The first debate between Trump and Biden was chaotic and barely a debate at all. The fact that Trump came out swinging as he has against the press and anyone willing to criticize him ever since he started running in 2015 was not surprising, what was surprising was the extent to which he went all-in on this flawed strategy. It showed how little room he has to play with and how few real accomplishments he has to boast about. He tried to make Biden crack because if this election ends up being a referendum on Trump, he’s toast.

During the very few moments that Biden actually got to speak, he did well, he was coherent and he certainly cleared the very low bar that Trump had set for him by calling him senile, sleepy, mentally deficient, and unfit for office. He spoke directly into the camera on several occasions, putting one of his major strengths, his empathy, to good use.

When muting someone’s mic isn’t an option, there isn’t much more to do than what Biden did unless you want to get down and dirty in the mud which usually doesn’t end well for mud newbies.

The moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, said beforehand that he wanted to be invisible, but that doesn’t really work when you’re moderating Trump. Without the power to mute their mics, it becomes hard to moderate at all since Trump wasn’t going to abide by any rules regardless of how much Wallace yelled at him. Wallace could have yelled more and been more forceful, absolutely. But would it have made Trump follow the rules more than he did? Unlikely.

Trump probably didn’t gain any voters during this first debate. The gap between the candidates is still pretty large and the debate probably didn’t help Trump with the few truly undecided voters that are left.

Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacy also tracks with his comments after Charlottesville and other things he has said while in office. That doesn’t make it not noteworthy though. It just means that he still hasn’t changed despite all the hot takes about “Teleprompter Trump”.

The biggest issue is probably small-d-democratic. Those who don’t follow politics, which is most people, might have tuned in for a few minutes and immediately been turned off because what they will have seen was not pretty. The biggest bloc in American politics is not Democratic or Republican. It’s non-voters, which is a problem for any democracy, especially for one of the world’s most important ones.

BreXrated, March 2017

Britain will not be able to produce all the food it needs without the European Union. During the 2016 Wimbledon tennis tournament, 139,435 portions of strawberries were served. But Professor David Hughes, an international speaker on global food and drink industry issues, said almost the entire harvest workforce in the British fresh berry industry is non-UK. He said: “It’s largely eastern or central European. If that isn’t allowed, that industry would collapse. You can’t get a white Anglo Saxon protestant to pick a strawberry.”

Continue reading ““You can’t get a white Anglo Saxon protestant to pick a strawberry.” The food industry crisis brought by Brexit”

BreXrated, March 2017

British cinema could be slaughtered by exiting the European Union according to a leading film expert.

Ahead of the Belfast Film Festival later this month, Dr Louis Bayman, a lecturer in film at the University of Southampton, claimed leaving the EU would lead to fewer British films being made.

Continue reading “Brexit could spell the end for British Cinema”

BreXrated, March 2017

In the EU referendum last year, the unpopular, more divisive politicians won. Remain voter Rob Lawson called Nigel Farage “a horrible little man”, author Will Self called Farage and Donald Trump “grubby little opportunists” on Question Time, and Remain voter Paul Millar saw Boris Johnson “more like a chauffeur or a clumsy butler”, rather than as a politician. Millar also referred to the entire Leave campaign as a “bunch of bell-ends”.

Continue reading “Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, and Boris Johnson: The rise of the divisive politician”

BreXrated, March 2017

The negotiations concerning how we leave the European Union are due to begin this month. Regardless of how many times the Government has said Brexit means Brexit, they’ve never told us what kind of Brexit they’re going for. It has to be a soft one.

Continue reading “Theresa May has to go for a soft Brexit”

April 2015

Independent shopkeepers all around Islington are feeling the strain of competition from big business. Here, in the heart of the most progressive of Labour strongholds, the Conservatives are failing the people they need to win over to remain in government come May the seventh, namely the owners of small businesses.

Continue reading “The future of the corner shop”

February 2015

With Patricia Arquette’s Oscar speech rousing opinion all over the world, many argue that feminism has failed the underprivileged. Charlotte Young is one woman trying to turn the tide. She has for the last two years been trying to enthuse young working-class girls with the mentality and skills needed to build a successful career through her charity The Girls Network.

Continue reading “Mentoring towards success”

The possibilities brought by 3D printers are thought by some to be endless. To others, they seem a bit too endless. In recent years, 3D printing has been used to replace hearts and various other organs, cutting the cost of surgeries, with the prospect of making transplants obsolete. 3D printers have done everything from helping patients rebuild their faces after fighting off tumors, to lowering the production costs of cars, as printing a car in 44 hours requires a lot less material and manpower than traditional car manufacturing.

Continue reading “The opportunities and dangers of 3D printing”

Thursday 12th of March

Filling the satirical shoes of Stephen Colbert would be more or less impossible for anyone. That’s why American TV network Comedy Central has made the great choice of creating the opposite of the pseudo-conservative bastion that was The Colbert Report.

Continue reading “Review: The Nightly Show”

October 2014

Islington North, and Islington South and Finsbury. Two constituencies. Two Labour MPs. But how similar are they really? Jeremy Corbyn, 65, has been representing Islington North since 1983. Emily Thornberry, 54, has been representing Islington South and Finsbury since 2005. Both have three children, both campaigned against the war in Iraq. But during a much shorter time in parliament, Emily Thornberry has risen much quicker within the party.

Continue reading “Corbyn vs Thornberry: Standing outside the middle ground will hold you back”