The Right Dishonourable

It will doubtless relieve many of you to know that Labour has quietly set up its constitutional commission, touted last year by leader Keir Starmer as the union’s saviour. Early in February Labour’s city mayors and a combined authority met with former prime minister Gordon Brown, beginning the exciting proceedings.

Amid the usual bromides about political disquiet, one comment by Sheffield mayor Dan Jarvis was striking. “People in England need and deserve a better democracy as much as people in any other part of the country,” he said, calling for “the devolution we need to take back control”, presumably with a wink.

Charles Moore of the Spectator reports that the Times is dropping courtesy titles in its writing. Where once Charles would have been Lord Moore, he will now be merely Moore on second mention.

Such are the peculiarities of newspaper style guides. In my experience as a trade hack few subjects engage an editorial desk more than house style, which like the British constitution accrues unevenly and unwritten under various whims, until nobody really understands it.

There is a song I’ve been listening to lately. I hear the words when silence fills my head. Although the message is quite crude, I must confess I like the tune. The song’s thoughts may be foolish, but they prompt what I write next.

That song is Be More Kind by Frank Turner. The lilting melody evokes Ralph McTell’s Streets of London, and the message is not so different. According to Turner, the world has decided it’s going to lose its mind. The answer is that people should try to be more kind.