They Blog For You

Arising from the dross and trivia of the national newspapers today are some beacons of truth. Julian Glover in the Guardian says the unsayable. "Afghanistan is already yesterday's war, though it is still to be tomorrow's defeat".  The Independent escapes from the current events of the day, to remind us of a [...]

Last night I was put through my paces by an audience in Oxford on BBC Question Time. I was quizzed on the NHS, social mobility, arts funding cuts and the AV referendum. You can watch the episode again here . We had a feisty debate on the NHS - unbelievable for [...]

  Part of the excitement of the coming Assembly Election result is the prospect of a fresh group of exciting new AMs. Until Monday I expected one of those to be Mari Rees. When I cheerfully answered the phone to Mari’s father my friend Caerleon Doctor Russell Rees on Monday I had [...]

The BBC’s Robert Peston latest blog seems to suggest that politicians should hand over their power to oversee media regulation to state-regulator, OFCOM.  Instead of those we elect deciding things, Mr Peston appears to want “the regulator’s word” made final, “politicians wholly removed from the decision-making process”. [...]

http://bit.ly/i5xfiM http://bit.ly/hEmEcw http://bit.ly/hdovDj  http://bbc.in/fOTyVX   First item,... [...]

Early this morning I did a pre record interview with Ann Furedi from BPAS which went out on BBC R4 Woman's Hour. I have yet to access i-player to see if Woman's Hour broadcast everything Ann said, however, in the pre cut interview Ann declared hersel... [...]

Pupils from Claires Court Schools have interviewed Theresa as part of the BBC’s School Report challenge. The School Report takes place every year and gives children aged 11 to 14 the chance to make their own news reports on issues of concern to them. Theresa was interviewed by Year 9 [...]

I just did an interview on the Daily Politics about public spending cuts - and why the government was actually finding it rather more difficult to curb spending than the rhetoric suggests. It is a mathematical fact that total public spending is actually set to rise from £669 Billion in the last year of Labour, to a projected £740 Billion [...]

  Former pal and MP Gordon Prentice reports from Canada:  "Michael Thompson, an inventive councillor in Toronto, has claimed $300 expenses to cover the cost of a pastor  “blessing his workplace” at City Hall. His office is blessed at the start of every new Council term. Even Westminster’s most ingenious and resourceful [...]

This morning, on BBC Breakfast, Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey gave a revealing interview . He speculated that ground troops may be used in Libya and that they may be there for some time: Mr Harvey was also questioned on whether there would be a ground force entering Libya, and whether [...]

The rhetoric is all about tough action to restore sanity to our public finances.  The maths suggests a different story. Far from cutting public borrowing, in February the public sector borrowed £11.8 Billion - the greatest amount the British state has borrowed in any February ever.  If that was not bad enough, it [...]

I’ve a question on the Commons Order Paper today asking the Chancellor what steps he’s taking to reduce inflation.  It could be rather timely given that the Retail Price Index has just hit 5.5%.    Assuming I get the chance to ask it, I wonder what his reply will be? [...]

                Reform have produced a sensible pamphlet entitled “Off balance” prior to the Budget. Unlike many commentaries about the last five years it agrees with this website that large errors made by Central Banks and Banking Regulators in leading western economies caused the violent boom and bust cycle. It was [...]

It's a long time since I've written a letter to the Guardian. Their untrue reports yesterday has prompted dozens of requests for interviews from the media. They lose interest when they hear what my opinion is. The letter reads:-   "Having never expressed an opinion, privately or publicly, on the subject, I [...]

I awoke to the BBC revealing some of the details from 1979-80 from the Thatcher archive. As always, and as then, the talk was about the cuts not working. If they cared to look back at the figures, they would see that in her first year in office Margaret Thatcher’s [...]

It was a bracing interview this morning with someone named Ian. A pal from campaigning days in the early 80s contacted me with the message ‘Just like old times’. In 1980 a small group of us met in Aberystwyth to establish the Welsh Anti-nuclear Alliance (WANA). This morning’s interviews on Radio [...]

  Only three MPs questioned the Prime Minister this afternoon on the developing nuclear crisis. David Cameron said he was not going to ‘rush to judgement’.  I asked him to avoid rushing to complacency on nuclear safety. ‘The pictures of the two explosions from Fukushima have already churned up deep-seated fears of [...]

Following the votes-for-prisoners episode, we were told that there was to be a Human Rights Commission.  Good.  It's purpose would be to investigate a British Bill of Rights and address growing concerns at the way key public policy matters are decided in courts, rather than Parliament.  Excellent. But [...]

  On March 3rd, the Public Administration Select Committee heard from Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude. here are a selection on uncorrected exchanges. Tremble for the future of the country.     Q194  Paul Flynn: I think I feel inspired by this born‑again socialism that we are hearing this morning.  You do not believe in [...]

Yesterday several hundred protesters stormed a court in Birkenhead and "arrested" the judge.  Challenging the authority of a court like that is wrong. However, it does raise an interesting question; on whose authority does a judge preside? The simple answer is the Crown's.  Those we elect determine the law.  Judges [...]