Politics

By David Binder What do the recent 'gay cake' case, the same sex marriage referendum in Ireland and the British government's aspirations for ‘’snooper’s charter' all have in common? The answer lies in the fact that they all bring into question how we define and uphold both equality and liberty. It seems that these two values are increasingly being seen as diametric opposites when in actual fact they should be seen as bedfellows. Whilst I don't wish to discuss the...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor I remember when I was boy and I misbehaved with my mates, my mum would say “stop showing off in front of your friends,” and it had the desired effect, of shaming me into silence. It ruined my self-confidence and I barely spoke to another human until years of counselling, but that’s another story. Well this was the trick Harriet Harman used on the PM today, and it worked…a bit. Obviously the PM is fully...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor It’s almost the same amount of time between the start of Sepp Blatter’s presidency of FIFA and the last majority Tory Government. Then the football dictator stepped down the day before the first pure-blooded Conservative PMQs, some coincidence surely? “Wow, they made Michael Gove  Justice Secretary? I can’t compete with that level of malevolence,” he was heard to say, as he handed himself into the Feds. When they were last in power people sent text...

Watch Norman Smith accidentally call Nigel Farage a c**t during a live broadcast on 14/05/2015.

By Max Bluer Thursday evening and the British general election’s exit poll has just been released; it accurately predicts massive gains for the Europhobic Conservative Party and the Scottish Nationalist Party – the driving force behind last year’s referendum on Scottish independence. That noise you heard when the news broke was supporters of the left, of the integrity of the United Kingdom and of the European project banging their collective head against the nearest wall.   David Cameron and his government...

By Pieter Cranenbroek The day after the UK general election, a Dutch journalist commented that ‘as long as the British press is giving out voting advice, you’re better off reading cat blogs.’ Although most European newspapers can be linked to a certain political group, this relationship is rarely as explicit as in the British media. With more flavours on the political menu and a surge in floating voters, it becomes increasingly important for newspapers to hide their political partisanship. There were...

By Jack Peat, TLE Editor   I am too old to be pulling all-nighters. On Thursday evening I returned home with a solid plan; exit polls at 10, bed, up at 6 for a clear indication of the results - and repercussions thereof - then at my desk for results in time for elevenses. GE2015 made a complete hash of that. Like many others, I became engrossed from 10 o clock onwards. Mainly in disbelief. I knew that a Labour...

By Alexander Murtagh A few weeks prior to the election even the most senior of Tory politicians wouldn’t have been arrogant enough to even suggest they were in line to win a majority in the House of Commons, but now they have been elected with just that. We have already seen David Cameron’s glistening ego parade itself in front of the press backed by the knowledge that he has managed to do what all his critics told him he couldn’t,...

By Jack Peat, TLE Editor  When the exit polls were revealed at 10pm last night the entire nation was left scratching their heads. Paddy Ashdown said live on television that he will eat his hat if the poll, which left the Liberal Democrats with a measly ten seats in the House of Commons, was right. The reality is that the party could receive even fewer seats than that. The exit poll gave Conservatives 316 seats, Labour 239, the SNP on 58 and...