A UK Federation and another Guardian letter
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. Today’s Guardian publishes yet another letter from me calling for a fully-fledged federal system for the UK (if you have a sense of déja vu,...
Category: Politics
More rendition under the new US President?
Eagle-eyed Matt, frequent and welcome contributor to these columns, has sent me this disturbing message, which needs to be read with the Los Angeles Times article mentioned in the first sentence. (The article is...
Israel-Gaza: six current fallacies
It’s perfectly possible to be sickened by the dreadful atrocities reportedly accompanying the current Israeli action against Hamas in Gaza, and at the same time to be disheartened by the widespread victories of hearts...
Homage to Brian Urquhart (with up-date 5 Jan 09)
The 6 March 2008 issue of the New York Review of Books includes a magnificent demolition job in a review of the memoirs of that rascal of the far right, John Bolton, by the...
The Arrest of Damian Green MP: Part 2
According to the BBC’s latest report, The solicitor for the Home Office worker who leaked information [Christopher Galley] says he did it because it was material that was “important for the public to know”....
Arresting Damian Green MP
A huge storm has blown up in the media and among MPs over the action of the police in arresting the Tory front-bench shadow immigration minister, Damian Green, holding him for nine hours (including...
Was the attack on Iraq a crime of aggression[1]?
Today’s (20 November 2008) Guardian publishes a letter from me about Lord Bingham’s recent declaration that the attack on Iraq was illegal, and the counter-arguments by Lord Goldsmith, Attorney-General at the time, that it...
Obamas on TV, Bingham on Iraq
In case any reader of this hasn’t already heard it, President-elect Obama’s first weekly address, delivered on 15 November, can be seen and heard on YouTube at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd8f9Zqap6U . It lasts some three and...
Obamania
Last night was an exciting time to be in New York. Our younger daughter, L, voted in the morning for the first time in an American national election since becoming an American citizen: there...
If McCain wins….
An article in today’s Washington Post quotes a distinguished American academic as saying that — if … the voters pull a Truman [i.e. if McCain-Palin confound the polls and the pundits by winning], that...