Britain Archives | Page 22 of 46 | MelaniePhillips.com

Obesity is a national obsession, not a disease

January 11, 2019 Melanieobesity, over-eating, public health

The Royal College of Physicians has said that, in order to bring obesity under control, it should be viewed not as a result of lifestyle choice but as a disease. Statistics about obesity are contestable and should be treated with caution. There is no doubt, however, that being overweight exacerbates both the incidence and severity of certain conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. To call obesity itself a disease, however, is an abuse of language. A disease is an organic disorder that affects a particular function and happens…

Britain Israel

How western humbug gives antisemitism a free pass

January 6, 2019 Melanieantisemitism, Labour party, racism

A few days ago, I wrote about antisemitism in the Labour party following the rough ride given to shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry when she spoke at Limmud. I suggested that those who, like Thornberry, were concerned about the egregious examples of antisemitism in their party were nevertheless unable to face an inconvenient truth. This was that the bigotry against Jews which so horrified them was symbiotically connected to the commitment throughout progressive circles to the Palestinian cause, whose foundation, activities and goals are defined by virulent, murderous Jew-hatred. In response,…

Britain

The Labour party’s out-of-body antisemitism experience

December 31, 2018December 31, 2018 Melanieantisemitism, Corbyn, Labour, Thornberry

When Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry spoke last week at the annual Limmud Jewish cultural festival in Birmingham, she declared in relation to the accusation that the Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was an antisemite: “I don’t believe there is a racist or antisemitic bone in his body”. And she claimed that Corbyn had been unable to deal properly with the issue of Labour antisemitism because he had been so emotionally affected by being accused of it himself. Cue derision and jeers. Which was only to be expected. After…

Britain

Now’s the time to relax – if only I knew how

December 25, 2018December 25, 2018 Melanieanxiety, mindfulness, Relaxation

Trying to relax is such an effort, if you’re someone like me. Someone who always has the nagging feeling that an urgent task needs to be done, not to mention that there’s so much to worry about. What do you do to relax, people say, you seem to work all the time. I squirm and shuffle my feet. What do I do? Do I ever really turn off? The truth seems too sad and pathetic to confess. Whisper it quietly: work is my relaxation. Yeah, I know. I roll my…

Britain

Is May’s dead parrot about to be resuscitated by MPs of straw?

December 23, 2018December 23, 2018 Melaniebrexit, Irish backstop, No Deal

Is the dead parrot about to stagger back onto its perch? Are the most steely Brexiteers really about to demonstrate that they are in fact people of straw? Today’s Sunday Times reports “growing confidence” in Downing Street that the prime minister, Theresa May, will get her widely excoriated Brexit deal through parliament. Her allies report a “significant improvement” in the number of MPs who are prepared to support it. “Speculation is swirling that the prime minister may be able to extract a meaningful concession from the EU on the Irish…

Britain

MPs! In your mad Brexit maelstrom, there are only two alternatives

December 17, 2018December 17, 2018 Melaniebrexit, Mrs May, No Deal

In the mad maelstrom that British politics has now become, it is ever more important to understand certain fundamental, brutal realities. The UK has two strategic alternatives before it, and only two: to leave the EU, or to remain. That’s it. No half way house, no soft-Brexit, no out but still a little bit in, no Norway-plus, no Mrs May deal without the Irish backstop (really, Boris? What about the rest of her lousy rotten deal?). Just leave or remain. There are four, and only four, tactical options: Mrs May’s…

Britain

Parliament v the people? Britain’s Brexit agony

December 11, 2018December 11, 2018 Melaniebrexit, constitutional crisis, parliament

The current agony over Brexit, which deepened further yesterday, is based on a simple proposition. The law states that on March 29, 2019, Britain will leave the EU. If the terms of separation aren’t agreed, the country must therefore leave with no deal. Most MPs, however, refuse to countenance this. So they are indulging in fantasies. One is that the EU may soften its position on the Ireland backstop. If so, they say, they would support Theresa May’s deal. Really? What about the rotten rest of it? Other Remainers just…

Britain Europe

“No risks are greater than Mrs May’s terms of surrender” – including no deal

December 9, 2018December 9, 2018 Melaniebrexit, Dearlove, No Deal, Thompson

Three days ago, a letter of great importance about Mrs May’s faux-Brexit deal was sent to MPs. The importance lay not just in what it said but who was saying it. The authors were the former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, and the officer who commanded the British forces in the Falklands War, Major-General Julian Thompson. Both men are committed to Britain leaving the EU. Both are horrified by the way the Prime Minister is betraying not just the 2016 referendum vote but the interests of the United Kingdom.…

Britain Culture wars Europe

Convulsions over Brexit and the struggle for the western nation

December 7, 2018December 7, 2018 Melaniebrexit, eu, Macron, nationalism

The West is convulsing as a new world order struggles to be born. Nowhere is that convulsion currently proving more agonizing and potentially catastrophic than in the United Kingdom. The fundamental division is between, on the one hand, nationalists who want to defend the nation and its core values and, on the other, those who believe these must be superseded by trans-national institutions and laws. In the first camp are millions of ordinary people throughout the West in revolt against the steady undermining of their countries and cultures, alongside the…

Britain

Britain’s Brexit meltdown: lions led by devious donkeys (and Hamlet wannabes)

December 6, 2018December 6, 2018 Melaniebrexit, No Deal, second referendum

It is now clear that the staunch and sturdy British people, those true heirs to Britain’s ancient culture of determined independence and robust common-sense, are lions led by devious and feeble donkeys. Mrs May’s faux-Brexit deal is so bad it has united against it both Brexiteer and Remainer MPs. The likely revolt is so large that the Prime Minister is being urged to postpone next week’s Commons “meaningful” vote for fear that the scale of the defeat may bring the government down. So what is to be done? Ay, there’s…