Immigration Of all the issues this is the most sensitive and raises the rawest passions. Racial prejudice hovers menacingly at the edge of every argument. The subject gets high ratings in the league of things people worry about. I accept there must be some orderly and fair quota of new immigrants because we are a small […]
Complaint Nick Griffin is to complain about the way the format of Question Time was altered and a hostile audience assembled to subject him to an onslaught of anger, criticism and derision. The difficulty is that the doctrine of the BNP is pretty repugnant to many, indeed most, people in this country and therefore some […]
Prince Andrew I have read the interview in full. The Prince does a useful job promoting British business successfully and with sincerity. His comment about bonuses was very unwise and showed a lack of sensitivity not only to the plight of ordinary people in his country, but little understanding of the sacrifices they are being […]
Question Time Well, it’s happened. We saw Nick Griffin perform. I doubt his party will gain many votes. There were some wonderful contributions from the audience. Any strength the BNP has is a measure solely of the weakness of the mainstream parties and their failure to connect with a new, better informed, more cynical and […]
Economy Latest Anger has broken out again as the huge bonuses begin to reappear in the City. The difference is that this time these payouts are dependent on a foundation of taxpayers cash. The argument for this is that the City produces so much tax revenue that we must go to any lengths to preserve […]
Foreign Affairs Latest It is good news that we would not vote with the US and Israel in the U.N Human Rights Council. Abstaining is better than nothing but it would have been better to accept the Report on the Gaza Conflict. The problem for quite a few countries was the convoluted nature of the […]
Health Back in the news today with the latest health watchdog (yet another) saying over 12% of Trusts delivering poor service in key areas. This is not good. If you were told by an airline that over 12% of their planes fell into the ocean, you would fly by someone else. Health should not be an […]
Expenses Footnote This thing gets worse. The spectacle of protesting MPs, claiming ‘injustice’ over Sir Thomas’s review because ‘he changed the rules retrospectively’ is appalling. He did not change the rules. The Green Book states quite clearly the significant limitations of the Additional Costs allowance. It allowed MPs known as ‘Honorable Members’ to use their […]
Expenses and the Constitution Not only have we had the revelations of unimagined expenses paid with our money for MPs who had lost touch with reality, but we now have to watch their posturing to avoid doing the decent thing. Never mind what the rules were. We all know they were ridiculous. Sir Thomas Legg has […]