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May 10, 2006
There was an interesting article in the Guardian yesterday by Robert Harris - "Tony Blair should sack Gordon Brown and serve the full term he promised". He reminds us that,A poll of Labour party members on the weekend before the...
November 11, 2005
Millions of words have been written about this terror bill which is making its way through Parliament, and besides the obviousThe Police association might well campaign for 90/180/360 days to question suspects without charge.Civil liberties groups can campaign to reduce...
May 24, 2005
Heh heh, this is old news but I didn't notice it at the time - GWB is bringing an aircraft carrier with him to the G8 summit!The aircraft carrier is about giving America the capability to do lots of things...
February 03, 2005
The Sun's Political Editor, who knows things, is reporting that Blair and Brown have done a deal whereby Gordon Brown will become Foreign Secretary after the General Election in return for Tony Blair backing him for Premier when the time...
December 15, 2004
Without David Blunkett at the Helm, who will be the replacement Secretary of State for the Home Department? Charles ClarkeSecretary of State for Education and Skills since Oct 2002Loyal, Not scared of unpopular measures viz Tuition Fees Dr. John ReidSecretary...
The Guardian camped out at Downing Street to track the comings and goings over one full day.It may reaffirm your faith in British democracy to learn that all of the following came through (or at least up to the doorstep...
November 23, 2004
The UK government's legislative programme for the run up to a General Election was outlined in today's Queens Speech. There is a heavy focus on law and order - traditional conservative territory - and perhaps intended to secure re-election through...
November 09, 2004
Prospect features an interesting article by Anand Menon, Professor of European politics at the University of Birmingham, on what will be a struggle to ratify the EU Constitutional Treaty;Ultimately, the task of the yes campaign [in Britain] is to persuade...
October 20, 2004
The US request for British troop cover is curious. Curious that the US allows itself to be in the position of asking.Rumsfeld: To the extent they're not [able to participate], there are workarounds and they would not be involved, at...
September 20, 2004
Jack Straw, Britain's Foreign Secretary, spoke recently at Chatham House on the topic 'Shaping a stronger United Nations' in which he eloquently makes the case that todays threats to international peace and stability are as likely to come from non-state...
I've recently finished reading "Blair's Wars" by John Kampfner [Buy UK | US], an account of Tony Blair's engagement in five wars over the last six or seven years. The book examines the British PM's willingness to engage with Iraq...
August 25, 2004
Adam Smith Institute Blog on Competition in Sport:In addition if we do end up hosting the 2012 Olympics we may have encouraged talented young athletes into competing rather than just taking part.Nicely said....
August 23, 2004
Downing Street, according to the Guardian, is considering the creation of an online marketplace, a concept apparently known as National E-Markets. I had not come across this concept before just now but a little reading around the subject is making...
August 19, 2004
Ex-Labour MP George Galloway's 'Respect Party' plans to field between 25 and 100 candidates at the next General Election with, it seems, revenge as the primary goal. In an interview with BBC News Online one of the few interesting things...
August 17, 2004
I managed to miss this article a couple of weeks ago in the Guardian, Lib Dem radicals call for pro-market switch. Seemingly riding high on a wave of anti-war support, several so called 'young turks' in the party are to...
August 09, 2004
Via A Welsh View, some slightly distrubing news from The Observer, It should make us happy, but environmentalists are deeply alarmed: Prozac, the anti-depression drug, is being taken in such large quantities that it can now be found in Britain's...
July 22, 2004
Via Tom Watson, an article in Monday's Guardian by the ex-Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers, The way for Labour to win is to accentuate the positive. It discusses the 'winning formula' of triangulation which saw strategistsidentify(ing) the polar opposites in any...
July 01, 2004
Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, has published an annual review.The Annual Review is intended to give an overview of The Prince's official and charitable activities, and to provide information about his income and expenditure for the year to 31st...
June 24, 2004
Whilst browsing books today I noticed a footnote commenting that the final payment to the United States of America from the United Kingdom for assistance provided during and in the aftermath of the Second World War is payable in 2006....
June 22, 2004
And what's this nonsense about Iran seizing 3 little boats. There's a quote from the MoD in the Guardian,"It is extremely unlikely [the incident] carried a political message," a British official said. "They don't usually play games. The nuclear issue...
June 15, 2004
Peter Tatchell, Human Rights campaigner and Green Party member, argues that Green is the new Red. With George Galloway's "Respect" movement having failed to move very much, are politics to the left of New Labour dead in the water? He...
May 28, 2004
The TUC thinks that we in the UK are hard done by on public holidays - we get 8 apparently while Cyprus gets 16 and even Northern Ireland gets 10. Most sensible suggestion I reckon is the variable day so...
May 20, 2004
Two things from Andrew Neil's column / editorial in today's Scotsman. First, he chastises the Mirror for not having a proper editorial framework in place when risking their reputation with a 'young, talented, risk-taking editor.' Secondly, he addresses the (so...
May 16, 2004
According to the Sunday Times and ePolitix, if Brown succeeds Blair then Cook may get back into the Cabinet in some kind of relatively important role. My violent reaction against this little twat getting anywhere near strings of power causes...
Nice piece by Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer, Playing at Fantasy Politics.When John Smith is contrasted with Tony Blair, people are comparing an idealised version of a fictional premiership with the messy, compromised and inevitably disillusioning fact of a real...
On the 10th of June there are elections taking place in the UK. About My Vote tells you what elections are happening in your area and what issues in your life the people you elect (or don't elect) will have...
May 14, 2004
Am I just being stupid or should the onus of proof not be on the Daily Mirror and Piers Morgan to prove the veracity of the photos? It's not acceptable for them to magic up some photos, print them and...
May 12, 2004
Although Iraq seemingly remains the key to selling newspapers there have been a couple of pieces of other news in the last few days;UK unemployment fell by 48,000 in the three months to March taking the figure to its lowest...
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