Pressure grows on Sir Ian Blair
The press this morning are almost unanimous in calling for Sir Ian Blair to resign. While we should not forget that the Met was operating under incredible pressure that day in almost panic conditions, the verdict does reveal a devastating set of failures. It is hard to see how Sir Ian Blair can restore the public’s confidence in the police.
Teacher, leave those libs alone
If headmasterly Chris Huhne is to compete against Clegg, he must find more to talk about than the environment.
Clegg and Huhne need to pare it down to basics
The Lib Dem leadership campaign is starting to get spiky. Good, it’s past time for a bit of frankness. And while Nicholas Blincoe’s attack on Chris Huhne over on Comment is Free is ad hominem enough to make even me blush (making up a pretend speech impediment and then taking the piss out of it is in the gutter even by my standards), his criticisms of Chris Huhne’s stance on the environment aren’t a million miles from my own yesterday.
Tell Chris Huhne to lay off the negative campaigning please !!
I cannot be the only person who is concerned about Chris Huhne's apparently "negative" words used against Nick Clegg, can I ? Did Chris Huhne really need to say "Britain does not need a 3rd Tory party"? After all, isn't one of those questions that does not need to be said unless you are trying to imply something?
Paul Tibbets and Enola Gay
Paul Tibbets, pilot of the plane that dropped the Hiroshima bomb, died today. (The plane he flew, the Enola Gay, was named after his mother.) You can read a jaundiced account of his career on BBC News Online. There is much to be said about Gen Tibbets's long life and public service, but one characteristic stands out. He was, on the accounts of those who knew him, a humane man who reflected publicly and thoughtfully on the A-bomb decision, the lives it cost and also the lives it saved. His view never wavered...
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
Sir Ian Blair is refusing to resign, apparently, despite the outcome of the Jean Charles de Menezes case. Should he stay, or should he go? Meanwhile, here's an excellent piece about Sir Ian from a recent book which a few of you may have read. Took me for ever to type it in, but in case you haven't read it...
Who’ll be the next resident here?
The next PM will almost certainly come from one of three distinct scenarios and it’s probably helpful if the field of candidates is grouped into three sections to fit these. Firstly, if Brown were to fall under a political or health-related ‘bus’, there are those people who have the political stature and position to replace him now or in the next two years; secondly, there are those within the Labour Party who could be in a position to replace him at some point after the next election should Labour win it; thirdly, there are those outside the Labour Party who could replace him if Brown serves through to a point when Labour is forced from power - and this could be either a straight election loss or a resignation in a hung parliament following or in anticipation of the loss of a vote of confidence.
Libertarians and Monarchy
Devil's Kitchen and Peter Risdon are having a debate about the monarchy. First, can and should a libertarian be a monarchist? Second, should we adopt DK's particular plan for giving the monarchy 'hard' power within our constitution again? I should qualify that I am not a libertarian so am writing about a doctrine not my own. While I still have relatively liberal views on many touchstone social issues, and always come up as a strict libertarian on the silly ideological tests, I am philosophically conservative. However, I still have a feel for libertarian thinking from my student days, I should be okay.
Latest Scottish Polls
Almost a month since it was carried out the most recent YouGov poll for the SNP has been published on the YouGov website, I know some of my readers have been anxiously awaiting it! The topline voting intention figures for Westminster are CON 18%, LAB 42%, LDEM 11%, SNP 27%. Compared to the last general election the Conservatives are up 2 points, Labour up 3 points, the Liberal Democrats down 12 points and the SNP up by 9 points. It was conducted between the 1st and 4th October. To put this is context, when this poll was conducted at the beginning of the month YouGov’s GB polls were still showing a 4 point Labour lead.
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