By Alex Deane Having been bullied encouraged by our own Tim Montgomerie (@timmontgomerie) into signing up to Twitter (@ajcdeane, since you ask), I read with interest this good article over at The Atlantic on the US election, linked to by Will Straw (@wdjstraw – oh, I'll stop). It's about the case for Mitt Romney's proto-candidacy for the […]
By Alex Deane As Jonathan discussed on this site yesterday, the European Court of Justice will rule later today on whether offering young women lower rates of car insurance than that offered to young men is sexual discrimination. I can save you all the hanging on tenterhooks I'm sure this otherwise would provoke – they'll […]
By Alex Deane There has been much speculation about what happens with the Coalition at the ballot box at the next election, and thereafter, with plenty of senior Tories – including Sir John Major – appearing in the media to champion the notion of an ongoing coalition. But a motion being proposed by the Lib […]
Tonight, we're offered: * Chris Huhne – serving, senior, left wing Lib Dem * Chuka Umunna – serving Labour, PPS to Leader of the Opposition, enjoying a stellar rise * Edwina Currie – long-out-of-action, famously off-message former Tory junior Minister more famous for… (no offence) other things than her political work * Katie Hopkins – […]
Crystal Palace WEST HAM (apologies) and Tottenham Stratford Hotspur are bidding to take possession of the Olympic Stadium at the conclusion of the 2012 Olympics (about which I have written here before). For all I know (or care) either (or both) of these bids would put the Stadium to good use – with either or both being […]
It seems that I tend to have more faith in the British public than Baroness Warsi. I think that we're a cleverer country than she suggests, and that all-but a tiny handful of people are able to distinguish between most people who hold to the Islamic faith, and Islamist extremists. Even if she is right […]
The government has announced plans to introduce minimum prices for alcohol. Make no mistake, this is a u-turn. In June last year, Andrew Lansley said of plans to introduce minimum alcohol pricing: "Regarding NICE's recommendations on minimum pricing for units of alcohol, it is not clear that the research examines specifically the regressive effect on […]
I have made my position on the BBC pretty clear on this site and elsewhere and had intended to let the subject lie for a while.But I'm afraid that something specific has happened that merits a further post. As Dan Hannan has explained over at the Telegraph, unfunny comedian David Baddiel has a new film out shortly, […]
By Alex Deane At first glance, this is perhaps a strange title to read on ConservativeHome, from a Conservative Party member; but – to restate a cliché - effective Parliamentary government requires an effective opposition (just consider the excesses of the heyday of Tony Blair's government, permitted in part by the disarray of post-1997 Conservatives on the […]
Last week I was lucky enough to see the run-up to Taiwan's triple-tiered elections on Saturday, and see election day itself. Candidates for Wards, Councils and Mayoralties vied in a series of vibrant contests. Posters were everywhere. Rallies with huge, attentive audiences spring up all over the place (the picture here is of a DPP […]
Alex Deane, author of The Great Abdication and a CentreRight contributor, rebuts some of the arguments in favour of legalising drugs. As a junior criminal barrister, perhaps the majority of my work concerns drug addicts or drug dealers. I am often asked by friends and acquaintances whether it might be better simply to legalise drugs, […]
Alexander Deane, author of The Great Abdication and a CentreRight contributor, reviews "Look at Me: Celebrating the Self in Modern Britain" by Peter Whittle, published by the Social Affairs Unit. The unlikely hero of Peter Whittle’s amusing and sad portrait of mainstream life in our times is Simon Cowell, the star selector (and, moreover, rejecter) […]
Alexander Deane is one of the contributors to CentreRight.com. His work has also appeared at OnlineOpinion, in The Salisbury Review, The Quarterly Review, The Contemporary Review and The Daily Mail. He argues that US Republicans should vote for John McCain even though he’s an imperfect conservative. Real conservatives in the UK (and there are some, […]
Alexander Deane is a Barrister. A former chief of staff to David Cameron MP in the UK, he currently works for the Liberal Party in Australia. The Conservative Party has been riven for two generations by a single issue – Europe. Whilst in the current climate it may seem to have dropped from the forefront […]
By Alex Deane I'm not going to fill out the Census form that I received yesterday. I thought that I would write a piece here to set out why. During my happy time at the helm with Big Brother Watch, I became more and more concerned about the level of government's intrusiveness in this country. […]