Monthly Archives: February 2011

Political Computer Games (No1) Missile Command

Posted on February 10, 2011 by

Missile Command manages to combine two of the biggest cultural trends of the 1980s; video games and the acute fear of an imminent nuclear holocaust. I remember spending most of my childhood absolutely terrified of the threat of war. This was reinforced … Continue reading →

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Political predictions they got wrong (No8) Igor Panarin predicts the collapse of the USA

Posted on February 8, 2011 by

Political predictions can be based on wishful thinking as much as hard empirical evidence, and sometimes a mixture of both. The latter is probably the case with Igor Panarin’s work. For those of you who don’t know, Panarin is a well known Russian … Continue reading →

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Coverage of female football in the UK

Posted on February 8, 2011 by

I just heard on BBC Radio Nottingham this morning that the local women’s football team, Forest Ladies, are in financial difficulties due to a lack of sponsorship. They owe a total of five thousand pounds and it strikes me as … Continue reading →

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Great political movies (No17) Queimada (Burn!)

Posted on February 7, 2011 by

Everyone seems to have seen The Battle of Algiers, which I reviewed last week. However for some reason it’s follow-up, Queimada, better known by its title in the US, ‘Burn!’, is now undeservedly forgotten. The director Gillo Pontecorvo revisits many of the themes of his … Continue reading →

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The Politics of Policing

Posted on February 7, 2011 by

Today in the news there have been reports that cuts to police funding of up to 20% will mean a loss of 10,000 workers. This is a considerable figure, and I seriously doubt that the Conservatives are correct when they say … Continue reading →

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Political advertising (No4) ‘Taliban’ Dan

Posted on February 5, 2011 by

While negative attack advertising has become an accepted part of the current political landscape, Andy Grayson’s 2010 ‘Taliban Dan’ ad is evidence that it doesn’t always work. The advert was part of Florida Congressman Andy Grayson’s re-election campaign, and was aimed at Daniel Webster, the Republican ‘Tea-Party’ … Continue reading →

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Ten great political mistakes

Posted on February 5, 2011 by

Every so often I like to collect links for all of my columns covering certain topics together in one post for easier reading. This is a list of ten great political mistakes. I cover British and American politics mostly but am … Continue reading →

Posted in Great mistakes in politics, Great political mistakes | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Great mistakes in politics (No12) The Spycatcher Affair

Posted on February 4, 2011 by

Banning books is always a tricky business, especially when you live in a supposedly free society. These days banning books on the grounds of taste and decency, or even blasphemy, is almost unheard of. The only area where governments are usually given … Continue reading →

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Great political documentaries (No2) Viva Zapatero!

Posted on February 3, 2011 by

In Britain and America we’ve been blessed with an extremely healthy tradition of satire and poking fun at those in power. Every night in prime time you have programmes like Have I got News for you, Mock the Week and … Continue reading →

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Great political non-fiction books (No3) Voodoo Histories by David Aaronovitch

Posted on February 2, 2011 by

As the great writer G.K Chesterton once commented, “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing – they believe in anything”. If the 20th century marked the decline of organised religion, it also saw people wanting to have faith in something more strongly than … Continue reading →

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