Trump's lawsuit is a self made disaster for the president

The BBC’s US legal team, in the defamation suit Trump filed in Florida a few days ago, has put the knuckledusters on. The unstable 'genius' has jumped out of the frying pan into the fire while simultaneously shooting himself in both feet. There will soon be his most humiliating climb down ever, heavily disguised as magnanimity or a great win. But it will be a massive climb down without a doubt. The Mirror has the story of how the corporation’s lawyers will be demanding discovery (the handing over of documents, messages, phone records, etc) about what he was doing around 6 January 2021.They will also depose him, that is get him to face questions under oath, even before the case gets to court.

BBC to defend itself against Trump

I’m pleased to see the BBC have decided to defend Trump’s defamation lawsuit. I didn’t think they would, but credit to them, they have been very clear about it. A former controller of BBC Radio, Mark Damazer, said it would be "extremely damaging to the BBC's reputation not to fight the case". He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is about the BBC's independence and, unlike American media organisations which have coughed up the money, the BBC doesn't have commercial business interests that depend on President Trump's beneficence in the White House.” A spokesman for the corporation said they would not comment further on the legal action.

Trump sues the BBC for $10 billion

The BBC is the jewel in the crown of British entertainment. I have defended it against people who object to coughing up the licence fee and think it should be funded from advertising like Channel 4. The fee is a paltry amount of money considering everything it provides, including local radio. It raises about £3.7 billion, and the BBC earns another £2 billion from selling its programmes overseas. Its total revenue is about £5.7 billion. The BBC is undoubtedly the world’s most trusted news source. Donald Trump has now launched legal proceedings in Florida for defamation, demanding $10 billion (about £7.5 billion) in damages. For defamation! How could he be defamed?

Reversing Brexit is a national imperative, but Starmer is not the man to do it

Robert Shrimsley had an interesting piece in the FT a couple of days ago about Brexit and Labour's tentative start on reversing Brexit. There are, apparently, some murmurings beginning to circulate in the Labour Party that such a move might save them from a drubbing at the next election. Faith that Starmer can pull things round seems entirely absent now. He notes that the PM and Reeves have both spoken publicly about the economic damage, but for unfathomable reasons, have left the claim hanging there as if the voters will blame someone else rather than them for failing to crank up the economic growth handle. It’s a daft idea. Voters are already abandoning Labour. Without some feel-good stuff or a persuasive vision emerging, they’re doomed.

MPs Vote to rejoin the EU customs union

MPs have voted to rejoin the customs union, narrowly defeating the government, after a dozen Labour members supported a LibDem proposal. Dr Al Pinkerton MP for Surrey Heath, brought forward the Bill calling for the government to enter into negotiations with the EU.  It caused a bit of a stir in the newspapers and among the anti-Brexit campaigners, but it will have zero impact on government policy. Starmer reiterated that his manifesto pledge was not to join the CU or the single market, and he’s sticking to it no matter how much staying out of both damages our growth prospects or weakens public services by cutting tax revenues. It’s as if he’s absolutely determined to get voted out at the next election.  

The rise and rise of the anti-Brexit vote

Peter Kellner, of YouGov, writes a political Substack blog and has been examining how public opinion has shifted since the 2016 referendum. Kellner has attempted to calculate how a vote to rejoin the EU might unfold, considering changing demographics, disillusionment setting in, and younger voters joining the electorate, among other factors. I had a go at this years ago in 2017 and worked out that the 600,000 people, the majority Brexit supporters, die every year and a similar number become eligible to vote, who are mainly pro-EU. I thought that by 2021, even without a single voter changing their mind, we would be 50:50 and thereafter the majority for rejoining would just keep growing.

Large Scale Solar Farms

The government’s planning inspectorate has granted approval for a huge 190MW Solar farm to the south of Selby and immediately to the west of Drax power station, close to the village of Camblesforth. This is despite fierce opposition from local residents, the three nearest Parish Councils and even North Yorkshire County Council. The 476 Ha site (1100 acres) is virtually all high-grade agricultural land (97.3%), known as BMV or best and most versatile. National planning policy is to avoid the use of BMV land and use lower-grade soils "where possible." A Written Ministerial Statement from 2015 (but still valid planning guidance) says applicants should provide the “most compelling evidence” that using BMV land is necessary.

Farage's one-man band faces existential threat

You can understand the frantic efforts by Reform UK Ltd to fend off all the allegations of racism now engulfing Nigel Farage. Not only is he the sole director of the limited company that is the party, but he is also effectively their one and only asset, now turning into a liability. If he's forced out, they have no one else to turn to. When he left UKIP in 2016, the party originally founded by Alan Sked and later taken over by Farage, fell apart, going through eight leaders, non-entities all, in quick succession. One (Diane James) lasted 18 days. Another (Lois Perry) managed 34. If Farage had to quit now, you can easily imagine the same fate happening to Reform UK.  They will fight to the bitter end simply because, without Farage, they have nothing. Reform UK is the ultimate political one-man band.

Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has faced an absolutely vitriolic campaign in the media for misleading or indeed, lying about the state of the UK economy in the run-up to her budget speech last week. She seems to have been unfairly singled out for a concerted attack with blaring headlines almost daily, demanding her resignation or sacking. It's all totally confected rubbish. The BBC’s political reporter Chris Mason actually penned a piece which said: Why, in my judgement, Reeves was misleading on one specific point. Apparently, he has set himself up as her judge and jury, delivering his verdict to the nation, rather than reporting on events as he’s paid to do. In any case, he’s wrong.

Brexiteer fury at NBER report

The recent NBER report on the impact of Brexit has created quite a stir among the right-wing media. First, Ryan Bourne at The Times admitted that Brexiteers need to acknowledge the cost of Brexit. Bourne is one of the Economists for Brexit, but now says “we cannot pretend things have gone well so far.”  And a few days ago, a columnist at The Telegraph went further and declared: Time to admit the truth: Brexit has been an unmitigated economic failure.  It must be said that Jeremy Warner is not a Brexiteer. He is an assistant editor, writing on business and economic matters but, unlike most of the other assistant editors (and there are quite a few), he has never been keen on Brexit.