Afghanistan The Taliban have told the BBC (John Simpson, the world’s top foreign commentator in my view) that they are winning and will not talk to NATO. Allied troops have just suffered their worst month for casualties. Congress has blocked $4 billion of aid because of corruption among Afghan officials. Gen Patraeus hints that he may […]
Refreshing There is something refreshing about this new government as Ministers begin to challenge really difficult problems which have remained in the background for too long, or been subject to the wrong approach. This does not mean this Blog approves of every proposal but it does mean that the drifting, common to fag end governments of […]
Tightening the Police Belt The way we have organised a police system in the U.K mainland is financially daft, with every county or city having its own dedicated and independent force to do everything. In Northern Ireland there is one police service for the whole province, which is better, though direct comparison is difficult because of special […]
Spy Thriller There is a rather surreal B movie aspect to the arrest of the Russian ‘spies’, engaged in information gathering operations in the U.S of apparently non-classified information which any savvy political commentator or investigative journalist would have access to. False identities and information exchange in the most unsophisticated but melodramatic circumstances, which if […]
G 20 and Recovery There is an interesting sub-text developing. This blog has repeated many times the need to re-balance our economy on with manufacturing at the heart, reducing reliance on the City and services. There needs to be more saving and less borrowing. Especially we need to import less and make more of what […]
Home Again We do not yet know who will win the world cup, but we do know for sure England have not just been defeated in this tournament; they have been beaten. There is something not quite right with English football. Too much money, too much celebrity, too much rope, but not enough character and […]
Moving to Work I see nothing wrong in moving towards regional employment opportunities. People have been doing this since the dawn of the industrial revolution. Before that they moved to more fertile land. It is right to make it possible to vacate council accommodation and benefits in one location, to a similar situation, but with […]
Special Relationship Having spent years cringing at the unlikely coziness between Bush and Blair which produced one of the most toxic political partnerships of modern times and having consistently advocated a more independent view of British interests informing our foreign policy, I am very comfortable with the Cameron/Obama chemistry. I think Obama understands our need to […]
Tribal States Further emphasis is given, if any were needed, to the complete miscalculation of the Afghan project by understanding the precarious nature of tribal states. Colonial powers and other conquerors have, down through the pages of history, created stable regions by imposing a universal discipline on diverse tribal and ethnic interests. All is well […]
Helping the Poor Although the Budget has been promoted as fair and spreading the pain, it is a fact of life that austerity directly impacts the quality of life of the poor, whereas it only affects the comfort of the better off. In the last great austerity period in the years after WWII, there was full […]