view from bridge

Lobster Issue

[…] of the mid 1970s – control the money supply and you can control inflation – appealed because it was so simple. It took hold, particularly in the Conservative Party, where what became the Thatcherites adopted it and wrecked the British manufacturing economy with it between 1980 and 1984. Margaret Thatcher was a politician who […]

Misleading Parliament – a case to answer

Lobster Issue 86 (2023) FREE

See also: Misleading Parliament – Appendices

[PDF file]: […] to cover up abuses of power? 19 Having read this document, it is important to bear in mind the following comment made by Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party Conference, Winter Gardens, Blackpool, 10 October 1975, only eight months after I was moved out of Northern Ireland. The first duty of Government is to […]

The Rise of New Labour: Into Office

Lobster Issue 68 (Winter 2014) FREE

[PDF file]: […] excessively high exchange rate.’ – Wynne Godley, The Observer (Business) 23 August 1998. By the time Labour took office Brown and Blair had promised to toe the conservative line on economic policy: no income tax rises, no increased public spending, no attempts to use government to direct the economy; and no reacquisition of the […]

Holding Pattern

Lobster Issue 72 (Winter 2016) FREE

[PDF file]: […] in other nations when Theresa 45 46 47 Another little mystery might be explained by an MI6 link. Fresh out of Oxford University, young Dave’s entrance to Conservative Central Office was smoothed by a phone call from someone at Buckingham Palace, who told the startled recipient: ‘I understand you are to see David Cameron. […]

The Richer, The Poorer, by Stewart Lansley

Lobster Issue 86 (2023) FREE

[PDF file]: […] pro-inequality model of political economy, dysfunctional as it has been, proved remarkably resilient.’ How and why has this happened in the 21st century under Labour, Coalition and Conservative governments? Lansley says the key explanation for Britain’s high poverty rate lies in profound economic and social shifts. These include the speed of industrial change, the […]

Count Bonde and the search for a compromise peace 1939-1941

Lobster Issue 90 (2025) FREE

[PDF file]: […] It would be interesting to know a bit more about him. Simon Matthews is writing a study of Winston Churchill’s period as First Lord of the Admiralty 1939-1940, for publication in 2026. Her son, Sir John Barlow, continued the political tradition sitting as a National Liberal and Conservative MP between 1945 and 1966. 8 5

Is there a ‘political class’?

Lobster Issue 61 (Summer 2011) FREE

[PDF file]: Is there a ‘political class’? Scott Newton It has become fashionable to argue that Britain is in the grip of its own ‘political class’. Most recently the idea has been promulgated by Peter Oborne, in his 2007 book, The Triumph of the Political Class. I have been sceptical about this, remembering the dominance of Oxbridge-educated […]

Peer group pressure

Lobster Issue 78 (Winter 2019) FREE

[PDF file]: […] feature which Mandelson’s connection with a cyber security outfit suggested: Labour peers seem to have a far greater predilection for working with cyber security firms than do Conservative peers. 1 Judging by the political affiliations of Vice Chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Cyber Security,2 which MPs can join, this is […]

The Lost Peace by Richard Sakwa

Lobster Issue 88 (2024) FREE

[PDF file]: […] of either these days, at least on television. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, given the revolving door between the BBC News and Current Affairs department and the Conservative Party.10 Scott Newton is Emeritus Professor of Modern British and International History at Cardiff University. I tried to cover some of these issues in my, ‘Historical […]

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