15 October 2015 Week in Brief: UK LEON BRITTAN: The Metropolitan police have apologised to Lady Brittan, the widow of Lord Brittan of Spennithorne, for their failure to inform the Brittans that rape allegations against Lord Brittan had been abandoned before Lord Brittan’s death from cancer. An investigation by the BBC’s “Panorama” programme has cast… Continue reading Issue 24: 2015 10 15: Week in Brief: UK
Tag: EU
Issue 21: 2015 09 24: Power To The People?
24 September 2015 Power To The People? Keeping the role of politicians in context. By John Watson Many of those who in the 1960s demonstrated in the streets crying “Power to the People” would have found it difficult to explain what they meant by it. After all, then as now, we lived in a parliamentary… Continue reading Issue 21: 2015 09 24: Power To The People?
Issue 21: 2015 09 24: DECLINE AND FALL
24 September 2015 DECLINE AND FALL? by Neil Tidmarsh This week, the EU struck yet another blow against democracy in Europe. An EU ‘qualified majority vote’ has imposed compulsory immigrant quotas across the zone (though not in Britain, which has an ‘opt-out’). In other words, the giants France and Germany have forced the smaller countries… Continue reading Issue 21: 2015 09 24: DECLINE AND FALL
Issue 20: 2015 09 17: Corbyn sets the stage
17 September 2015 Corbyn Sets the Stage by John Watson As the Corbyn circus roars ahead it is worth reflecting for a moment on how it is to be melded into a coherent opposition. There are already disparate views within the shadow cabinet on a wide range of issues. The shadow defence secretary favours Trident.… Continue reading Issue 20: 2015 09 17: Corbyn sets the stage
Issue 20: 2015 09 17: News in Brief: UK
17 September 2015 Week In Brief: UK NEWS LABOUR LEADER: On Saturday it was announced that left winger Jeremy Corbyn had been elected leader of the Labour Party with nearly 60% of the vote. Tom Watson, who comes from the centre of the party, has been elected deputy leader. Mr Corbyn’s team includes John McDonnell as… Continue reading Issue 20: 2015 09 17: News in Brief: UK
Issue 19: 2015 09 10:INTERNATIONAL NEWS
10 September 2015 Week in Brief:INTERNATIONAL NEWS AFGHANISTAN: Thirteen Shia Muslims were murdered in Balkh province. The Taliban have condemned the attack and have blamed it on Isis. In-fighting among the Taliban has broken out as break-away factions challenge the power of its new leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, and some defect to Isis.… Continue reading Issue 19: 2015 09 10:INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Issue 19: 2015 09 10: Notes from North of The Wall
10 September 2015 Notes from North of The Wall by Antoninus ‘If the Scots want independence, let them go.’ How many saloon bar conversations have included this glib judgement over the last few years? The truth is, notwithstanding the unremitting noise of Scottish nationalists, most Scots have never said they want to leave the Union.… Continue reading Issue 19: 2015 09 10: Notes from North of The Wall
Issue 18: 2015 09 03: Week in Brief: UK NEWS
3 September 2015 Week in Brief: UK NEWS CHILCOT ENQUIRY: The row over the delay in producing a report into the war in Iraq continues as Sir John refuses to name a publication day. Blame has been placed on the quality of the first draft of the report and on uncooperative tactics by witnesses who… Continue reading Issue 18: 2015 09 03: Week in Brief: UK NEWS
Issue 17: 2015 08 27: Tianjin: It Tolls For Thee
27 August 2015 Tianjin: It Tolls For Thee By John Watson Children with a taste for philosophy used to ask each other a difficult question. “Which would you prefer,” they would say, “the death of someone close to you or the deaths of 1 million foreigners?” That was of course a trap. Any child would… Continue reading Issue 17: 2015 08 27: Tianjin: It Tolls For Thee
Issue 12: 2015 07 23 Viva La Siesta! Viva la Diferencia!
23 July 2015 Viva La Siesta! Viva La Diferencia! by Neil Tidmarsh Three cheers to Spain this week, for offering us weary Europeans a little respite from the gloom and doom of Greece’s never-ending Euro disaster. And let’s face it, a little goes a long way these days. From Ador, near Valencia, comes the news… Continue reading Issue 12: 2015 07 23 Viva La Siesta! Viva la Diferencia!
Issue 12: 2015 07 23 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
23 July 2015 Week in Brief: INTERNATIONAL NEWS BAHRAIN: A man accidentally blew himself up during a failed bomb attack on police in a Shia village. CAMEROON: The wearing of burkas and veils has been banned in the Far North region, following a suicide attack by women bombers which killed 14 people. CHINA: The state… Continue reading Issue 12: 2015 07 23 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Mr Tsipras’s Tactics
09 July 2015 Mr Tsipras’s Tactics by John Watson Old hands at litigation will tell you that if you are stuck for a strategy you can do worse than to imagine yourself in the other side’s position, work out what it is that they would like you to do least and then do it. It… Continue reading Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Mr Tsipras’s Tactics
