Dr Reid, the (mercifully) departing home secretary, has been explaining that if judges and ministers insist on obeying the letter of the law, they may fail in their duty to protect citizens’ lives — an unusual attitude to respect for the law for a home secretary in office [More >>>]
The almost unintelligible PR system for Scottish elections has produced a virtual stalemate in which almost anything could happen and the chances of a stable and consistent government look slim [More >>>]
The evidence does not support the recently repeated myth that in resigning over the Falklands war, Lord Carrington and his FCO ministerial colleagues were selflessly carrying the can for the errors of their officials. But the myth persists [More >>>]
The Virginia Tech horror can’t justify the government’s misconceived plan to lock up untreatable people with severe personality disorder in case they might otherwise commit a crime, “just to be on the safe side”. Another example of risk-averse ministers trying to guard against any accusation of complacency or inaction [More >>>]
My letter in today’s (12 April 07) Guardian is another attempt to publicise the virtues of a fully federal system for the UK, the only sensible and durable answer to the West Lothian question. We mustn’t let the right-wing Little Englanders hijack it [More >>>]
Some more linguistic or conceptual howlers, mostly from or quoted by the Guardian [More >>>]
The Iranian kidnapping of the fifteen Brits has divided UK opinion into romantics who blame the Brits for not resisting capture and for cooperating with their captors, and those who are relieved that they were released without bloodhsed. The usual suspects condone the Iranians’ action because they ‘understandably’ hate the British [More >>>]
My meme on what I was doing the day the Iraq war began: watching the destruction of Baghdad live on TV with horror and disgust, but distracted by simultaneously selling our house, by an imminent visit to New York and by a computer bug [More >>>]
The prisons inspector reports on the inhumane, unjust and shaming way in which foreigners who have served their prison sentences have been treated because of panic in the Home Office [More >>>]
Lord Turnbull broke a basic rule by denouncing Gordon Brown to a national newspaper. But it’s not that straightforward. The Guardian doesn’t understand that civil servants like strong ministers so long as they listen [More >>>]