My piece at Telegraph Comment on Baroness Warsi’s resignation letter prompts two broad flows of e-comment: you are mad/petty/vindictive/sexist/racist/generally revolting for criticising her grammar when people in Gaza are dying well said – she showed (again) what poor judgement she has The point that I might have emphasised more clearly is […]
I am locked in battle with the Royal Bank of Scotland over a footling issue with a credit-card. They sent me a card dated Jan 2014 that expires in Feb 2014. Shocking! Their Customer Service people have sent a long letter apologising for the letter and offering some small compensation […]
Reader Nigel Sedgwick reminds me of his long insightful comment here back in mid-2011 on the subject of where or not to draw the line when it comes to state eavesdropping. I reproduce the whole comment here. See especially his concluding thoughts (my emphasis) An understanding of the current issue […]
In case you missed it, and I have done my best to miss it, there has been a puny but noisy row in the UK media over a piece in the Daily Mail that pointed out that Ed Miliband’s father, Ralph Miliband, was a communist whose ideas – has they […]
How was President Obama’s latest Syria speech for you? Here it is. Points to note. He attempts to make the case that by failing to act against the use of CW in Syria now new risks for us will appear down the line: If we fail to act, the Assad […]
A sad case. Victoria McClure was sentended to 18 months’ imprisonment for causing death by dangerous driving. She had been adjusting her satnav gizmo and lost her driving concentration, thereby knocking over a cyclist who tragically was killed: Judge Nicholas Wood, sentencing McClure at Reading Crown Court, said she should […]
My Commentator piece about the notable developments last night in Parliament, noting three reasons why all is not (yet) lost: First and foremost, we risked ending up helping President Obama wriggle off an embarrassing immediate hook (the Syria regime boldly stepping across his own half-hearted ‘red line’) but without really […]
Down with Oxbridge hegemony: He said: “We are going to have a super Ivy League of Imperial, UCL, LSE, and then Oxbridge won’t be so apart, which must be good for our society. We are already getting towards it.” Dr Hands is Master of Magdalen College School, in Oxford, which […]
Here I am over at the Sunday Post in Scotland talking about the legendary Martin Luther King speech in August 1963: What elements make a great speech? Everything fits like a jigsaw — the words, emotional tone, audience, occasion and message. A great speech is a conversation with the audience, […]
This wonderful piece by Helena Morrissey is potentially a national debate-shifter. It says more or less everything I think about why the European Union is a fading force (my emphasis): My personal experiences of dealing with the EU on issues I am involved with have served to reinforce my view […]
