The Ulster Unionists I see these annoying people are trying to hold up the transfer of policing powers to Northern Ireland and Martin McGuinness has expressed irritation. No small wonder. Even the DUP is signed up to it. Apparently Sir Reg Empey is trying to use the issue as a bargaining chip to get the […]
Military Equipment. This issue has gained traction because of the allegation that parsimony at the Treasury under Gordon Brown meant there was not enough cash to buy boots, bullets, body armour, helicopters and proper armoured vehicles. Troops lives were lost as a consequence. This last doleful truth is the only unchallenged fact of this very […]
Gordon Brown It is difficult to judge the effect, if any, on voters’ psyche of Brown’s appearance before Chilcot yesterday. The papers are full of arguments about whether he did, or did not give the Generals what they wanted when it came to money and he was Chancellor. This is a big subject, not at […]
Fallujah The news of the terrible birth defects in this war ravaged city (Tony Blair, are you paying attention?) is truly heart rending. John Simpson and the BBC are to be commended for this outstanding and risky piece of investigative journalism. The most likely theory to explain this epidemic of birth deformity is the use […]
Man of Honour The news of Michael Foot’s death is very sad news. It is timely to celebrate the qualities of this remarkable twentieth century politician, man of letters, author, orator and passionate promoter of the causes in which he believed. I am afraid his left brand of socialism was not for me nor was […]
Another Prang Yesterday it seemed for just a moment, during which this blog was complimentary to the Tory effort to re-establish their campaign, that we would return to debate the issues in this peculiar election. But no. Ashcroft was all over the current affairs programmes this morning, with a clip recording Haig squirming under Paxman interrogation, sounding […]
Tory Cheer After the Ashcroft fiasco which rumbles still, the Tories needed to do something right. They have. Michael Gove’s declaration that a Tory government would put the universities back in charge of setting A levels is a good move within the terms of his education policy, much of which is confusing. Ken Clarke’s stark warning […]
The Falklands This blog goes to tricky areas of politics. The Falklands, or Malvinas as Argentina prefers, are in the news again, after nearly thirty years out of the public eye. There are two reasons. Oil and domestic difficulties of the Argentinian government. The British government has asserted that the islands will be defended if attacked. […]
Non Dom I would not have thought it possible after the various prangs of the Tory campaign thus far, that its managers would find the benefit of the Cameron speech in Brighton eclipsed by the revelation that the man, who probably saved the party from bancruptcy, pays no tax on the bulk of his income to […]
Zimbabwe Sanctions. South Africa has called for sanctions to end. I agree. Sanctions prop up the tyrannies they are designed to hurt. They deprive the ordinary people and create the opportunity for the despot in charge to bribe cronies with luxuries. The way to get rid of such regimes is to empower the people through […]