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 [...]

             Listening to Mr Clegg this morning, I was struck by the central paradox. He said the most important thing the government was doing was a short term fix to cut the deficit. He rightly argued that getting on top of the deficit was essential for economic growth and stability [...]

                The week-end press had started to wake up to the private sector squeeze which we have been talking about on this website  for the last year, the squeeze which was even heralded by the Bank of England itself. The high rate of inflation coupled with a low rate of wage [...]

Total of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 363    The calamity deepens but hope is on the way. It's nearly a month since the carefully varnished flow of half-truths were emitted from Fukushima. The Japanese nuclear company TEPCO fell into the auto-pilot of 'reassure at all times' mode. All bad news was announced [...]

I set off last Sunday afternoon for a three day visit to Washington and New York. My main purpose in going to Washington was to talk to people in the Obama administration and in Congress about the Balkans (the USA maintains a strong interest in countries like Bosnia & Herzegovina, [...]

  What’s the point?  One Millionaire David Cameron is married to a millionaire. He earns a good salary. What point is he making by ‘celebrating’ with a Ryanair no frills trip? The only things that make flying bearable are the frills. Why the self-flagellation? Who is he trying to impress? Most people would regard [...]

Treasury officials and advisers are “out of their depth” when it comes to handling the Euro crisis, suggests Peter Oborne.  Apparently, despite all the warning signs for months, none of the top officials have seriously thought through what we might do in the event of one or more member states [...]

  My pre-election expectations range from realism to pessimism. I anticipated the results of all my six General Election results except the last one in 2011 and the first one in 1987.  I could have lost both. Today's poll on the Assembly Election is an extraordinary one.  The only worthwhile analysis was [...]

  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 [...]

Interesting article by Nick Clegg and Iain Duncan Smith on the need for greater social mobility in today's Telegraph.  They are absolutely right to point to the problem.  What bothers me are their proposed solutions, which all seem to be about government doing more. The coalition duo begin their article by accepting that Labour's big [...]

    O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!"    The 'giftie' gave Lembit many gifts but denied him self-awareness. Today I watch the playback of Tuesday TV programme on two cases of unfair treatment by newspapers. Paul Gasgoine's ex-wife had been grossly libelled and she engaged [...]

Sombre news from the forgotten war in Afghanistan. Ten years of vast sacrifices in blood and treasure have achieved nothing. A mob is so anti-Western that peacemakers have been lynched. The Afghan Police were impotent spectators. Perhaps this will expose the foolish optimism of Liam Fox. He still believes that an [...]

From today – 1 April – the NHS in Norfolk will enjoy an extra £54 million, to support key Government priorities such as the Cancer Drugs Fund, investment in talking therapies for those with mental health conditions, 4,200 extra health visitors, and support for carers' breaks. Spending on healthcare in our [...]

  One day in parliament Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab): To underline his claim that prisons are well run, will the right hon. and learned Gentleman remind the House of the precise number of prisons that are free of the use of illegal drugs? Mr Clarke: I would not like to guarantee that [...]

Last time I watched the TV news, the Libyan rebels seemed to have plenty of arms. When I hear people suggesting that we "arm the rebels", surely they mean we equip the rebels with what they lack;  discipline, training and strategy?  [...]

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 [...]

Why didn't I think of that? It was such a strange question that I had never given it a thought. Aled ap Dafydd asked me on the Welsh Politics Show today, 'Why did AV in Australia double the number of voters who spoil their ballot papers?.' I do not believe they [...]

A demo with everything. Well done TUC.  500,000 people who walked 30 deep and took 4 hours to pass through Parliament Square. 24 news outlets broadcast ten hours of interviews with the sensible moderate young and old demonstrators. The pictures were strong and appealingThe speeches were restrained and persuasive.  The violent scenes [...]

My column in todays Beds Times and Citizen on Libya http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/nadine_dorries_monthly_column_open_borders_mean_libya_is_our_problem_1_2527832... [...]