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 [...]

It’s difficult to get excited about the AV referendum.   It will probably be won not because of the merits of the AV system, not even because most people necessarily understand what it means, but because by 5 May the Tories, who are campaigning hard for a ‘no’ vote, will be very unpopular.   However, [...]

The news from Fukushima is dreadful. But some of the honeyed words and contrived deception persists. 'Smoke' is reported from an unknown source. No radiation measure is published. There is no smoke without fire. Here there is smoke without a radiation leak. What is burning? Spent fiercely contaminated fuel rods are [...]

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 [...]

  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 [...]

This week I have been very involved in looking into the Government’s welfare reforms, which ensure that people are always better off in work than on benefits – a vigorous work programme to provide people with the help they need to get into work, and adequate training where [...]

This morning we had none other than the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, sitting in front of us, ready to be grilled, at our Treasury Select Committee meeting on financial regulation and inflation. Obviously we get an advanced programme so we know who we are due to [...]

I was taken a back earlier in the week to hear that the number of private meetings, mainly dinners, that senior officers of the Metropolitan police held with News of the World representatives. A spokesman for the Metropolitan police gave a nonchalant response saying only “Senior officers from the Metropolitan [...]

    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 [...]

If you're in any doubt about the virtues of using open primaries to select Parliamentary candidates, read this brilliant piece by Sarah Wollaston - the first MP in Britain to be selected in such a way. Sarah Wollaston explains what is so wrong with a political system in which MPs are [...]

The 1,600 documents leaked to al-Jazeera TV and the Guardian confirm one’s worst fears and open up a nightmare of reprisals and an inexorable slide to war.   The revelations of confidential Palestinian records tell a dreadful story of a nation not only crushed by overwhelming military power, but betrayed by its [...]

There are many other disturbing issues about PC Mark Kennedy’s 10-year under-cover rampage against environmental activists than whether he slept with a number of female participants to gain information.   Perhaps the most obvious one, which seems to have gone unremarked on so far, is how it is justified for the police, given the pressure on resources [...]

  All hail PASC! The splendidly independent Public Administration Committee that frequently challenged the Labour Government is now taking on the Tories. Today's exposure of the futility of the promised savings from the Bonfire of the Quangos is splendid evidence of the value of independently minded select committees. We say  that the coalition [...]

Today is the day that VAT rises to 20 per cent. More or less every time you buy something (with the exception of food and some other items), you’ll have to give the state a fifth of the value of the transaction.  Even with a new growth Tsar, I’m not sure [...]

Total number of deaths of British soldiers in Afghanistan = 349   Retired General Dannatt tells the Telegraph readers that we must hold on in Afghanistan. Hold on to what? The Observer accurately reflects the hopelessness of our prospects of success. The total of 349 is nearly twice the total of British [...]

Ivan Lewis, Labour spokesman on such matters, has written to Jeremy Hunt requesting that the Commons select committee confirm the appointment of the next BBC Trust Chairman. However much I’d prefer not to admit it, Lewis is absolutely right.  It is simply wrong that the executive arm of [...]

The latest figures (from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) now show there are 3.7 million children in Britain today living in poverty.   This is conventionally defined as living in households with a total income of less than 60% of the national median income, in other words with less than £230 a [...]

Overwhelming support for a full and independent investigation, into News Corporation’s bid to buy the remaining 61% of BSkyB that it does not already own, is revealed in an ICM poll of 2,006 people published today. Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Jeremy Hunt will receive an initial report from Ofcom on [...]

The Guardian informs us that the Downing Street policy team will be beefed up in the coming year with the appointment of more civil servants. Phew!  What a relief. For a moment there might have been a danger of involving those we elect to the [...]

  The greatly respected former Shadow Attorney General David Howarth writes convincingly in the Guardian tomorrow. The former MP for Cambridge concludes that the Telegraph has broken the rules and committed a criminal offence in entrapping the MPs. His article concludes: "Did the journalists and their editors intend through dishonest false statements to [...]