Agreeing to disagree
Gordon Brown's 'government of all the talents' would be far more effective if people like Lord West were allowed to stick to their own opinions
Gordon Brown - countering terrorism with more quangos ?
Gordon Brown's Security Statement in Parliament this afternoon probably deserves some proper analysis later.. The existing CONTEST counter terrorism strategy has been a disaster on the "hearts and minds"and propaganda front, so it was interesting to hear Gordon Brown announce a flurry of activity involving departments other than the Home Office.
Paddick: Rocket Man for Mayor?
Brian Paddick, the controversial former top cop chosen by the Liberal Democrats as their candidate for London Mayor, is being backed by rock legend Sir Elton John. Paddick, Britain's first openly gay senior policeman, operated a softly-softly policy on cannabis when he was Metropolitan Police commander in Brixton, south London, a strategy condemned by many MPs.
Voting With Their Wallets
You see it's like this- when customers call the shots, suppliers have to provide what they want. Hence the current moves by independent schools to abandon the government's increasingly whacky National Curriculum and implement one based on what parents want. For primary level pupils this would include more emphasis on spelling, multiplication tables and key historical dates, at the expense of the Commissars' preference for parenting skills, obesity, citizenship and homophobia.
Grumpy Gordon
Gordon Brown’s performances at PMQs get no better. He comes across as bad-tempered and petulant. Today, he was asked repeatedly by David Cameron to say when he was told by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that thousands of illegal immigrants had been found to have been employed in various sensitive security positions, including guarding the Prime Ministerial car.
Why can't Brown answer a simple question?
Back in October in the last session of Parliament, I spotted two completely benign questions to Gordon Brown, one from Anne Main, the MP for St Albans, and the other from the MP for Cambridgeshire South and Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley. Which said,
PMQs: Vince tackles Gordon on Northern Rock
Our glorious acting leader, Vince Cable, once again proved what an asset he is to the party at this afternoon’s Prime Minister’s Questions, demanding to know (i) if it’s true that the Government has loaned Northern Rock a mammoth £24bn of taxpayers’ money; and (ii) if yes, that the money will be repaid with interest in the lifetime of the current Parliament. Unsurprisingly, Gordon ignored both questions.
Inept or Corrupt? How can the EU's accounts be wrong 13 years running?
I read that the EU's accounts have, for the 13th year, been rejected by auditors. A question for all the Europhiles. Is the EU corrupt or inept? Either way, it's something we ought to be more critical of.
Is Gord’s biggest flaw that he hates Tories?
Should policy be about more than just wrong-footing Dave? For me the defining image of the Brown premiership was the look on his face (above) while the chancellor, Alistair Darling, was announcing Labour’s inheritance tax plan just eight days after the Tories had made this the centre-piece of their conference.
Why liberals and the left should champion constitutional change
Today [Thursday] is the day in Parliament where a lucky few MPs are given the chance to make law. 20 MPs’ names are pulled out of Black Rod’s stocking* who are given the chance of bringing forward a Private Members Bill that has a realistic chance of becoming law. The higher up the list, the better the chance.
Brown is making Blair look liberal
Having endured a decade of authoritarian Labour rule under Tony Blair, I had hoped we were set for a less authoritarian premiership with Gordon Brown. How could I have been so stupid as to think that the psychologically flawed control-freak who ruled the Treasury with an iron fist would be any different as Prime Minister?
Tories: forward to the past
The following is my response to Tim Montgomerie's survey of Tory candudates - it appears on today's CiF section of the Guardian website. Tim Montgomerie seems to revel in the fact that his latest survey indicates that the Tory party is moving further and further to the right. Indeed he appears to be quite happy that his leader's attempt to ensure that candidates selected reflect the caring and compassionate side of the Tory party has spectacularly failed. According to Montgomerie the collective views of newly selected Tory candidates will give heart to the Thatcherite wing of the party and cause the likes of Ken Clarke to ponder where it all went wrong.
Extended detention
What are the government up to on the great 28 days or more debate? They believe that their opponents - in the Tories, the Liberal Democrats and the pressure group Liberty - have conceded that there might be circumstances in which it is necessary to detain terror suspects without charge for more than 28 days. That unlikely coalition has pointed to existing emergency powers that allow detention for an additional 30 days.
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