The Noblemen of the UK Supreme Court
As every UK newspaper-reader and television-watcher ought to, but probably doesn’t, know, since the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876, the judicial work of the House of Lords has been done only by the 12 most...
Brian Barder's website and blog Brian Barder's website and ephems
AFK Monday 12 Oct to Thurs 15 Oct
I’ll be Away From Keyboard from early on Monday, 12 Oct until late on Thursday the 15th, spending a few days with old friends in Edinburgh. During that time I shan’t be posting on...
Will everyone please stop obsessing about debt and start worrying about unemployment?
In a Comment is Free article about the Tory obsession with the level of Britain’s national debt, Ken Livingstone aptly quotes the distinguished Conservative economist Sir Samuel Brittan writing in the Financial Times on...
On being nasty to the ‘first lady’ (not)
In today’s Observer the columnist Catherine Bennett makes a spiteful attack on Sarah Brown, the prime minister’s wife, principally for her failure to denounce the practice of female genital mutilation when she spoke briefly...
That was my week that was….
More disconnected reflections on the past week’s news and experiences: I’m no great admirer of Gordon Brown, but once again you have to feel sorry for him. His visit to New York for the...
Jobs, debt and cuts: which and when — an election quiz
Try to stifle that yawn at the prospect of yet another discussion of cuts: if we’re not careful, that’s what the general election is going to be about. What it should be about is...
The threat of UK disintegration: time for a federal alternative (with update 13.ix.09)
On the always stimulating Our Kingdom website (“a conversation on the future of the United Kingdom“, part of the City University‘s[1] OpenDemocracy network) there’s an interesting if somewhat academic debate in progress about the...
Nursing in the NHS: a scandal of our times
The standard of nursing in many (not all, but many) NHS hospitals is appalling. Almost everyone has experienced, or knows friends and relatives who have experienced, atrocious and negligent treatment by nurses in NHS...
On Ethiopian famine reunion, Stephen Grey and other pieces and bits
Some random jottings about current happenings: I was slightly disconcerted this morning, lying in bed half-asleep with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on in the background, suddenly to hear my own voice for...
British decolonisation was an unrecognised success
On the admirable New York University Aidwatch blog, Professor Bill Easterly has set us an interesting teaser. He asks us to guess the source of a document about British aid. In quoting his blog...