The last acceptable prejudice
Liberal Conspiracy had an excellent piece earlier this week about the discrimination and persecution suffered by Romani citizens of various EU countries. I won’t quote excerpts here as it really is worth reading the whole thing, but I am glad to see that this rarely publicised issue is finally starting to get the attention it [...]
Election - 7.25am update
So it will be a hung parliament, we know that much. The biggest story (apart from the problems with the vote itself) is the collapse in LibDem support, their overall share of the vote is about the same as last time and they are currently 5 seats down - a desperately disappointing night for them. [...]
Election - 2.45am update
Election organisers - shit. People unable to vote, polling stations running out of ballot papers, postal votes going missing.
LibDems - shit. What the hell happened to Cleggmania?
BBC coverage - shit. Andrew Neill on a boat talking to celebrities while actual results are being ignored.
Labour in the dock (again)
Even in its (probable) dying days of power Labour is still being taken to task by the courts for railroading civil liberties under the pretence of protecting national security.
As the Guardian reports
The court of appeal has dismissed an attempt by MI5 and MI6 to suppress evidence of their alleged complicity in the torture and secret [...]
Taking Brown to task on child detention
An excellent piece at OurKingdom by Clare Sambrook, who takes apart Gordon Brown’s defence of the detention of the children of asylum seekers.
We believe that history will judge the administrative detention of children to be a moral stain on the reputation of this country, akin to slavery and child labour. One day we will [...]
Socialised healthcare? Yes please!
Since I commented on Barack Obama’s difficulties last week things have improved for him considerably, with his healthcare reforms finally signed into law.
The final bill may not be entirely what many on the left were hoping for but given the entrenched interests he was battling against and the wholly dishonest and unprincipled disinformation campaign by [...]
Gordon’s revenge
It’s good to see that Labour has taken such quick and decisive action against the former ministers caught up in the lobbying sting. It would be nice to think that this is a purely principled reaction and the start of a crackdown on political lobbying and on former ministers filling their boots by taking lucrative [...]
Return of the undead
It has been another difficult week for Barack Obama, with his little problem with Israel. What with his problems getting his healthcare reforms through congress and in finding a way to close Guantanamo Bay it might be understandable if Liberals on both sides of the pond were getting slightly frustrated, so it is fitting that [...]
Amnesty and Gita Sahgal - keeping it in perspective
Flying Rodent has an excellent post here which pretty much nails the arguments over Amnesty International and its dispute with Gita Sahgal, the head of its gender unit over its “association” with Mozam Begg and CagePrisoners. There isn’t much more I can really add, except that if people are making a fuss over this because [...]
Speaker’s wife in “didn’t spend college days doing ironing” shock!
I can’t say I have any interest in the recent revelations about Sally Bercow, wife of the speaker - what people got up to in their college days is a matter for them as far as I’m concerned. However, I couldn’t help noticing this in the Mail on Sunday yesterday.
Mrs Bercow, 40, shocked the Commons [...]