Our Man at the Vatican
The latest appointment of the British ambassador to the Holy See breaks with tradition in two significant ways, and has aroused strong objections in the Vatican [More >>>]
Category: Politics
Ruth Kelly and the plague of pervs
The hysterical witch-hunt over rabid child abusers being cleared in their thousands by the Education Secretary to infest our schools (according to the media) should be treated with scepticism [More >>>]
Torture and the diplomat, part 2: a closing exchange
Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, commented courteously and informatively on my Ephems entry about his position on the use of torture-tainted information and his action in publishing classified documents. Here is my response to his comment [More >>>]
Torture and the diplomat’s role
Craig Murray’s campaign against the use or even acceptance of information suspected to have been got by torture, not only as evidence in court, but even for further investigation by the security service, is worthy but unsustainable [More >>>]
The home secretary’s disingenuous response to the torture ruling
My letter in today’s Guardian seeks to expose the misleading and perverse character of the home secretary’s reaction to the law lords’ ban on torture-tainted evidence [More >>>]
Inequality, opportunity and meritocracy
Our prime minister totally misunderstands the dire implications of untrammelled ‘equality of opportunity’ and a meritocratic Britain [More >>>]
Harold Pinter’s Nobel lecture
Pinter at his most savage, eloquent and quirky in receiving his Nobel prize [More >>>]
Finding excuses for torture
Devising unlikely scenarios and finicky definitions to justify torture is a shameful and unacceptable activity [More >>>]
The Law Lords on torture: magnificent, but for the worm in the apple
A splendid judgment by the law lords banning the use of torture-derived evidence in UK courts, but imposing a test for determining whether torture has probably been used which in practice can never be satisfied: no wonder the home office is happy! [More >>>]