Mr Milburn and Mr Brown
Alan Milburn tells Andrew Marr that he will, but doesn’t think he will, challenge Gordon Brown for the leadership but that we must all cross that bridge. Confusing? [More >>>]
Brian Barder's website and blog Brian Barder's website and ephems
Bird flu — scare-mongering? Now perhaps: later, no.
The dangers of widespread deaths in the UK from bird flu caught from birds are limited, but those from a human-to-human flu pandemic all too real. Department of Health information and advance planning are impressive and thorough [More >>>]
Why Charles Taylor shouldn’t be on trial
Charles Taylor was eased out of the dictatorship of Liberia on the promise that he would be allowed sanctuary in Nigeria. That promise was broken by his arrest in Nigeria to be put on trial for war crimes. This will make it much harder to persuade future dictators to step down peacefully because they won’t trust promises so easily broken [More >>>]
Need a passport? You’re nicked for the database
Ministers claim to be honouring their promise that ID cards would initially be voluntary by linking inclusion in the ID database to passports and claiming that passports are voluntary. It’s true! [More >>>]
Hands off the limited powers of the Lords!
In exchange for accepting a mainly elected House of Lords, Tony Blair wants to impose fresh limits on its already limited powers: curing one disease and infecting the system with another [More >>>]
Norman Kember comes home: foolhardy or rational?
Norman Kember, released from his Iraqi captors by the SAS and others, asks in his homecoming statement: was I foolhardy or rational? One of the easier questions, surely [More >>>]
Detention without trial, Mark 4
The government’s bid for power to detain indefinitely people with untreatable severe personality disorders is the fourth manifestation of an inexhaustible appetite for detention without charge or trial, contrary to human rights obligations and centuries of tradition [More >>>>]
Howlers: a selection
A new collection of examples of torture inflicted on our beautiful language, often by copy editors and sub-editors rather than the writers named (and shamed) [More >>>]
Who is this ‘strong thinker in terms of right and wrong’?
Description of a head of government (try to guess which one) with a strong belief in his own motives [More >>>]
Peerages: a job, not an honour
Selling peerages for party donations isn’t new, but it stinks. It would smell less bad if we recognised that a peerage is a job, not an honour, or should be [More >>>]