Alex Massie
CapX
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Alex:
Even the idiotic Margaret Ferrier can't hurt the SNP
Many people are this morning furious with Margaret Ferrier, still the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, and it’s easy to understand why. By travelling from London to Glasgow despite knowing she was infected with Covid-19 she, at least potentially, put other passengers and members of the general public at risk of contracting the virus. … → Read More
The shame of elite football clubs asking for a state handout
No good deed goes unexploited and, at this extraordinary moment in time, the government’s relief schemes designed to keep struggling businesses are no exception to that sorry rule of life. Our old friend Moral Hazard is back in vogue. For an illustration of this we need look no further than the Premier League. England’s top … → Read More
Trident and HS2: a tale of two £100bn projects
What kind of government does Boris Johnson wish to lead? The Prime Minister has a softness for grand infrastructure projects and likes to think of himself as a quasi-nineteenth century liberal. A builder, not just an entertainer. But he leads a government in which there are plenty of ministers – Priti Patel, Liz Truss, Dominic … → Read More
Labour's Scottish play is a tragedy in the making
To say that Scottish Labour faces an existential crisis gravely understates the state of mental and moral confusion in which the party finds itself. Labour’s empire was lost long ago and it has not come to terms with a world transformed, far less begun the task of finding itself a new role. At its simplest, … → Read More
Boris Johnson doesn’t want to be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom
But it may not be up to him. → Read More
Victory for Unionists means refusing to play Sturgeon's game at all
These are heady times for Conservatives. It is as though a great lowness of spirit which had previously been sore afflicting Tory spirits has, seemingly miraculously, been lifted. It is not just the thumping of Jeremy Corbyn and removing the doleful shadow cast by the thought of a Corbyn government which explains this, though of … → Read More
In Scotland this election will be about much more than Brexit
Scottish general elections used to be soporific affairs. In 2001, for instance, just one of the then 72 Scottish constituencies changed hands. In 2005 only five did and, remarkably, in 2010 every single Scottish seat was won by the same party that had taken it at the previous general election. Drama happened elsewhere in the … → Read More
Today's Brexit arguments are nothing compared to what awaits us
Yet again the ineluctable law of Brexit has asserted itself: a deal is only possible once all other options, save that of no deal at all, have been removed from the table. Winnowing is the order of the day. Brexit must be a choice between black and white even though it is a land of … → Read More
For Rory Stewart, the road south was the only one open
Penrith and the Border suited Rory Stewart and not just because England’s largest constituency has been represented by Scotsmen since 1955. Stewart followed David Maclean in the seat, who in turn succeeded Willie Whitelaw. Being a farming constituency, and a sheep-farming one at that, it suited a parliamentarian with a penchant for the hills and … → Read More
Little could boost Boris Johnson more than a 'government of national unity'
It is August after all; a time for grandiose and cockamamie schemes of dubious good sense and possibility. And so perhaps it is little surprise that this is the moment for a government of national unity to have its moment in the sun. A government of national unity – a GNU – would be quite … → Read More
The worst thing for a tub-thumper like Farage? Giving him what he wants
We need to talk about Nigel I’m afraid, even if you would very much prefer not to. There is, after all, a compelling case to be made that he is the most consequential politician of our time. When Donald Trump talks of Nigel Farage as “Mr Brexit” he is not entirely wrong. No Farage; no Ukip. … → Read More
We are all the butt of Labour's joke Brexit policy
Even now, at this late stage, and despite everything that has happened these past three years, Brexit retains a limitless capacity to amuse. That entertainment is sardonic, but bitter laughter remains preferable to despair. How else, though, is anyone supposed to react to the latest iteration of Labour’s Brexit preferences? For a long time it … → Read More
Stonehenge's tunnel and a battle for the soul of conservatism
Plans for a Stonehenge tunnel are both astonishing and profoundly unconservative → Read More
How Change UK botched their chance to change British politics
Change UK's hard lesson is that even a new party has to have something to say → Read More
British politics is broken — and about to get a lot worse
Britain has a ruined prime minister leading a ruined government in a ruined parliament → Read More
There's one thing stopping a Lib Dem comeback
Bollocks to Brexit may not represent a highpoint in liberal thought - but at least it captures the public mood → Read More
The breaking of Andrew Adonis is a revealing moment in our politics
As recently as last December, Labour peer Andrew Adonis averred that “British politics for the next generation will divide into those who resisted Brexit and those who promoted or appeased it. I will never fully trust or respect anyone who wasn’t in the resistance from the beginning”. That was then, however, and now is not … → Read More
Labour's defence of Assange is risible, reprehensible and revealing
The politics of the student union are the politics of the people who could soon be running Britain → Read More
Brexiteers have themselves to blame for May's meeting with Corbyn
The Brexiteers had their Brexit and then they gave it away → Read More
What Theresa May got wrong
The Prime Minister sowed the seeds of her downfall early on → Read More