What is it with J ‘n’ J over at the Guardian? First we had this Jonathan Steele going to Hell. Now we have Jonathan Freedland frothing himself up about eastern Europe’s horrible predisposition to Nazi-style extremism: … a brand of ultra-nationalistic politics that would repel most voters in western Europe. It […]
Liam Murray does a good job in suggesting how British National Party leader Nick Griffin might best present himself on TV tonight when he joins a controversial BBC Question Time panel. The excellent point being that if the other panellists want to be seen to show Griffin up as a nasty […]
Listening to sundry BBC interviews with sundry intolerant Anti-Fascists trying to disrupt the Question Time programme tonight, I started to think about something my Catholic friend mentioned yesterday, namely the Death of Common Sense. Here is one well-travelled account of his (sic) tragic end. And there’s the book: But the […]
Every time I swing past Keith Hennessey’s site I am struck by how fine a job he does in explaining complex big things. Look at his vivid account of how different graphs can be used to show supposed improvements in the US jobs market – and the real-life numbers of […]
The BBC is running a radio series on FCO Valedictory Despatches, a now lost art-form in which Ambassadors gave Whitehall the benefit of their Views on leaving a post and/or leaving the Foreign Service altogether. One of my first postings on this site described my successful late-night lunge to suppress freedom […]
As the lugubrious examination of UK MPs and their expenses drags on, the way new Parliamentary candidates are chosen attracts keen interest. The Bracknell constituency has been selecting the Conservative candidate to run for Parliament next time round, using an Open Primary format. Uber-blogger Iain Dale was one of the seven people […]
Tory Bear does some digging on the Labour Party’s zany allies in the European Parliament. And strikes gold. Or does he? He is unimpressed with Mr Andrzej ("It is impossible to rape a prostitute!") Lepper: Where to start with their leader and the sleaze, the criminal activities and the general […]
For those readers interested in Funny British Ways, here is another one. We here have a body called the Press Complaints Commission which presides over a Code of Practice giving some rather specific guidleines on how the ‘press’ whould behave. Here they are. If a member of the public is […]
Reader Ken Buxton writes to point out the elegant writing and political prescience of Lawrence Durrell, author of the Alexandria Quartet. I had a shot at that massive work years ago and reeled away defeated. But I recall a stunning, lyrical description of an early morning duck-shooting expedition. The reader […]
