Ministry of Truth

With barely a whisper of a mention in the dead tree press, the single least interesting election in British political history is taking place as I write, that of the new Speaker of the House of Lords. To someone not steeped in the oddities of the British parliamentary […]

Forget all this crap about the search for a ‘British identity’ – you’d be better served setting out on a Snark hunt – if you want to see the real meaning of what it is to be British then everything you need to know is this story… Scotland […]

Last night’s defeat in Blaenau Gwent seems to have prompted Gareth Davies to revisit some old ground on the issue that caused a schism in the local party before the last election, the imposition on the local CLP of an all female shortlist during the selection of the […]

Buried deep down under Blair’s headlong rush to ‘rebalance’ the criminal justice system in favour of the ‘rights of the victim, one finds this salutory reminder that things aren’t always quite so simple and clear cut as them may appear. Even if you don’t remember the name, you’ll […]

If, as Jay Leno suggested, politics is showbusiness for ugly people, then parliamentary conventions such as private members’ bill and early day motions must be something akin to Warhol’s oft-cited aphorism about everyone having ‘fifteen minutes of fame’. The majority of EDMs and PMBs often seem to be […]

Any credible list of the greatest films of all time must certainly include at least one by the great Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa, and if one is forced to choose only one of his films for such a list then that film would almost certainly be his 1950 […]

As spineless capitulations go the recent efforts of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor to reignite the debate on abortion on the back the technical arguments about foetal viability is up there with the best of them, whether that be the pseudo-science of the so-called ‘intelligent design theory – which manages […]

A national ‘respect squad’ is being launched by John Reid to help in the battle against anti-social behaviour. Local councils, MPs and police chiefs will be able to call in the squad to help tackle cases of "yobbishness". The squad, which will work across Wales and England, consists […]

From yesterday’s Observer… The home secretary’s decision to move scores of paedophiles out of hostels next to schools backfired spectacularly last night amid concerns many were now under less stringent supervision than before John Reid’s unprecedented intervention. A Home Office source told The Observer that many of the […]

Abortion is back in the news, courtesy of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor – excellent commentary here by Owen Barder, by the way –  so it should come as no particular surprise to note that while researching the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship’s campaign on the draft Sexual Equality Regulations, I discovered […]