“There is no justification for racial discrimination, in theory or in practice, anywhere” and certainly not in Britain or Australia.
Following my initial surprise, my first reaction, as always when I encounter the rhetorically inclusive “we”, was to wonder who they might be; was I now part of this “we” ?
The longstanding western fear of the people is central to representative democracy as it is understood today.
Reference to populism indicates little more than that mainstream politics is in trouble, thereby presenting tautology as explanation: mainstream politics is in trouble because mainstream politics is in trouble.
“Perhaps his mistake was to say something sensible about Australia's relations with China, not something we normally expect from our politicians.”
“We are generous to refugees on the one hand and we penalise undocumented refugees on the other. The two practices co-exist and one is often played off against the other.”
“To go to a referendum was curious… the UK has a regime of representative government that works to ensure that popular concerns have only limited impact on the conduct of government.”
