Tag: central London

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Two-Tier Policing: When Open Faces Become Terrorism and Balaclavas Become Civic Duty by Lawson Akhigbe

First, the Palestine Action episode. These were people who did not bother with balaclavas or the theatrical anonymity so beloved of the modern political cosplay set. They targeted warehouses and facilities linked to the supply of arms to the Israeli military. The Labour government, with the practised solemnity of a government discovering its inner authoritarian, reached for the terrorism laws. Proscription followed. Arrests followed. Jail terms followed. Even the barristers who dared to represent them found themselves in the crosshairs. The message was clear: damage property in the service of a cause the government finds inconvenient, and you will be treated as the domestic equivalent of Al-Qaeda, complete with the full legal theatre that accompanies such a designation.

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Burnham’s Strategy: Manchesterism Meets the Politics of Looking Busy

Andy Burnham did not inherit a government so much as a stage set. After years of mayoral apprenticeship in Greater Manchester, he arrived in Downing Street with a ready-made philosophy called “Manchesterism” and a clear preference for the photographable over the structural. The high-street crackdown is not an aberration. It is the strategy in miniature.

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How to Pay Less Tax Than Your Barista: A Billionaire’s Guide by Lawson Akhigbe

If you open your paycheck, you will notice a rather tragic recurring character named "Tax Deductions." Before you even get a chance to squander your earnings on overpriced oat milk or electricity, the government takes its slice right off the top. Forty percent, thirty percent, twenty percent, whatever bracket you land in, the tax collector behaves like an eager bouncer checking bags at the door. You earned a salary, so you pay up. Non-negotiable.

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Austerity: Britain’s Longest-Running Political Fancy Dress by Lawson Akhigbe

There is an old British habit that refuses to die. When the public finances look awkward, someone reaches for the national costume box, pulls out the Union Jack, and declares that the only patriotic course is to ask the people with the least to tighten their belts a little more. The word of the hour is always “austerity.” The justification is always necessity. The result is almost always the same.

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The British Right and the Great Social Sorting Experiment by Lawson Akhigbe

It wants to celebrate Britain as the greatest country in the world while simultaneously proposing policies that would make large parts of Britain less British.

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