much more complex than we’re given credit for. It’s believed that some MP’s have helped keep up a knowledge of ourselves in spite of this.

    The lack of depth in reporting is a key feature in the decline of interest in most if not all of Journalism. It’s tough having to start out on your own to gauge not just facts but also an awareness of the things that matter. It doesn’t get into the halls of power as quickly as people think, and it isn’t until much later on that green shoots can be seen in the fields of people’s endeavours.

    The lack of care for the thoughts and sentiments of the population is not total, but it counts as a strange omission from our times. The reflection of trends and currents in popular media is a helpful counter-narrative to a stale silence. Yet it’s not enough to imbue our political culture with a sense of its own life.

  • Europe needs to move on from protection rackets

    The state of affairs of European states is now clearly a fallen, broken interpretation of social affairs. It’s not the firm law we’re promised, or the future that’s safe and fair for all that we feel in our hearts.

    It’s a circle of protection rackets that have little care for our needs. They turn up for random reasons and forget the real ones. They send brutes to threaten us and rally to strengthen their position against us.

    The Europe we know and love is a figment in our minds, just as the EU is an illusion for us. The point is that we need to move beyond concepts, and move into real action. The duties we have aren’t theories but are facts if we just work at it.

  • A strange sort of people block reforms

    The Home Secretary’s new position on the movement of people into and around the UK is admirable, but a strange sort of people have continued to oppose it. The observations made and used about the situation counts as credible research, and it’s used by the government to make decisions.

    However, for the proportion of the population who believe they’ve got a grip on our thinking, they use this power to manipulate our perception. They try to make us believe every evil is coming up from out of the earth’s core. They see spirits in every look and every move of a government minister.

    The truth is we need to regain control of a situation that isn’t sitting in the remit of the State. It’s evident by witness statement and recorded testimony that something is wrong. It’s not an observation of skin colour or a reaction to the smell of different foods that brings it about. It’s the studious work of many that contributes to a collective platform.