• OPINION

  Despite Brexit turmoil, I'm proud to be a Brit

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 21/01/2019

  » This is a fine time to be British. Indeed, to be proud to be British.

• OPINION

  The driving force behind the modern Christian revival

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 24/12/2018

  » Christmas is invariably the time for a grouch that neither Christ nor mas(s) feature much in a festival meant to rededicate Christian believers to the worship of the son of God. Materialism, especially for children, swamps, on this view, any reflection on the meaning of a Christian -- or religious -- life.

• OPINION

  The torture of Theresa May as Brexit drama unfolds

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 17/12/2018

  » Now is the time for all good citizens to put their elected politicians on the rack. Torture is what tyrants visited -- and, often, still visit -- upon real or presumed enemies among their own people. But subjecting their leaders to prolonged public humiliation has come to be a default position among democracies. None knows this better than the United Kingdom's Prime Minister, Theresa May.

• OPINION

  Another Brexit vote is a bad idea

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 10/12/2018

  » In the "careful what you wish for" stakes, few issues rank higher than the plan for a second referendum by those in the UK hoping for a reversal of the country's June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (the "Remainers"). If secured, the outcome could be a fast track to a phenomenon the UK has so far avoided -- the creation of a large, angry populist party, probably of the right and perhaps also of the left.

• OPINION

  Struggling with the prolonged torture that is Brexit

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 19/11/2018

  » BBC political correspondent Chris Mason stood outside of the mother of parliaments last Monday morning and said he didn't have the "foggiest idea" about where Brexit is going. Then he made what have been described as "exasperated noises" -- and promptly became an online viral sensation.

• OPINION

  Midterms resonate across Atlantic

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 12/11/2018

  » One of the major political messages of the US midterm elections has been that rural voters dominate the cities. While the Democrats made enough gains in urban areas to take control of the House of Representatives, Republicans were able to expand their majority in the Senate, where each state gets two senators regardless of population size. In an election where neither side can claim a sweeping victory, President Donald Trump's party did as well as it did because the small towns and the more sparsely populated rural areas of the United States are still, in the main, Trump country. Meanwhile, Democrat votes pile up in the cities, uselessly, from an electoral point of view.

• OPINION

  No 'third way' in a polarised Britain

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 01/10/2018

  » The British prime minister and the leader of Her Majesty's opposition gave speeches on the same day last week, outlining their vision for their country's economy -- and by implication, its society. They had little in common.

• OPINION

  Can Jones and Johnson be the face of 'new politics'?

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 13/08/2018

  » Two men of influence -- the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and politician Boris Johnson -- now face media bans and ridicule for what they saw as speaking their minds. Both, though quite different in background, manner and actions, are pioneers in the new politics.

• OPINION

  The case for the UK's Brexit chaos

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 16/07/2018

  » Compromise is the loveliest word in democratic politics and beyond -- in lasting relationships, labour disputes, international relations. British Prime Minister Theresa May has never more needed the deployment of this lovely and necessary word than now.

• OPINION

  Tribalism and the politics of World Cup football fever

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 02/07/2018

  » Would fans lay down their lives for football? Bill Shankly, the legendary football player and Liverpool manager, once famously said he was "disappointed" with the idea that the sport was a matter of life and death. "I can assure you," he said, "it is much, much more important than that."

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