How to Become Wealthy on £100,000 a Year by David Palethorpe A Helpful Starter Guide for Newly Elected MPs Every election cycle brings with it a small moment of public curiosity. Voters — a few of them at least — glance at the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and ask a rather innocent question: How…

Militarism, Rhetoric, and the Fragility of Alliances What I Feared in 2017 — And What Actually Happened by David Palethorpe In March 2017, early into the presidency of Donald Trump, I wrote an article asking whether he might start a third world war. It was a stark question, but not a sensational one. I did…

Mandates Myths and the Curious World of Local Democracy by David Palethorpe Let me begin by disarming the obvious line of attack. Yes, I have been a councillor on two different local authorities in two different parts of the country. Yes, I have stood in five elections and somehow managed to be successful five times.…

Mr & Mrs Middle England: Grave Matters and Hounds Another week in Ipplepen, and in true British fashion we begin with the weather. It has rained — heavily, lightly, sideways — with the very rare occasional burst of sunshine just to confuse us further. February like January has been unusually warm too, nudging into double…

An ode to all of those in political life who have the joy of waking every morning in the full knowledge that they not only have the solution to every issue but are committed to sharing it on social media. BALDERDASH PERFECTIONISTBy David Palethorpe Oh what a load of balderdashThe self-proclaimed perfectionists talkWho do they…

“Blow-in”: A Reflection from Ipplepen By David Palethorpe I live in a fantastic part of the world—South Devon—in a little village called Ipplepen. And yes, there are those wags who, every now and then, amend the name at the beginning of the village name with a “N”, and occasionally the end with an “is”, Oh…

The A.U.N.T. Scale: By David Palethorpe Finally, a Scientific Method for Explaining What on Earth Is Going On For years, political debate has suffered from a lack of precision. We have polls, pundits, and podcasts, yet remain oddly unable to describe a very familiar phenomenon: the steady rise of people who make everything worse, loudly,…

A Brief History of “Taking Britain Back” By David Palethorpe Whenever people, (OK ReformUK Ltd) start talking solemnly about Taking  “Britain” Back, it’s hard not to smile—because for most of its early history, Britain didn’t know what it was, who owned it, or even whose turn it was to be in charge. And this went…

A World My Grandchildren Will Inherit by David Palethorpe I’m coming up to being 77 years of age. If I am fortunate, I may have another ten years left and the world being shaped today will not belong to me—it will belong to my children and grandchildren. That is why I cannot stay silent while…

ReformUK Ltd is a Choice by David Palethorpe I recently had a conversation with a colleague that has stayed with me, not because it was persuasive, but because it was troubling. They spoke about a Reform UK Ltd Devon County Councillor and described them as “reasonable” and “sensible”. It is a description that forced me…