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 [...]

  The Guardian listed me as one of the only four MPs who are opposed to the UN decision on the 'no-fly zone.' They have been misinformed. I have made no comment either way, publicly or privately. I feel conflicted about the decision but on balance I am in favour. This is [...]

  Tomorrow will the day from hell for the coalition.There are likely to be statements on Japan and Libya. The indefensible Prince Andrew may again come under critical attack. The world is traumatised by the nightmare images we are witnessing from Japan. I am sure the Government and charities will do all [...]

As Gadaffi totters and Saudi Arabia, the Big One, comes into the Arab revolution’s sights, the hypocrisy that has long held the Arab states in bondage is coming home to roost.   The West’s deal with the Arab dictators is coming unstuck, big time.   Despite all the Western pretensions about democracy, [...]

    You could not make it up. I have been banging on about the potentially corrupting revolving door. Top Civil Servants, Ministers, Generals could be tempted by retirement job prospects into acting for their own interests rather than those of the country. That is why the watchdog (ACOBA) to be given teeth. Sir [...]

Not for the first time the Lockerbie narrative is being distorted out of all recognition for political ends, first by the US-UK governments in the 1990s, then by the UK Government and the Scottish Executive in 2009, and now by Cameron in his statement to the Commons yesterday.   Cameron’s line was that [...]

  It was like asking questions of history. A trinity of Cabinet Secretaries faced the Public Administration Committee this morning. I confess to being slightly awe-struck. Their very names are a thunderous roll-call of power, Lord Armstrong of Ilminster GCB, CVO, Lord Wilson of Dinton, GCB and Lord Turnbull of Enfield, KCB, [...]

    One Tory MP said I was 'cruel'. I thought I had been kind. Three-brained Oliver Letwin appeared before the Public Administration Committee this morning. He bristles with brilliance and shines with charm. I told him how I had emitted a whoop of joy on reading one of his speeches. He [...]

  Never before has the world has no much news. But we are still denied the truth. John Pilger quotes Lloyd George in the First World War, ‘If people really knew the truth,’ he said, ‘the war would be stopped tomorrow.  The reporting of Afghanistan is through a distorting mirror of state [...]

First report of the Wikileaks revelations suggests a blast of truth on Afghanistan. These vital truths could have ended our involvement in the conflict years ago and saved many lives. But truth is a rare commodity in War. The Ministry of Defence are still insisting on censoring press reports. The allegations [...]

Lord Young was not short of money in 2007. Neither was Cameron or Osborne. As the sons of millionaires, they have never been short money in their entire lives. I was asked on BBC News tonight how my constituents would react to Lord Young claim that they have never had it [...]

   President Hamid Karzai has promised to end the activities of a protection racket that guarantees passage for NATO convoys. His deadline for closing down the activities of the hired guns of warlords and gangsters was December 17th. There are reported to 40,000 armed men whose allegiance is often to the [...]

  Simple question: stupid answer. Liam Fox’s contemptible answer to my question how many recruits (a) enlisted and (b) deserted from the Afghan Army and Police in the last 12 months had no figures for desertions. This is crucial stuff. The plan is to recruit more than 100,000 new mercenaries in the [...]

  Do you have your own Army? It's one of the oddest questions I have ever been asked. In the Philippines, the home of my questioner, some MPs do. They also have $2 million each to spend as they desire in their constituencies.   'Doesn't that lead to corruption? [...]

Whenever such a cat’s skein of evasion, misleadingness, distortions and downright lies unravels, there is always a serious and dangerous abuse of power at the root of it.   And that applies here, big time, for all the participants – the police, the Home Office and Home Secretary, the News [...]

Coulsongate is throwing some very important light into a very murky area.   It now seems clear that the police knew that the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and the News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman had illegally intercepted the voicemail messages of many more politicians, sportsmen, celebrities and others [...]

The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) was a good Tory innovation – so long as it’s genuinely independent and not merely a Treasury creature.   But ever day the news cries out for another good innovation – an Office of Corporate Responsibility (OCR).   Take today’s news.   BAE wined [...]

Like three shining pinnacles emerging from a sea of dross and doublespeak, three wise men spoke today. Professor Donald Light described the pharmaceutical industry as a "market for lemons" - one in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product, and takes advantage of this fact. "Sometimes drug companies hide or downplay information about [...]

The link is to a vote buying exercise in China. What happened in Birmingham over the past 10 years involved Labour vote buying in various ways. £500 for a bag of postal votes. £5-15 per postal vote and £5 per personated vote cast by a personator in [...]

Total of British Soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 324 'There is no confusion' says the Coalition. We are pulling out of Afghanistan in 2011 or 2014 or 2015 and, of course,  we'll also be the last to leave. Is that clear? But we are definitely leaving. We have an exit strategy at [...]