As the elections on May 5th approach, Labour is doing well in the opinion polls, considering the scale of its defeat last year, its guilt in the financial crisis and its lack of any new ideas. It was to be expected that the Coalition would become unpopular as the effects of the financial renewal took […]
Misrata may just be Gaddafi’s undoing. Up till now he has played his hand with considerable skill. Calm in Tripoli, from which mostly unhindered media correspondents report 24/7. Fighting up and down the road to Benghazi and for the apparently deserted towns in between. The attack on Sirte, Gaddafi’s birthplace, repulsed. Weathering vastly superior NATO firepower […]
In this most peculiar military operation, the three leaders of it, Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy have taken to writing a joint article for the newspapers to set out their stall. The goods on the stall are not quite those advertised nor are they the ones their stall is licenced to sell. Moreover, there are issues of […]
It is now clear that the problems so many feared are now taking effect. There was no exit strategy, so no clear military objective. Protecting civilians in a civil war is a concept incapable of impartial application. UNSCR 1973 was a political declaration, requiring military action, with a humanitarian objective. A No Fly zone by itself […]
There can be no doubt that the Department of Health is in serious political trouble over its reforms. How it got there is a mystery. The broad thrust of the new ideas are right. Detail can be adjusted. The Bill is half way through Parliament. Yet opposition grows, Milliband grows more strident, Lib Dems are […]
Neither of these two items of good news was expected. Both, probably, will be reversed in the coming months before settling into a downward trend, so not too much should be read into these pieces of welcome data. Nevertheless they do show that things are not going in the direction of the borrow more now brigade of […]
Another straw in the wind of industrial re-generation is the restoration of car assembly at Longbridge, iconic birthplace of Austin cars and last surviving component of the home- grown British motor industry, until the final marque, MG, went bust in controversial circumstances six years ago. The wreckage was bought by China’s largest motor manufacturer and […]
Yesterday Alistair Darling was arguing on the Radio that Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley did not have investment banking arms and they both went bust, so separating investment banking was not all is was cracked up to be. This reveals an area which has not been talked about of late and which now needs […]
The toughest job in the Government at the moment is that of Andrew Lansley. He is paying a very heavy, but perhaps deserved, price for lack of candour during the General Election and screwing up on the communications for his important reforms to the NHS. The price he is paying is that the Tories are spooked, Cameron is […]
The interim report of the ICB is welcome. The government can now consult and consider. In the autumn the Full Reprt will appear. The government will then decide what to do. Its record for sticking to its guns is beginning to look patchy. Osborne is weak on the banks while strong on the deficit. The Lib Dems […]