The Right Dishonourable

In the wake of Britain’s latest nil points earning entry – editors, insert applicable year – many of you will be wondering why exactly the Eurovision Song Contest is so bad.

Masochists who hate-clicked the title will of course be screeching in protest already. For some Eurovision is a key date in the calendar, artistically and politically potent. But you people are wrong. It is bad, and you should feel bad. 

Competing in the London elections is a pricey affair. Contesting the mayoralty requires a £10,000 deposit, refundable only if you get over 5% of first round votes.

The London-wide assembly seats have a similar requirement. Parties have to stump up £5,000 to get on the ballot, and need more than 2.5% of votes across London to get their money back.

Earlier this week, Guido Fawkes brought back it’s occasional spotlight on the Twitter bitch fight of the week. This is not always a gendered affair, but in this case it pitted two women against each other: Grace Blakeley and Faiza Shaheen.

Blakeley is a leftwing academic and pundit, currently writing for Tribune magazine. Shaheen is an inequality wonk and former Labour parliamentary candidate. In theory they are on the same team.

Twitter is a professional hazard for any ambitious person. And the latest tweeter to make a twat of himself is Howard Beckett, a candidate to lead the union Unite and member of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

This week saw outrage in Glasgow over the attempted detention of two Indian nationals over suspected immigration offences. Amid the fury, Beckett criticised the home secretary Priti Patel, setter of immigration policy.