Articles by Tom Harris MP
Tom Harris MP
And another thing…
I WON’T make a habit of writing new blog posts in order to explain why I’ve given up blogging, but I really feel I need to assert a few truths here.
I just did an interview for BBC World Service who, believe it or not, wanted to discuss why I’d given [...]
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Tom Harris MP
A blessed relief
IS IT just me or does every blogger consider, in advance, what title he’ll give to the last post he’ll ever write?
I considered “The last post” but dismissed it as too predictable. “So long and thanks for all the comments” would have stuck with the whole Hitchhiker’s Guide to the [...]
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Tom Harris MP
Person the barricades!
TOWARDS the end of David Aaronovitch’s brilliant book, Voodoo Histories, the author delivers this gem:
… disenfranchisement – a word which has become ubiquitous in recent years, and seems now merely to mean not getting your way.
It’s a definition that would not be recognised by Laurie “Smile-a-While” Penny, whose most recent [...]
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Tom Harris MP
A battle of wits between two unarmed combatants
AN EXCHANGE in the Scottish Parliament this week:
John Scott (Ayr) (Con): As the minister knows, the UK tourism minister is on record as saying that moving the clocks forward permanently by one hour would give a boost to leisure industries. Although that might be the case, can the minister confirm [...]
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Tom Harris MP
The absurdity of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
I WAS curious about the nature of the comments by the journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown which inspired the Tory councillor from Birmingham to make the unwise Twitter threat against her.
I met Yasmin for the first time recently when we were guests of Iain Dale at Sir Cliff’s 70th birthday concert at [...]
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Tom Harris MP
A miserable little electoral system
CLICK to enlarge.CLICK to enlarge. [...]
Tom Harris MP
Honesty about immigration
I AM LOATH to venture into this area once more, but I feel I should respond to Mehdi Hasan’s attack on Phil Woolas over at The New Statesman today.
The Statesman, John Rentoul reminds us, abandoned its traditional support of Labour during the Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election in 1995 in which [...]
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Tom Harris MP
The New Politics, Part 27
NICK Clegg shone some valuable light on the nature of The New Politics this afternoon.
The first aspect he highlighted is one with which all readers of this blog will be familiar: the New Politics makes a positive virtue of ditching manifesto commitments, in this case the LibDems’ previous opposition to [...]
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Tom Harris MP
The Woolas row is about loyalty, not racism
I WAS not present at Monday’s meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) but had I been, I would have voiced my concerns about the way Phil Woolas has been treated.
Now, before you go off on one and start accusing me of condoning racism, don’t bother because I’m not. But [...]
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Tom Harris MP
The Ipsa rulebook: ©Lewis Carroll
"I like to put six impossible things into the rulebook before breakfast," said Sir Ian Kennedy to Alice, the confused new intern
BEST. Email. Ever.
It was sent by Ipsa to a Labour colleague who had made an email enquiry about how to fill out forms to reconcile his travel costs. I [...]
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Tom Harris MP
Believe me, I’m just as surprised as you are
I TOOK the quiz, I answered as honestly as I possibly could.
And despite recent protestations at how right wing I am, this is the result:
I know! Looks like they’ll have to look again at their questions… [...]
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Tom Harris MP
In praise of Tim Loughton
PERHAPS I should start a new series of posts entitled: “Things I wish Labour had done when we had the chance”…
A friend told me last week of the difficulties he and his wife had had in trying to adopt a child. They were given the chance to adopt a girl [...]
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Tom Harris MP
Welcome to the blogroll: Better Nation
SOME unexpected and rare free time this weekend has allowed me to make a necessary, if belated, update to my blogroll, with the addition of Better Nation.
This is the collaborative effort of three of Scotland’s very best (though politically unsound) bloggers: James “Two Doctors” Mackenzie, Jeff “SNP Tactical Voting” Breslin [...]
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Tom Harris MP
Vote ‘yes to AV’ to keep the coalition in power
SURELY even the staunchest of AV supporters in the Labour Party must now be rethinking their position?
The Independent have reported that the Tories are considering offering an electoral pact – if the Alternative Vote is introduced – with the LibDems, in which each party would urge their supporters to cast [...]
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Tom Harris MP
Whatever happened to Guy Fawkes’ Night?
WHATEVER happened to Guy Fawkes’ Night?
Everywhere you look, November 5 is referred to as “Bonfire Night”. I even heard it referred to as “Fireworks Friday” on the radio this morning.
What’s that all about, then? When I were a lad, the spectre of the 17th century terrorist was constantly invoked. His [...]
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Tom Harris MP
MP uses most tenuous excuse yet to write a Doctor Who post
I BUMPED into the actor James Smith last night. Fans of The Thick Of It will recognise him as Glen, Nicola Murray’s hapless special advisor at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship (DoSAC).
I know him a bit from a previous encounter – a genuinely lovely bloke without any pretentions, [...]
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Tom Harris MP
No room for fudge in the fight against terror
A HANDFUL of terrorist suspects are, as I write, effectively under house arrest. They are considered so extremely dangerous by the security services that they are being closely monitored; who they associate with is severely restricted.
Control orders aren’t an ideal solution, but they’re better than all the alternatives.
I don’t intend [...]
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Tom Harris MP
‘What would they say if we had done this?’ Part 1
THE FIRST in a new series of posts highlighting the absurd double standards of Labour’s online and media critics.
And today, how about them Frenchies taking over our navy, eh? Reaction among the right wing media has been neutral at best, a touch sceptical at the very worst. There’s been some talk [...]
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Tom Harris MP
Behold! The perfect argument against votes for prisoners
Click here to view the embedded video.
Iain Dale and Guido have both carried this already, but it’s worth posting here to let you see a killer celebrate his (wrong) belief that, in his gleeful words, “murderers, rapists, paedophiles – all of them” will soon have the vote, courtesy of the [...]
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