SOLOMON HUGHES asks whether Labour ‘engaging with decision-makers’ with scandalous records of fleecing the public is really in our interests
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Horatio Bottomley: a warning for populists
The hugely influential newspaper editor, politician, orator and crook had a remarkable journey from poverty to Westminster and back — he was well ahead of his time, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
Horatio Bottomley at a WWI recruiting rally in Trafalgar Square, September 10 1915
For 80 years, survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings have pleaded “never again,” for anyone. But are we listening, asks Linda Pentz Gunter
Indian communist leader MA Baby considers the chilling escalation of violence against minorities and increasing impunity for their attackers under the Modi regime
by Dr David Lowry, Institute for Resource and Security Studies
This strike is about pay and conditions, says CAMERON HARRISON – but it also shows workers have the power to disrupt the mightiest war machine on Earth
THIS year marks the 90th anniversary of the death of the jingoistic populist leader, MP, newspaper journalist, editor and proprietor, serial adulterer, borderline alcoholic, gambler, financier, and convicted fraudster Horatio William Bottomley (1860-1933).
While his name and notoriety are largely forgotten, he cuts a surprisingly modern figure in the age of Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson, GB News, Boris Johnson, and TalkTV.
Politically, his views were mutable, geared to whatever benefited him in terms of career advancement and opportunities for financial speculation — hence his journey from Liberal radicalism to nationalist populism. Bottomley’s incredibly successful “patriotic” weekly paper John Bull and recruitment rallies during WWI gave him access and influence over millions.
More from this author
While Spode quit politics after inheriting an earldom, Farage combines MP duties with selling columns, gin, and even video messages — proving reality produces more shameless characters than PG Wodehouse imagined, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
The fallout from the Kneecap and Bob Vylan performances at Glastonbury raises questions about the suitability of senior BBC management for their roles, says STEPHEN ARNELL
With the news of massive pay rises for senior management while content spend dives STEPHEN ARNELL wonders when will someone call out the greed of these ‘public service’ executives
As Trump targets universities while Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem redefines habeas corpus as presidential deportation power, STEPHEN ARNELL traces how John Scopes’s optimism about academic freedom’s triumph now seems tragically premature
