Both Haydon and Philby were Oxbridge educated, brilliant men who ended up responsible for a lot of dead bodies. Extremes of left and right seem to meet themselves coming backwards in their admiration for Putin. In that same spirit of strange alliances, the hardliners of the Brexiteer wing of the Conservative UK government have something in common with Putin: the loss of Empire. Where normal attitudes and beliefs are those formed in the junior common room of Balliol College Oxford, circa 1977. Another feature of those 1970s British Marxists was their affection for Irish Republicanism.

Source: The Irish Times March 18, 2018 14:48 UTC