Peter Rhodes on a dictator's career, the race for growth and some curious casting in a spy flick
Bashar al-Assad was not always a dictator. In the 1990s he was a student in London, specialising in ophthalmology. Who knows, if his murderous father had not died and left him the family fiefdom known as Syria, Assad might have chosen a gentler career. He should have gone to Specsavers.
One swallow does not a summer make and one opinion poll suggesting Reform UK is ahead of Labour does not a political revolution make. However, when it happens within six months of Labour winning the General Election, it matters. As a rule, a new government expects its honeymoon to last longer than this.
So what's chipping away at Labour's support? Maybe it's the way Downing Street sings the benefits of local democracy while trampling it underfoot.
