E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Day After Election Day poem there’s no Heineken language that hits all the spots - it is sad great news - one nation’s landslide another seat’s crushing defeat; who can speak for unintelligible masses except a monoglot despot or popular turn of hate; December is bitter and bright - election day darkens like paganism into night. The wolves that bay are starving brothers. We must lie to one another to make even marginal gains.  14 December, 2019, London t.s.

is this man happy now? I would like to congratulate my Tory colleagues and friends on their landslide victory in this most divisive, and distressing election. Boris at his best is brilliant, compelling, and compassionate, so let us hope for the best, if bracing for the worst; his acceptance speech was rousing, and promising, and if he works for his newest ridings in the once-red wall, he may be a truly great one nation figure; or, he may slip into scandal and incompetence - though that seems less likely at the moment - powerful politicians sometimes slip into magnanimity. For those who like their certainty certain, Brexit will get done in January, and we may well have a no-deal trade arrangement in a year. Certainty - friend to those businesses not made from chaos -may momentarily raise the pound, but we need a relationship with the EU based on mutual respect and mutual self-interest. As for Jeremy Corbyn , the Labour leader, well, despite his gauche idealism, he lacked the n...

HIPSTERS LOVE CORBYN Eyewear , the blog and company have had a rollercoaster love affair with Mr Jeremy Corbyn , current leader of the British Labour party. Anticipating his leadership win a few years ago, we published the first updated book on his life and ideas - which sold over 3,000 copies; several of our editors either voted for him or supported him. Then he appeared to falter. Our genuine love slackened. But now he has pulled us back in, slowly, surely, with his principled, if grizzled, brand of authentic populism. His campaign has been masterful, and, mostly, blemish-free. He has appeared strong, confident, funny, and caring. And he has been infuriatingly clear - he does not like nuclear war or killing people. Ms May , the current PM, has been a disaster.  Her strong, stable slogan is now a cruel albatross, like something the centurions slapped on the dying Christ . She has turned on her own manifesto - a bizarre first - and appeared weak in public debate, when she ...

Eyewear's spokesperson As the now tired adage goes, a week is a long time in politics. A week ago we did not know Trump's secret weird word... and more seriously, much more seriously, the Manchester tragedy had not yet happened. But now, after several debate appearances on TV from Corbyn , the Labour leader, and astonishingly poor appearances and non-appearances from the PM May , the polls have begun to converge, like an iceberg and a stable ship. Nik Nanos , Canada's leading polling expert, predicted this a month ago. As in some ways does our Eyewear book Tactical Reading , published a week ago. Though still too early to tell - and given the ferocity and mendacity of the right-wing media here in Britain - it appears May is losing her landslide. Here are Eyewear's predictions on the possible outcomes in a week, 8th June, when the UK votes to elect a new government. MAY'S TORIES WIN A SLIM MAJORITY/MINORITY GOVERNMENT - 30% CHANCE MAY'S TORIES WIN A MAJORI...

I WILL VOTE FOR TRUMP, DAMMIT According to the latest CBS, ABC, etc, polls, Clinton is still likely to beat Trump - by percentile odds of 66% to 33% and change. But the current popular vote is much closer, probably tied with the error of margin, around 44% each. Trump has to win more key battleground states to win, and may not - but he is ahead in Florida... We will all know, in a week, whether we live in a world gone madder, or just relatively mad. While it seems likely calmer heads will prevail, the recent Brexit win shows that polls can mislead, especially when one of the options is considered a bit embarrassing, rude or even racist - and Trump qualifies for these, at least. If 42-45% of Americans admit they would vote for Trump, what does that say about the ones not so vocal? For surely, they must be there, as well. Some of the undecided will slide, and more likely they will slide to the wilder and more exciting fringe candidate. As may the libertarians. Eyewe...

EYEWEAR'S CANDIDATE FAVOURS TAXATION OF ANYONE WHO DOES NOT READ POETRY London may think of itself as the world's most important, powerful city - though New York, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo and several cities in China or India might say otherwise - but is surely top three, in terms of significance. So its mayoral elections matter - and they are today. Some of the choices offered are colourful and absurd - there is a candidate whose platform is all about how marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, and a Polish prince who wants to fight a duel with Nigel Farage - and there are worthy candidates for parties like the Greens who won't win but maybe should - and then again the two front-runners. Eyewear, the blog  reminds you to vote today, and responsibly.  You may have to hold your nose if you go with either of the main candidates - both their parties have lately seemed to play unwelcome race cards - but one of the candidates was born poor and stands for a very diverse platf...

Bad news for France, Europe, and perhaps, the world - Socialists have won the presidency of France , and the high-energy diminutive characterful  Sarzoky , is history.   Mr   Francois Hollande , now President-elect, has declared himself the enemy of banks, and wants a 75% tax rate in place.  He also opposes the German handling of the Euro-crisis, and seeks to end the austerity measures in France which mirror those that the Tories have adopted in the UK.  Hollande 's victory will also lead to the rise of a far-right alternative in France, which cannot be a good thing - a trend we are seeing tonight in Greece, where the centre cannot hold, and thus more extreme alternatives are gaining public support.

You wouldn't know it, living in the UK, where the BBC did not this morning on its flagship radio news even mention it, but after a major national election, Canadians have woken up to an historically-new nation - for the first time since its founding, the Liberal Party is in third place, rather than forming either the government or the loyal opposition.  The Conservatives have rebounded and now form a solid, stolid and right-leaning fiscally-lean government; but the big news is the new second-place party: socialists - the NDP, always also-rans, though the social conscience of the nation - now form a viable government in-waiting, with over 100 seats.  Meanwhile, the separatists at federal level, the Bloc Quebecois, once a dire nemesis in Ottawa, have been wiped from the face of the Earth, left with four paltry seats, their leader, in tears, stepping down, after two failed decades; so too has the Liberal leader lost his seat, a smart blow-in from Harvard who never caught the nat...

Vote Yes to AV!   Clegg is redeeming himself by admitting that the Tories are a right-wing clique that need to be thrown out.  This is paradoxical, because Clegg is propping them up.  Anyway, AV is not ideal, but better than first past the post.  It will improve democracy in Britain.   Eyewear supports it.

What can an observer from abroad say, except, wha' happen?  Two years ago, America briefly appeared sane, visionary, and remarkable, electing a bright, liberal African-American with a multicultural name as leader-in-chief.  Flashforward, and pick yourself up from the floor - despite bringing in health care for 30 million poor people, winning the Nobel prize for Peace for arguing for nuclear disarmament, ending the Iraq war, and helping to avert a Second Depression - he is mocked by TV comedians for not doing "enough".   Enough ? Isn't it enough to wake up every morning and Not Be Palin?  Isn't believing in Global Warming, and trying to find justice in the middle east, and trying to contain violence enough?  Despised by Tea Party nincompoops and nutjobs for doing too much, and derided by the "Left" for failing to turn America into Vermont overnight, Barack Obama has in fact been a very good, centre-left leader, in overwhelmingly tough times.  America...

The BBC Radio 4 Today Programme today revealed a rather lax attitude towards poetry.  The reporter describing what the Oxford Professor of Poetry post entails described it, chuckling, as "a pretty good gig" - with a stipend and "only" having to "do" a few lectures.  This belittles one of the more arduous, intellectually demanding, and serious lecture series in the world devoted to poetry - perhaps the most serious.   Muldoon 's and Heaney 's contributions, to name only two, are among their best critical writing and speaking.  Anyway.  They then interviewed Paula Claire , who I admit Eyewear belittled when she entered the race - a fact I regret now.  When Claire explained why she had dropped out - for being described by the Oxford online authorities running the election as a "performer" and not a poet, the BBC radio chap chuckled (a lot of chuckling) and said it didn't seem "a big deal".  Claire rightly observed that in the ...

The British election of 2010 has been, from a progressive point of view, an almost abysmal failure - a disappointment so staggeringly at odds with the Obama -like energy of the debates and campaigning - and it raises a question - is Britain too broken, too destabilised or demoralised, civically - to even be able to mount a rebellion or radical break with its outmoded electoral system and corrupt parliamentary structure? It seems so. In the end, the Clegg revolution was only televised, but never materialised - actually losing seats and barely raising above their normal low-20s limit of support. What happened to change, to a new way, to bolting past the two old parties? The voters bottled this one. In the end, they seemed to panic, from London, Dundee, Carlyle, to Humberside - everywhere. No pattern has emerged, but drift and lack of consensus. And, though the Lib Dems should have supported the larger progressive majority, and shored up Labour, it appears they will let Cameron form som...

I went down to the polling station this morning and was glad to see a lot of my neighbours queuing up.  With healthy voter turn-out, the election seems as wide open as ever.  I look forward to seeing what transpires over the next few days.

Eyewear is very pleased, on the eve of election day, to offer readers an occasional light verse poem by a creative writing student of mine - a poem on being undecided in the UK that has a particular resonance with me, for one. Thomas Hewson is a 21-year old Kingston University student. He lives in South Yorkshire and will be voting in the Sheffield-Hallam constituency on May 6th. Sheffield Hallam’s current MP, and prospective MP, is the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg - whom will be expecting to win the seat with a comfortable majority. Voting on May 6th Gordon Brown wants substance over style, Cameron thinks Labour should be put on trial. But the Lib Dems are definitely affirmative - Cleggy boy offers a brand new alternative. As for the other parties, UKIP and Green, they have no real policies I think it would seem, and then there is Griffin, who for power does hunt, - I’ll say just this – he’s an ignorant… Cameron, you’ll spend our money without any waste - well if that’s true ...

Tomorrow is the British General Election. It's still too close to call, but many polls are suggesting a small Tory majority. In my seat, Westminster North, the Labour candidate Karen Buck is up against the Tory candidate (a so-called Cameron Cutie) Joanne Cash ; so, Buck vs. Cash. The Lib Dem is one Mark Blackburn . This seat is considered the 61th easiest for the Conservatives to swing their way (they need a little more than a 3% swing to take it from Buck). So, I, like many other voters, am faced with a choice - to vote for my preferred party, the Lib Dems , or vote tactically, to help keep Cash out. This is a tough call, because while I don't want there to be a Tory government, I also am loathe to support the morally-bankrupt and exhausted Labour party; New Labour was ugly to behold. However, I admire the way Brown has been (finally) expressing his truer convictions. If only he'd found his soul sooner.

Poor Gordon Brown - he has been caught on microphone, calling a 65-year-old woman he had met on a meet-and-greet, a "bigot".  The media has played it up, and Brown has apologised on BBC radio (filmed doing so, head in hands), and also has called her to apologise in person - and then emailed his party to apologise too.  The BBC is calling it the worst moment for the Labour party so far in the election - an election that already sees them likely to come third behind the Tories and Lib-Dems.  However, this may garner sympathy.  If the woman did want to restrict immigration to keep out Eastern Europeans, she is , by definition, a bit of a bigot.  Brown actually does seem to care, and actually does have integrity.  His fault seems to be that he called it like it is.  Perhaps he was too quick to say he was sorry.  Still, the BBC news is emphasising the Janus-faced nature of the comments - that Brown would speak to a Labour supporter one way in person, ...

Last night's leader's debate - aired on the dastardly Sky News channel - yielded no clear winner.  Indeed, the earlier Cleggmania has faded somewhat, as the new dog with the new tricks became old hat.  He used names looked into the camera, and basically made the same claims about being different.  Ho hum.  But Clegg did have clear and different policies on Europe, Trident, and immigration - all left-field and quite brave.  Brown was better than I have ever seen him: angry, principled, and informative; he seemed to have a fire in his belly at last.  He claimed Nick was anti-American and bad for security, and David anti-Europe and bad for the economy.  Cameron - to my mind - was the weakest - though his calm upper-crust "Gap Yah" delivery was at least less shaky than first time out, and he seemed to score points about the campaign literature scare tactics that Brown may or may not have authorised.  Eyewear is now on the fence, between Labour and...

One could be forgiven for waking up in England today thinking one had been transplanted to the set of The Prisoner (the remake at least) - a sunny utopia where the impossible rises like giant balloons. Today it is very warm and sunny here, and people are strolling, with perambulators, lovers, friends, out to recreation grounds and public places, wearing shorts and shades like it was Florida. And we woke, the people of Britain, to at least two impossible things before brunch: the news that Nick Clegg is now, according to The Sunday Times "the most popular leader since Churchill" (with 72% approval) and that volcanic ash may keep belching out over the next year, intermittently keeping planes on the ground for the foreseeable. It's all happening. Britain seems like a different, alternative reality version of itself, one with coalition governments and a quiet Heathrow. Meanwhile, Eyewear 's partner is slowly making her way home across Europe - a four-day trek to catch...

The latest polls suggesting that Nick Clegg's brilliant and engaging manner and message won over the TV audience of Britain in Thursday's debate is a truly new moment in UK politics - finally, the media is not just (a la Murdoch) dictating to the masses, but letting them see for themselves what is really at stake.  Finally allowed to be seen and heard, the Lib Dems (who are supported by 25% of national voters as is) appear credible, and even ready to rule.  It is too early to see if Clegg is the "new Obama" as some are saying, or if his mass appeal will fade - he has two more debates to go, and some of his rhetorical tricks (remembering the names of audience members) will be less impressive second time around.  And, the other two leaders will now know they have a force to be reckoned with.  But, here the strategy gets tricky- for a rise in Lib Dem popularity damages the Tory chances of forming a majority government - so Labour may not bring down its mighty fist....

It seems to be universally held that Nick Clegg , beforehand something of the Invisible Man of British politics (in league with his henchman, Vince Cable , the self-styled Elephant Man, so an extraordinary leage of gents, then) has won, hands down, the first-ever leaders debate in a modern British election.  Televised (that barbarous word!) and radio'd out to a vast audience of over ten million, it was almost as if three new Dr Whos were being rolled out.  Gordon Brown started very badly, and never stopped being stiff and grimace-wracked, often smiling oddly - but his level tones, and fact-filled answers impressed; he knows the names of the helicopters everyone else wants more of.  David Cameron (perhaps rattled by meeeting me) forgot to mention his Big Society - as if his manifesto had evaporated in the bright lights of the studio.  Instead, he appeared normal enough, but not exactly over-impressive.  Clegg, though, was positively Clintonian - using questione...