Rational, Secular, Equal 11th February 2012: I rejoice at the fact that a court has ruled that it is illegal for local councils - which are supposed to be concerned with civil administration - to order councillors to take part in "prayers" during, or under the auspices of, a secular council meeting. Such meetings are no place for the propagation of superstitious mumbo-jumbo. Also welcome is that bigoted homophobic hotel owners have lost their attempt to be allowed to discriminate against customers on the basis of sexual orientation. If people don't understand the basics of the law against discrimination, they should not be in the business of providing services to the publi in the first place.
Council Tax 2nd February 2012: Under Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London's portion of Council Tax went up by 153% in 8 years. Under Boris Johnson it has gone down by 1% in 4 years. I know which of the two I will vote for in May.
Welfare Reform 29th January 2012: It is entirely sensible and proper that there should be, in a time of general belt-tightening, a reasonable limit on household incomes of families living on benefit. The proposed cap of £26,000 - equivalent to a gross salary of £38,000 - is substantially more than the average income of a working household. The moaning nincompoops who whinged about it on TV should not expect their luxurious lifestyles to be subsidised by those worse off than themselves; the dinosaurs in the House of Lords who tried to exclude child benefit from the Benefit Cap have demonstrated yet another reason for reform of the Upper House.
Falkland Islands 21st January 2012: The government of Argentina is using increasingly aggressive language and rhetoric in pretending that the Falkland Islands somehow belong to Argentina, and in threatening the possibility of invasion. If the Falkland Islanders were to be subjected, once again, to the tyranny of a foreign dictatorship, then they would have to be liberated by force again, as they were in 1982. I have always said that when I become Prime Minister, I would never use nuclear weapons; but I may be changing my mind in response to the renewed threat. The theory of nuclear deterrence relies on the enemy never quite knowing whether or when one might use nuclear weapons. Am I joking or bluffing when I say that the liberty of 2,000 British subjects is worth more to me than the lives of 20,000,000 Argentinians? That is the question which President Kirchner and her successors will have to ponder, if they ever decide to invade again.
Human Rights 18th January 2012: It is excellent that Human Rights judges have upheld the important principle that a suspect cannot be extradited to a country where he might be prosecuted using evidence gathered from torture. Abu Qatada may well be a nasty person, but it is well established that evidence obtained from torture is unreliable as a means of establishing truth; it must be inadmissable in order for its use to be diminished or stopped. It is peculiar that whenever judges uphold human rights and decency, a minority of hysterical reactionaries tend to jump up and down in a frenzy of indignation as if the end of civilization is imminent.
Stephen Lawrence trial 6th January 2012: The successful conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 shows the value of the revised law on "double jeopardy", whereby an acquittal can only be quashed (and a retrial ordered) if there is substantial new evidence available. It would be wrong to allow the police to pursue serial retrials on a trivial basis until the "right" verdict is reached. The delay of two days before the jury reached verdicts also demonstrates that the jurors must have considered carefully the issues at stake (such as the possibility of cross-contamination) without being dragooned by media pressure into quick convictions.
Kim Jong-il 19th December 2011: I am saddened to hear of the sudden death of the Dear Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Comrade General Kim Jong-il, at the age of 69. I send my condolences to the people of the DPRK and the Workers' Party of Korea. I hope that all countries, especialy the USA and South Korea, will be sensitive and constructive in wanting to help North Korea forwards peacefully and in a progressive way.
Diamond Jubilee 14th December 2011: It is a brilliant idea that other senior members of the Royal Family - including the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the extremely gorgeous Prince Harry - should represent Her Majesty the Queen in visiting the various countries of which she is the monarch, in the year of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations. This is an excellent was of showing how the Monarchy is flexible and adaptable in adjusting to the increasing age of Her Majesty and the modern conditions of the world and Commonwealth.
European Union 13th December 2011: We have witnessed the hilarious, but alarming, spectacle of foreign MEPs demanding that the UK should be "punished" for daring to use a veto in the protection of its national interests, comparing the UK to a rejected suitor, or saying that those who are not "at the table" must become "part of the menu". With such deranged and unrealistic morons in office in the institutions of the EU, it is only a matter of time before the whole rotten edifice comes crashing down into oblivion, just as the USSR did. When it happens, it may be just as quick and unexpected.
European Union 10th December 2011: All Hail the Great and Glorious Prime Minister David Cameron! He has vetoed a proposed new EU treaty which would have moved towards fiscal union. In doing so, he has gone beyong the level of EU-scepticism which was reached by Margaret Thatcher when she agreed to the Single European Act in 1986. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has meanwhile shown once again that he always jumps onto the wrong bandwagon, going the wrong way, in the wrong direction, for the wrong reason.
Respect Must be Earned 6th December 2011: Yesterday at the meeting of Croydon Council, I was waiting politely to be asked to stand up for the Mayor at the beginning of the meeting. Instead, I was subjected to an impertinent demand that I should "stand" without any reason being given. The mace-bearer needs to learn, and to remember, that it is an invitation not a command. No employee of the Council has the authority to order anybody to stand (or do anything else) in the public gallery, and all employees must accept my decision about whether I do so.
Religion in Schools 30th November 2011: The Education Secretary Michael Gove wants to send a copy of the King James Bible to every school in the country. Why? They should have their own copies anway in their own school libraries. In any case, it is none of the government's business to spend taxpayers' money on shoving superstitious mumbo-jumbo down the throats of innocent children. Will he also waste money on sending the Qur'an? "New Democracy" by Mao? The work of Charles Darwin? If not, why not?
Eurozone Crisis 21st November 2011: The prime ministers of Greece and Italy have resigned, and their governments have been replaced by emergency coalition and technical administrations, because of the horrendous debts and financial crises which they have suffered. The root cause is that Greece was allowed to join the Euro by fiddling the figures and stretching the admission criteria, and also because successive governments have borrowed too much money to pay for public sector workers and extravagant pensions. Spain has also dumped its left-wing government as it moves towards austerity measures. Bizarrely, Lord Heseltine says that the UK should still join the Euro some time. Will David Cameron dump his as an advisor? He's obviously bonkers.
Eurozone bail-out 3rd November 2011: Greece's prime minister has said that he intends to ask the Greek people in a referendum whether they approve of the proposed bail-out package which is designed to rescue Greece from its economic difficulties, by means of austerity measures and reduced debt repayments. The referendum question may ultimately be asked in the form of whether Greece should leave the Euro completely. It is not entirely unexpected that governments in other Eurozone countries have reacted with outrage at this example of democracy in action; it is also a clear indication that such countries were foolish to bend the rules to allow Greece to join the Euro in the first place.
EU Referendum 24th October 2011: The House of Commons voted today on a meaningless, non-binding, motion calling for a referendum on UK membership of the EU. It would be a distraction and an irrelevance to conduct such a referendum at a time when the people are not psychologically prepared for it, and when the referendum is not attached to any specific EU treaty or reform proposal, or to specific legislation for withdrawal. Furthermore, the experience of the AV referendum shows that the voters often do not vote according to the issue itself, but according to peripheral issues to do with the image or popularity of the proposers and opponents of the subject.
Order of Succession 22nd October 2011: It is proper that the Monarchy should be modernised and kept up-to-date with modern cultural views, by removing gender discrimination from the order of succession to the throne. I fully support the proposals to ensure that the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be next in line to the throne, whether it is a boy or a girl. Ideally, this should be made retrospective so that it will apply to all of the Queen's descendants; I want Peter Phillips to be 5th in line to the throne rather than 11th.
Colonel Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi 20th October 2011: It would have been preferable if Colonel Gaddafi had been captured alive so that he could have been brought to trial at the International Court in the Hague, so that he could answer for his crimes in arming the IRA, bombing Berlin, killing WPC Yvonne Fletcher, and, most importantly, the thousands of ordinary Libyans who were maltreated, tortured and murdered in Libya's prisons and secret police dungeons. In the absence of such a trial, it is fitting that Gaddafi's final moments were a chaos of bloody wounds, manhandling, pain and gunshot wounds. He felt a small part of the suffering which he and his gang of criminal henchmen inflicted on the Libyan people for four decades. Now, after his death, we look forward in solidarity with the Libyan people towards the building of a new, free and democratic Libya. It should also be remembered that the Jamahiriya system was a fake and bogus simulation of democracy; it was a mechanism for filtering out and blocking dissent rather than allowing it to flourish. Real power in Liby from 1969 onwards was always in the form of brutal military dictatorship and repression, at the behest of the words of one crazed but charismatic megalomaniac. We do not regret his passing.
War in Afghanistan 7th October 2011: The intervention of the western powers in the war in Afghanistan has been ongoing for ten years. Within three years, the American and British forces will have withdrawn, President Karzai will have retired, and the Taliban will still be a potential threat. Hundreds of lives of British service personnel have been lost, and the situation will not be significantly better. A decade of imperialist misadventure has been futile. It should serve as a warning that the UK should not intervene willy-nilly into other countries' civil wars without a great deal more thought of what the final purpose is intended to be.
Meredith Kercher Murder 3rd October 2011: I do not know whether Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were involved in any way in the murder of Meredith Kercher, or not. Only they know that. The lessons which must be learned from this tragic case is that justice must be done; a conviction in a murder trial should only be reached on the basis of proper evidence, which has been properly collected, analysed and interpreted according to the best available standards of scientific investigation, and cannot safely be based on speculation, supposition, rumour, scandal, moral hysteria or unsubstantiated accusation. In order for guilty criminals to be convicted and punished in future cases, and not to have their convictions quashed by default, the Italian police need to learn to investigate properly in future in a way they clearly did not in the Kercher case.
Murderous Dictators 27th September 2011: Two documentary programmes last night ("Panorama" on BBC1 and "Exposure" on ITV) provided compelling evidence of the murderous activites which have been carried out on the orders of the dictators of Syria and Libya respectively. President Assad of Syria has ordered his military to torture and beat children as young as 11 for spraying graffiti, and to shoot unarmed peaceful demonstrators. Colonel Gaddafi of Libya - who has now been overthrown but not yet captured - actively provided substantial arms and weapons to the IRA and thus contributed to the murder of hundreds of UK citizens over many years, as well as the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984. I hope that both of these murderous tyrants will be captured alive and brought to justice at the International Court, and that democracy will be built in their countries for the benefit of their people.
Cultural Upliftingment 25th September 2011: Two separate events happened this weekend which, in their own ways, are symptomatic of all that is best in Britain, and which evoke the liberty, constitutional stability and quintessentially calm and placid nature of the United Kingdom, as well as bringing about cultural, political and intellectual upliftingment of the experiences of the people. The annual party conference of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party took place in Fleet, at which songs, poems, space hoppers, badges and sausages contributed to the enlightenment of the people; and the Last Night of the Proms took place at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, with profound and highly cultured classical and patriotic music being played. It is such things, along with the monarchy, which make me feel privileged and proud to be a subject of the United Kingdom.
Constituency Boundaries 22nd September 2011: The Boundary Commission has proposed substantial changes in the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies, which will mean substantially more constituencies crossing borough boundaries, and - in some cases - combine completely different communities and areas in the same constituency. This, in itself, is not new; there are several constituencies already which are awkward combinations such as "Gateshead East & Washington West" or "Wythenshawe & Sale East". Such results are inevitable when representatives are constrained to be elected from single-member constituencies of a similar size. In the case of Croydon, the proposals for Croydon North and Croydon East are good and should be supported. The combination of "Croydon Central & St Helier" is a more awkward combination, and it has the wrong name. There are two St Helier wards, only one of which is included (the other will become part of Sutton & Cheam) and it would be better to call it "... & Wandle" or "... & Beddington Park". Similarly, the proposed "Purley & Carshalton" should be called "Croydon South & Carshalton" because most of its electorate is still within Croydon.
Food 15th September 2011: Reports suggest that a large proportion of people are so stupid that they can't tell the difference between "use by", "best before" and "display until" when they are buying or using food. Some people even throw away perfectly good food as soon as it has passed its "best before" date, instead of eating it like normal people. If they are too stupid to tell the difference, they should buy a dictionary. If they are so mad that they want to buy food and then throw it away, they should leave it in the shop, cut out the middle-man and send me the money instead.
History 4th September 2011: My great-great-great-great-grandfather Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823) invented the power loom, and his factory was wrecked by Luddites. His brother John, like me, was a prominent progressive political campaigner. Perhaps they could have joined forces and created the Power Raving Loomy Party?
Dale Farm 2nd September 2011: For ten years, a large area of Green Belt land in Basildon has been illegally occupied by a substantial number of people who do not have planning permission for their encampment. Finally, they have lost the last stage in the legal battle to have them evicted. The local people have been extraordinarily tolerant in leaning over backwards to tolerate their criminal and anti-social occupation for the last few years. As well as being illegal and disruptive to the local community, they are also dishonest in pretending to call themselves "travellers". They are no such thing; they have not travelled anywhere for ten years. I am at a loss to understand why the police did not go in to remove them at the stroke of midnight with all force necessary and with all due robustness, and to enable them to travel in the way they purport to want to.
9/11 Conspiracies 30th August 2011: People who believe any of the various conspiracy theories about the events of 9/11 - that it was perpetrated or encouraged or allowed to happen by western intelligence agents, or that any of the planes was made to disappear or that the buildings were rigged with explosives - are often reasonably intelligent. That they seem to be impervious to the logical arguments which easily and rationally disprove such theories seems to be a side-effect of the fact that they are psychologically unable to accept the basic fact that mass murder was perpetrated by a few individuals, in spite of the overwhelming power and sophistication of intelligence and military establishments and institutions. The memory of the 3,000 victims, and the interests of their relatives, is served best by remembering to focus on the sordid, uninteresting truth of what happened, rather than the imaginative and exciting fiction of the conspiracy theorists.
Libya 22nd August 2011: The downfall of Colonel Gaddafi from his position of paramount power in Libya appears to be imminent. This, we welcome. But it should not be assumed that whatever new government that emerges will necessarily be democratic, freedom-loving, tolerant, or pro-western; or that the civil war will immediately end. The rebels have been divided among themselves, and all sorts of unfavourable outcomes are possible.
Electoral Reform Society 11th August 2011: Here are my thoughts about the forthcoming ERS Annual General Meeting and Members' Meeting:
Special Resolution 1 seeks to destroy the primary purpose of the existence of the ERS. The people who proposed it should explain why on Earth they joined ERS in the first place. Anybody who supports it should resign from the ERS immediately.
Special Resolution 2 is misguided; it is possible to have a contested election for the Presidency, just as there was in 1998.
Special Resolution 4 is profoundly undemocratic. It would undermine accountability of candidates and choice of the voters.
Members' Meeting, Resolution 3 is insulting, patronising and completely bonkers in both its assumptions and proposed remedies. Resolutions 4 and 7 are irrelevant to the ERS.
London Riots 8th August 2011: The rioting which afflicted Tottenham on Saturday and Enfield yesterday has today spread to several other parts of London, including the town centre in Croydon. There is no logical or rational explanation for any of the rioting, looting, arson and criminal damage which has happened, other than that the people who did it are evil criminals. The way for the police to stop a riot is by overwhelmingly disproportionate retaliation at an early stage. If the police had kicked the ectoplasm out of half a dozen rioters in Tottenham on Saturday, it would have scared the ectoplasm out of hundred of others, and the trouble would have been nipped in the bud.
Tottenham Riots 7th August 2011: The fatal shooting by police of a man in Tottenham on Thursday, and the circumstances in which the police were shot at, must be properly investigated. There must however be no suggestion that there is any connection between that incident and the rioting which hit Tottenham yesterday. There is no logic which says "a man was shot dead by police, therefore I will burn a car". The people who set fire to cars, businesses, homes and a bus, did so because they chose to. They decided to commit arson and criminal damage. There is no other cause for the rioting other than choice. No time needs to be wasted in investigating social conditions, or community relations with the police. The rioters must be pursued by the full force of the law. I grew up in the 1980s. There was a Conservative government and high unemployment, but I didn't riot. I stayed in my bedroom and read politics textbooks.
Libya 27th July 2011: It is a mistake by the British government to recognise the Libyan rebel organisation as the legitimate government of Libya. Instead of allowing the UK to keep the door open for any options of withdrawal or disengagement, it paints the UK into a corner of not wanting to stop the campaign until Colonel Gaddafi is removed - one way or another - from power.
Norway Massacre 25th July 2011: The massacre of 76 young people in Norway by an Islamophobic racist extremist will not succeed, and should not be interpreted in achieving, a crackdown on civil liberties or basic western freedoms. It was not just an attack on the Norwegian Labour Party, but on the entire liberal establishment of Europe of which we should be proud. The noisy singing of the seagulls during the minute's silence was a metaphor for the fact that life goes on as normal, and that freedom is too strong to be destroyed or damaged by one crazy criminal. In the words of the Norwegian national anthem, "Yes, we love this country... We also, when called upon, will strike a blow for its peace".
Addiscombe Skyscraper 21st July 2011: This evening, the Croydon Council's Planning Committee approved plans for the construction of a 55-storey skyscraper in Addiscombe, near East Croydon station, despite considerable concerns from local residents about disruption, shadows, and the social impact of the scheme. Although the 11 committee members voted along party lines (6 Conservative, 5 Labour) I do not doubt their sincerity. On balance, I was against the proposal, but it was clearly finely balanced in the arguments. Such decisions are made according to rational criteria and planning laws, and the process should not be mistaken for being merely a measurement of short-term popularity or popular opinion.
The Murdocalypse 20th July 2011: The continuing saga of the hacking scandal which has engulfed the Murdoch media empire, and numerous politicians and police officers who have had various types of contacts with those journalists, is particularly boring and bewildering to me. I keep hearing a torrent of allegations against people whose names I have never heard of, as well as tenuous and unrealistic attempts to smear the reputation of the Prime Minister by association. David Cameron's only "crime" was to employ a man who made errors in his previous job. This was a perfectly proper act of giving someone a second chance or rehabilitation. It is ridiculous to blame Mr Cameron for any crimes which Andy Coulson may have committed in his previous employment. It is also regrettable that the ongoing coverage of this scandal - serious though it is - has sidelined other serious issues such as the famine in Somalia and the economic crisis in Greece and Italy.
News International 13th July 2011: The stench of criminality has spread from just the News Of The World to other newspapers in the Murdoch group. It is right that political and public pressure has resulted in the News International bid for BSkyB being abandoned, and it is hoped that all the allegations of phone-tapping and other corruption will be properly investigated.
News Of The World 10th July 2011: Today, the last ever edition of the News Of The World newpaper was published. I didn't buy a copy, or want to, or try to. As well as hacking into private phone messages of celebrities, royals, sportsmen, murder victims and their families, and others, the NOTW had a long track record of spreading muck and gunge about anything which was remotely prurient to nosey people. In 1988, its lies and false accusations hounded the actor David Scarboro (whom I knew at school) through depression and despair, and ultimately to his death. The NOTW will not be missed or mourned by me.
Public Sector Strike 30th June 2011: The increase in average life expectancy has been substantial over the last few decades. There are fewer tax-payers, and more retired people. The economies of East Asian countries are growing and have a young hard-working low-crime population. There is also a restricted economic situation, due to the bad management of the Labour government. It is therefore a matter of common sense that national bankruptcy can only be avoided if workers work longer, have lower salaries, and/or pay more for their pension schemes, than the status quo. The striking teachers and other public sector workers who went on strike today were deluded and unrealistic, as well as selfish and counter-productive. If the nation's children and grandchildren are to pay off the deficit and avoid terminal decline, they will need the skills of a good quality eductaion; this will not be helped if their teachers are on strike.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt 25th June 2011: Levi Bellfield has been convicted of the murder of Milly Dowler, but there has been a lot of media comment on the way in which her family members were questioned during the trial. But it was the defence barrister’s job to provide the best possible defence for, on behalf of, in the interests of, and at the instruction of, his client; or indeed on his own initiative if no clear instruction is given. Someone who is on trial for a serious charge is entitled to the best possible defence, to the maximum possible amount of weakening or discrediting of the prosecution case, in order to ensure that any such charge is proved beyond reasonable doubt and only after the most rigorous possible scrutiny of the prosecution’s evidence. In a case such as this, the prosecution case was cicumstantial and tenuous, and it was right that it was tested properly so as to ensure that a conviction would not be a miscarriage of justice.
Demonstrations 19th June 2011: The peace campaigner, Brian Haw, has died of cancer at the age of 62 after demonstrating almost continuously for more than ten years in Parliament Square. I met him many times while doing my own demonstrations, and I could not possibly match his level endurance and dedication. His life is a reminder that any democratic society needs people who are considered awkward by the government and the establishment, in order to challenge and expose injustices and incorrect policies. It is ironic that his death comes only shortly before the demise of the repressive and badly-drafted law which was intended to target his activities specifically.
Civil Wars 14th June 2011: The shocking and graphic evidence revealed by Channel 4 about the violent bloodbath at the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009 show that large numbers of civilians - tens of thousands or more - may have been deliberately targeted and killed by the military forces of both sides, but particularly by government troopps against Tamil civilians. This genocide must be urgently investigated by the United Nations, and the perpetrators brought to justice at the War Crimes Tribunal. More generally, it reminds us of the eternal truth that rival communities always have to find a way of living together, and respecting each other's civil and human rights, by negotiation - whether such negotiations happen peacefully, or after a prolonged bloody civil war.
Economy 5th June 2011: A number of economists have released a statement saying that the Chancellor George Osborne is going too far with the government's spending cuts, and claim that the economy is too weak to deal with such stringent measures. Are they in some way related to the 365 economists who similarly criticised Geoffrey Howe's budget thirty years ago, and who were subsequently comprehensively proved wrong by events? The legacy of hundreds of billions of pounds of deficit which was left by the ghastly and incompetent Gordon Brown Labour government means that vigorous cuts are necessary, and must be pursued. Labour governments are always voted in by empty minds and voted out by empty pockets.
Football 1st June 2011: There is considerable disquiet in the world of football about allegations of corruption and bribery around some leading figures, and concern about the re-election of Sepp Blatter as President of FIFA. The worry which some people have about such things is a suitable punishment for their delusion that football is somehow important. Meanwhile, the vast majority of ordinary normal people don't give the slightest toss.
Privacy and Superinjunctions 25th May 2011: After weeks of intense speculation and internet chatter, Ryan Giggs has been exposed as the footballer who obtained an injuntion to prevent the media reporting on his extra-marital affair with a so-called celebrity. It has been clearly established that the law relating to secrecy injunctions and gagging orders is out of date and unenforceable in the modern age, but equally important is that the European Convention on Human Rights has been misinterpreted as if it gives him a right to keep his activities secret. The provision for "privacy" relates to preventing legal interference by the State into the private lives of citizens; it is not intended to protect the privacy of individuals from other sources, such as legitimate media enquiries or investigative journalism.
Eurovision Sonk Ontest 15th May 2011: Congratulations to the creditable 8th place which was achieved last night in the ESO by the magnificently talented and highly cultured performance artists, John Paul Henry Daniel Richard Grimes and Edward Peter Anthony Kevin Patrick Grimes, collectively known to the proletarian mases as "Jedward". Their achievement helps to remind us that positivity and entertainment have not been vanquished in these bleak economic times.
Rally Against Debt 14th May 2011: The Rally Against Debt, which I attended this morning, was a lively and good-natured assembly of various people concerned about the dreadful state of the nation's finances, and the fact that it will take decades for future generations to fill in the deficit which has accumulated. Although I was expressing support for the Coalition, it was noticeable that many others were opposing the government from the right, and were concerned that the government's proposed spending cuts do not go far enough. Members of UKIP, the Libertarian Party, the Tax Payers' Alliance, and anarcho-capitalists were in abundance. Unlike the anti-cuts demonstration two months ago, we did not riot.
Miscarriages of Justice 12th May 2011: The Supreme Court has ruled that victims of miscarriages of justice, who have been wrongly imprisoned and then cleared, should be allowed compensation if the evidence is so weak that no conviction could rely on it. The previous position was that a defendant had to prove his or her innocence before being compensated. But this still does not go far enough - compensation should be automatic for anybody who has been wrongly convicted.
Eurovision Sonk Ontest 11th May 2011: As usual, the first semi-final of the Eurovision Sonk Ontest has produced a progressive and uplifting rich tapestry of the culture of European nations, which will help to advance humanity in a spirit of harmony and enrichment. Also, as usual, the BBC's coverage of the event was spoiled by the sarcastic, patronising and ignorant prattlings of quasi-adolescent presenters.
Superinjunctions 9th May 2011: There has been a lot of comment and speculation in the media and on the internet about so-called superinjunctions, whereby everybody in the world is legally prevented from discussing the private lives of some celebrities. These injunctions apply to ordinary bloggers, not just newspapers. How are we supposed to avoid discussing these matters when we don't know what subjects are supposed to be avoided? We need to have a convenient published list of all the superinjunctions in force, so that we will know what not to talk about.
AV Referendum Result 6th May 2011: The proposal for using Alternative Vote for elections to the House of Commons has been overwhelmingly defeated, as (to be fair) I always thought it would be.
The "No" campaign was dominated by lies, fictitious and distorted claims, scare stories, and muddled ideas about the reality of how AV would work. But that is not why the NO campaign won. The "Yes" campaign was almost as bad: it was mediocre and confusing, and made exaggerated and irrelevant claims about MPs "working harder" and ending safe seats.
Why did we not hear more relevant and useful arguments about split voting, pluralism, the avoidance of guesswork or tactical voting, and the quality of representation? The broad mass of the people voted against AV - not because they were lied to by the NO campaign (though they were), nor because they were patronised by the YES campaign (though they were), nor even because they were confused by the media; but because, essentially, they didn't get it. They didn't think it was important. The average voter does not regard it as a matter of concern if an MP is elected by only 35% or 40% of the voters, rather than by 50%. The average voter wants to vote for the candidate of their first choice, regardless of tactical considerations, and is satisfied not by the winning or losing but by the taking part.
It may come to pass, some years or decades in the future, that First-Past-The-Post will collapse or reach a point of crisis, due to its own distortions and contradictions, but AV will not be the answer to the question of what should replace it. As the effective number of political parties (known to us psephological anoraks as the "Laakso-Taagepera Index") creeps upwards from 3 towards 4, and as the disproportionality and unrepresentative nature of FPTP reaches a crisis point, PR will happen eventually. Those of us who support PR (whether by STV or by AMS doesn't matter at this stage) need not cry over spilt milk at the news of the defeat of AV. In the long march of history, the AV referendum result will become increasingly irrelevant rather than disappointing.
AV Referendum 5th May 2011: Today, I call upon all voters to say YES to the AV system in the referendum. Although AV is only a modest step in the right direction towards STV, and despite the official campaigns on both sides of the referendum have been mediocre (at best), the question should be judged on the merits of the issue itself. The essence of AV is that the voter does not need to worry about splitting the vote or guessing who is likely to win, in order for his/her vote to be effective.
Police Violence 4th May 2011: The verdict of the jury at the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson, that he was unlawfully killed by a police officer, is a small blow for the freedom of the citizen, and against the tyranny of the Metropolitan Police. The general attitude of many officers, particularly in the Territorial Support Group, that any member of the public is the "enemy" has provided the pretext for far too much unaccountable violence and disproportionate action against innocent and peaceful demonstrators.
Osama bin Laden 1st May 2011: I rejoice in the death of the terrorist leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and I applaud the bravery and professionalism of the forces who successfully conducted the operation to find and kill him. This does not in any way mean that the threat from the Al-Qaeda network is diminished or will disappear as if by magic; the struggle will continue all over the world by all democratic governments and by many security agencies.
Libya 1st May 2011: Colonel Gaddafi's son and three grandchildren have been killed by a NATO bombing raid. What is this supposed to achieve? Will it help to "protect" the civilians in Misrata? Will it be conducive to the building of a peaceful political settlement between the warring factions?
Royal Wedding 29th April 2011: Very best wishes and congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day. This sort of magnificent ceremony exemplifies why I am such a monarchist. Catharine's dress was very delicate and lovely; Prince William was very striking in his red uniform, and Prince Harry - as ever - was very sexy in his.
AV referendum 25th April 2011: The NO campaign in the AV referendum has been polluted by lies, distortions and misinformation from start to finish. The YES campaign has been mostly mediocre and badly presented, and has missed the opportunity to focus on the real issues of split voting, tactical voting, and democratic pluralism, rather than the bogus issue of MPs "working harder". I have always thought that AV will be defeated in the referendum, but if it is then it will not be of any credit to the NO campaign.
Homophobia 15th April 2011: A harmless gay couple were forcibly ejected from a London pub after kissing each other on a date. It is obvious that a straight couple would not have been targeted for such outrageous and vindictive behaviour if they had been kissing. I hope that the pub concerned will feel the full force of the relevant equalities legislation and unfavourable market forces.
Libya 14th April 2011: The leaders of France, the UK and the USA have now said that the military engagement in Libya should continue until Colonel Gaddafi has been removed from power. This attitude shows the contradiction in the original resolution by the United Nations, which sought to protect civilians without a land invasion. But further commitment of troops, and the endangerment of ordinary civilians, would be necessary in order to guarantee Gaddafi's downfall. There is also considerable doubt about the type of alternative administration which would take over if Gaddafi were no longer in power, and how friendly it would be to the West.
Grand National 9th April 2011: I have never had any interest in horses or countryside values, and most of the time I am happy to ignore such weird peculiarities which some people have interests in. However, it is disturbing to see that so many people who supposedly have a concern in the welfare of horses are willing to continue and perpetuate the annual tyranny of the so-called "Grand National" even though it continues, in most years, to result in the deaths of some of the participants. Today, two horses fell and were killed during the race. Is this what the countryside is all about? I am glad that I am not part of it.
Ed Miliband 27th March 2011: The leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, has compared the anti-cuts demonstration yesterday with the struggle against Apartheid and the suffragette movement, and has compared himself explicitly with Martin Luther King. At the same time he pretends that there is a magic alternative to cutting public spending, and failed to admit that any Labour government would inevitably have to follow stringent economic policies in order to deal with the deficit. He has thus shown himself to be politically bankrupt. He will never be prime minister, and has done a great service to the Coalition by associating himself with the deluded lefty morons who infested London yesterday.
Anti-Cuts March 26th March 2011: The so-called "Anti-Cuts" march in London today has quickly degenerated into riotous violence by hard-core anarchists, who have been attacking and looting innocent shops and businesses. The totally unrealistic suggestion that the spending cuts being enacted by the Coalition government are somehow avoidable, or that there is any sort of realistic alternative involving no cuts, shows the intellectual bankruptcy of their demands. The deranged and demented lefty demonstrators want to steal hundreds of billions of pounds from the nation's children and grandchildren, with the expectation that nobody will ever have to pay back the debt in future.
Libya No-Fly Zone 18th March 2011: It is a matter of concern that the Western powers - under the cloak of the United Nations - are on the brink of a military interventionist adventure in Libya. There are worse civil wars going on in various other countries in Africa or around the world, but there is no intervention there. A "no-fly zone", as it is euphemistically called, would be only the beginning of a prolonged military engagement which we can scarcely afford in terms of money or people. Colonel Gaddafi's government, despotic though it no doubt is, is still the recognised legitimate government of Libya, and I have doubts as to whether any rebel-based alternative would be any better - either for the Libyan people or for Western interests. The political future of Libya must be decided by the Libyan people themselves.
Japan Disaster 17th March 2011: The nuclear radiation accident in Japan - which has not yet been fully controlled and may turn out to be as bad as Chernobyl - should not be regarded as an argument against the use or development of nuclear energy to fill the gap in our need for power. It is overwhelmingly safer, in the long term, than coal and oil, and of course there is no real danger of earthquakes or tsunamis in the UK.
AV Referendum 11th March 2011: The increasingly bizarre and desperate lies of the "NO2AV" campaign have reached a new low today, with the appearance in the Times newspaper of a letter, signed by 26 so-called prominent historians who ought to know better. It is riddled with factual and historical inaccuracies, such as the claim that multiple-voting in the UK was abolished in 1928; that some voters under AV will have six times as many votes as others; and the basic error of confusing "majority" with "plurality". It beggars belief that such eminently knowledgeable people could possibly have signed such a dribble without, perhaps, being deliberately dishonest.
Guantanamo Bay 10th March 2011: President Obama has reneged on his promise to close Guantanamo Bay and to process all of its inmates by legal means through proper judicial procedures. Worse than that, he has said that it will continue functioning, with inmates' cases being "reviewed" every four years, instead of annually. He is also unable to have any decision or influence over the situation in Libya. He may be likeable as a person, and with good intentions, but he seems to be fulfilling his role as an over-promoted social worker who is out of his depth in the position in which circumstances have put him.
Libya evacuation 27th February 2011: In the last few days there has been a lot of unfair media comment about the efforts of the British authorities to organise the evacuation of British subjects from Libya. This ignores the fact that large numbers of Britons have managed to leave in the normal way, and that special arrangements have been made already for emergency evacuation of others more rapidly than was in the case of the Lebanon invasion a few years ago.
2011 is the new 1989 24th February 2011: Tunisia is the new East Germany; Egypt is the new Czechoslovakia; Libya (with the current and on-going violent disintegration of the Gaddafi regime) may well be the new Romania, and further popular uprisings in Arab nations may follow. But any form of military intervention by Western countries, or adverse diplomatic pressure, would inevitably be counter-productive and destabilising. Even if hundreds, or thousands, of people are killed before the political situation in Libya is resolved, the conflict and its aftermath must be managed by the Libyans themselves.
AV Referendum 17th February 2011: I rejoice at the fact that the Coalition government and the House of Commons have stood firm in insisting that the AV referendum should be binding, and that the House of Dinosaurs has capitulated in its perverse and abominable wrecking amendment, which would have required a 40% turnout threshold.
AV Referendum Campaign 15th February 2011: The so-called "NO2AV" campaign, which opposes the proposed AV system but which has as yet not managed to make a coherent case for keeping First-Past-The-Post, has spouted out various bits of scaremongering nonsense on its website, including non-sequiturs, irrelevant comments about AV in Australia, distortions and downright lies. It has now reached the heights of absurdity by claiming that the introduction of AV will require the use of expensive counting machines. Such a claim is absolute nonsense - counting the votes in an AV election is just as easy as in FPTP, and would only take a little longer.
English Defence League 5th February 2011: Today the so-called "English Defence League" will be marching in Luton. It claims to be a law-abiding non-racist patriotic organisation which is merely defending freedom of speech and opposing islamic extremism. Why, then does it not co-operate with moderate muslims? Why does it have such close links with hooligan groups, the BNP and the NF? Why did it attack a Hindu temple in Dudley and Asian shops in Luton?
Egypt 31st January 2011: Egypt has been in a state of crisis and confusion for days, with a political vacuum developing as President Mubarak remains in office but the Army neglects to restore the order of the basic infrastructure. It is in the interests of the people of Egypt to have a free, multi-party democracy, and it is in the interests of the western world to prevent a radical islamist government from taking over. Oil supplies, trade through the Suez canal, and the security of the State of Israel must be maintained and protected.
Spending Cuts 30th January 2011: Croydon Council's ruling Conservative group has outlined plans to cut public expenditure on libraries, and to increase charges on parking permits. These necessary measures are the inevitable consequence of the economic disaster left by the Labour government. It is necessary for the public spending cuts to be made ruthlessly, quickly and as soon as possible, so that when they hurt, the people will still remember that Labour is to blame.
Loony Triumph 14th January 2011: Millions of delighted citizens have been dancing and singing in the street all night long all over the country to celebrate the joyous news that the OMRLP candidate, Nick Delves, got more votes than the English Democrat candidate in the oldham East & Saddleworth by-election. The decisive triumph of 145 votes to 144 thus hurtled the OMRLP to the dizzying heights of seventh place out of ten candidates.
Red Cross 9th January 2011: The Red Cross has threatened legal action against the producer of the Robin Hood pantomime at the Glasgow Pavilion Theatre, after one of the characters appeared with a Red Cross emblem on a costume. The supposed excuse is that the Red Cross needs to protect its neutrality and reputation. The idea that the safety and neutrality of the Red Cross in a warzone might be compromised by an entirely innocent and harmless pantomime in Glasgow is ludicrous and offensive, and the Red Cross should be stopped from perpetrating such arrogant bullying. If I were the manager of the said theatre, I would have no hesitation in writing back to the Red Cross to refer it to the case of Arkell v. Pressdram.
Prevention of Terrorism 3rd January 2011: Lord Carlile, the government's so-called "independent reviewer" of security and anti-terrorism legislation, has warned that it may be necessary (so he says) to keep the existing "control orders" whereby innocent people can be kept in house arrest in draconian conditions, without a trial, and without being told what they are accused or suspected of. What gives this smug self-important lawyer the right to have a monopoly on what the government should or should not do in this matter? Is it because he is a Liberal Democrat? Is it because he used to be an MP? Control orders are an abomination and the government should feel free to repeal them without being blackmailed by the pomposity of an old has-been.
Media and Justice 31st December 2010: The last two days has seen an unusually intensive and intrusive amount of speculative reporting by newspapers and television - not all of them at the gutter or tabloid level - on the police investigation into the murder of Joanne Yeates in Bristol. The widespread speculation and comment about the life and background of one or two people who may or may not be suspects in the case is certainly not helpful, and may be fatally prejudicial to the interests of justice in the long term.
Barack Obama 23rd December 2010: After struggling along for two years in an atmosphere of mediocrity and disappointment, President Obama has achived two significant advances within one day. He has succeeded in enacting legislation which will allow gay people to serve openly in the military; and he has reached agreement with Russia for a reduction of one third in the number of nuclear weapons held by both sides. You wait two years for an achievement and then two come along at once.
Daily Telegraph 22nd December 2010: The Daily Telegraph has used underhand and dishonest methods to obtain secret recordings of a number of Lib Dem ministers in the Coalition government expressing disagreements with some government policies. In any government of about 100 people, it is inevitable that there will be some personal and political disagreements and dislikes, and nothing will be achieved by exposing them in such a dishonest way. The real reason why the Daily Telegraph is doing this is because it can't forgive the Conservative Party for not winning a majority in parliament on its own; it can't forgive the Lib Dems for forming a coalition, and it thinks that by undermining Lib Dem ministers it will be able to conjure up a Conservative majority as if by magic. It has already destroyed the career or David Laws, and has now targeted Vince Cable and others. The broad mass of the population will realise that there is more to life than the ego of one newspaper.
Riot control 13th December 2010: Some people have suggested that the police tactic of controlling demonstrators by containing or "kettling" them is not working, and that water cannons should be considered for use instead. Perhaps they should do kettling in the proper sense of the word, by using the water cannons to squirt boiling water at the rioters.
Student Riots 10th December 2010: I fully support the government's proposals for the reform of university funding and student fees, and I wholeheartedly condemn the outrageous scenes of violence and rioting which attended the demonstration outside the House of Commons. On our television screens we saw rioters attacking the car carrying the Prince and Princess of Wales; we saw rioters throwing projectiles and missiles at police officers, smashing windows in government buildings, desecrating the Cenotaph, the statue of Winston Churchill and the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree. Students being interviewed in the midst of the demonstration were variously threatening to become drug dealers, demanding that "the banks" should pay for their education, proclaiming that no changes were needed, and were in some cases unable to construct a coherent sentence. The thugs, hippopotamuses and booliaks who rioted yesterday need to learn that they are not automatically entitled to three years at university at someone else's expense.
World Cup 2018 4th December 2010: It has been suggested that the failure of England to win the bid to host the World Cup in 2018 was due to the exposure by the BBC Panorama programme of alleged corruption among some of the 22 voting members of FIFA. I think that it is far-fetched to suggest that this alone was a big enough factor in the decision, but if it was then it was a price worth paying.
Wikileaks 29th November 2010: The release of hundreds of thousands of pages of confidential diplomatic papers by the Wikileaks website is a matter of concern. Most of it is no more than what amounts to private gossip between diplomats and their governments, but some of it - such as that relating to the nuclear ambitions of Iran - is more sensitive and its release into the public domain is to be regretted. High level politicians and diplomats should be free to express their private thoughts about each other, to each other, without being worried that their privacy and honesty might be compromised.
North Korea 28th November 2010: New information which has been brought to my attention - but which has not been reported in the mainstream media - has clarified the events of last week. It seems that the claim by the DPRK that South Korea fired first is based on a unilateral declaration by the DPRK in 1999 of a re-drawing of the maritime border between the two Korean states. The first artillery shells were fired from Yonpyong Island southwards, away from the DPRK. Yet the government of North Korea chooses to interpret this as a violation of the sovereignty of the DPRK's territorial waters. This unilateral revision of the internationally-recognised 1953 ceasefire line is not based on rational law; it would be like France claiming sovereignty over the waters of the Solent in between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Violent crime 25th November 2010: Edward Woollard has been convicted of violent disorder after he dropped a fire extinguisher off the roof of a tall building onto a crowded area. Why on Earth was he not charged with attempted murder?!?
North Korea 23rd November 2010: North Korea has fired a number of artillery shells at a South Korean island, killing two servicemen. The DPRK government has been widely condemned by a number of world governments, but claims that South Korea attacked first. We know from past experience that it would be naive and premature to assume that North Korea started the latest clash, just because the USA and South Korea say so; I will condemn whoever started the attack first but I need more evidence before determining who that is.
Guantanamo Prisoners 17th November 2010: I applaud the decision of the British government to pay compensation of £14 million to twelve former prisoners who were detained without trial, and tortured, at Guantanamo Bay and other illegal detention centres. It is better than the alternative, which would have been to fight and lose a prolonged and humiliating legal battle in defence of what is, and was, fundamentally wrong.
Prince William and Catherine Middleton 16th November 2010: Hooray! Rejoice! I am delighted at the joyous news of the royal engagement. I wish the best wishes to the happy couple, and hope that their marriage will help to entrench the institution of the monarchy into the hearts of the people.
Rioting 11th November 2010: A demonstration by students against proposed fee increases was derailed by violent and anarchist elements who caused extensive criminal damage of buildings. I hope that the criminal who dropped a fire extinguisher off the rood of the building into a crowded area will swiftly be identified and prosecuted for attempted murder.
Advert 10th November 2010: In the last week or two, an excruciatingly patronising and annoying advert has been appearing on local radio for an insurance company, complete with the sound of a cup of tea being poured and stirred. I have already emailed the company concerned to tell them to withdraw the advert - on the grounds that it is annoying everybody - but bizarrely and inexplicable, it is still being broadcast. At this rate, the end of civilization is just around the corner.
China 9th November 2010: The Prime Minister and other government colleagues are visiting China to promote business links between the UK and the PRC. This constructive building of economic ties will help to build mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries, and will help the people of China to engage with the rest of the world. It will thus help in the protection of human rights in China; it would be false to think that it is necessary to choose business or freedom but not both.
Torture 8th November 2010: Former President George W. Bush has openly boasted of the fact that he authorised the use of waterboarding - which is universally recognised as being a form of torture by any rational definition - in the interrogation of suspects accused of terrorism, and claims that it was useful in preventing terrorist attacks happening in London. This is utter nonsense. Torture is never useful in extracting viable information from suspects, and can easily make people confess to whatever is demanded of them. George Bush should be tried in a war crimes tribunal for his actions, not praised for his leadership.
October Revolution 6th November 2010: On this day, some of my acquaintances are congregating in London to celebrate the Great October Socialist Russian Revolution. I have decided not to join them; my political journey has brought me to a position in which I believe that the October Revolution is not worthy of being celebrated. After a brief and chaotic period of soviet power exercised - somewhat haphazardly - by the workers, Russia fell under the tyranny of an arbitrary terroristic dictatorship whose raison d'etre was to perpetuate its own power. The twists and turns of the policy followed by Lenin within only a few years, including War Communism and the New Economic Policy, often had little connection with the predictions of Marxist theory. The co-called dictatorship of the proletariat, and the power of the soviets, was replaced by a dictatorship of the party and the oppression of the proletariat.
Firefighters 4th November 2010: London firefighters are threatening to go on strike tomorrow - Guy Fawkes Night, of all dates - thereby threatening the safety of ordinary normal people. Their supposed excuse is a minor change in their shift patterns. I hope that, just as in the miners' strike of 1984/85, as much assistance as necesasary is given by the authorities to enable those who wish to break the strike and go to work to do so.
Equality 1st November 2010: Harriet Harman said that Danny Alexander is a ginger rodent. I think Harriet Harman is a purple hippopotamus.
X Factor 18th October 2010: Liam Payne is the most gorgeous contestant who has ever appeared in "X Factor", with his deep voice, his handsome face and his lean athletic body, and is very talented with his singing ability. But his chances in this year's competition are being ruined by the decision to combine him with four others in the creation of a new "boyband". The four others are substantially weaker in their abilities, and the group "One Direction" is in danger of being eliminated at an early stage. Simon Cowell has uncharacteristically made the wrong decision in this matter; the best outcome would be for the other four members of the group to be miraculously eaten by a hippopotamus and for Liam to continue as a solo singer for the rest of the competition.
Chile 13th October 2010: I rejoice in the successful rescue of all 33 mineworkers who have been trapped underground in Chile for 69 days. We should all congratulate the self-reliant efforts of the Chilean authorities and people in using technology and engineering in an imaginative way to rescue the workers more quickly and smoothly than had been expected.
North Korea 10th October 2010: Today is the 65th anniversary of the foundation of the Workers' Party of Korea. We should respect the right of the WPK and DPRK to choose their own leaders, without interference. The standard of life in North Korea is below the level of western European countries, but I know from my friends who have been there that it is substantially better than the image portrayed by reactionary propaganda.
Commonwealth Games 8th October 2010: The Commonwealth Games have been plagued by late completion and furbishment of athletes' accommodation. Now, on the official Commonwealth Games website, it says that Tom Daley is 175 cm (i.e. about 5'9") tall. When I saw him in London two years ago, he was only about 5'4". Can't the Games organisers get anything right?
Child Benefit 3rd October 2010: Last year, the Chancellor George Osborne said that child benefit would be protected. Now, he says that it will be abolished for those whose income is on the 40% tax band. I disagreed with him then, because cuts will be necessary. But I disagree with him now - child benefit should be scrapped completely. The responsibility for funding children should be the decision of the parents themselves and not the burden of the taxpayer.
Ed Miliband 28th September 2010: I congratulate Ed Miliband on his election as leader of the Labour Party. The character failings of David Miliband which were demonstrated by his comments on the Iraq war, and his failure to stand up to Gordon Brown over the last three years, show that the Labour Party made the right decision in its bid to remain in opposition. Meanwhile, we expect that Red Ed will inaugurate a new Culural Revolution - under the slogan "New Generation" - and will mobilise the whole population into a programme of re-education and Maoist fervour.
OMRLP Conference 25th September 2010: In my capacity as Secretary of the OMRLP, here are the minutes which I presented to the Conference today:
One minute.
60 seconds.
1/60 of an hour.
1/1,440 of a day.
The time it takes light to travel 17,987,547,480 metres.
The duration of 551,557,906,200 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground sate of a caesium-133 atom.
The time it takes an orchestra to perform 22% of John Cage's "4 minutes 33 seconds".
1/10,080 of a week.
1/525,600 of a year.
The time it takes a world class athlete to run approximately 1/4 of a mile.
The time it takes a world class swimmer to swim approximately 100 metres.
The time it takes a three-toed sloth to climb six feet.
The time it takes a giant tortoise to walk 15 feet.
The time it takes Ganymede to travel 406 miles in its orbit around Jupiter.
The time it takes Neptune to travel 201 miles in its orbit around the Sun.
1/300,000 of the gestation period of a porcupine.
1,7000 of a millionth of a millionth of the age of the universe.
OMRLP Conference 24th September 2010: Here is a poem which I wrote to celebrate this year's party conference in Fleet:
Fleet! Sleet! Sleep! Sheep! Beep!
Beat! Bleat! Bleep! Beam! Seam!
Seek! Squeak! Creak! Cream! Scream!
Loon! Spoon! Soon! Moon! Goon!
Goose! Moose! Loose! Loom! Doom!
Link! Pink! Mink! Sink! Drink!
Rain! Pain! Spain! Sane! Vain!
Dome! Dope! Pope! Nope! Hope!
Tony Blair 23rd September 2010: Tony Blair's account, in his new book, of the British involvement in military actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Kosovo is a reminder of the fact that wars should be judged on whether they are right or wrong, whether they can do more good than harm, and whether they make the world safer in the long term, and should not be judged solely on bogus or artificial criteria of whether they are "legal" (whatever that means) or have been authorised by the UN (or NATO, or whatever). Anti-war protestors demonstrate against the war in Iraq because they think it was not necessary, and is harmful, and they delude themselves if they use the question of "legality" is a relevant criterion. Otherwise, why would we not be seeing more demonstrations against the latter two of the wars mentioned?
Renewable Energy 22nd September 2010: The opening of a wind farm off the coast of Kent, with 100 windmills providing enough electricity for 200,000 homes, is excellent news. The UK should be proud of the fact that it now has the world's largest wind farm. The sight of windmills on the skyline and in the landscape is something which should be looked upon with great joy and wonderment by the population, instead of being a bogus excuse for preventing planning permission.
Commonwealth Games 21st September 2010: I am concerned about the reports of unfit accommodation and inadequate facilities for the competitors at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. The Games in Delhi are culturally important for maintaining the cohesion and integrity of the Commonwealth itself, just as the Olympics are important for the peaceful interaction of the people of the world. It would be a substantial disappointment if significant numbers of sports people are deterred from participating in the Games for fear of safety or illness, instead of being based on abilities.
Pope's Visit 17th September 2010: The Pope should be welcomed to the UK on the occasion of his state visit in his capacity as Head of State of an internationally-recognised country. The demonstrations against his visit are slightly misguided, because his religious position as one of the world's most powerful propagators of superstitious mumbo-jumbo, sexism, homophobia and fairy tales is not relevant to his status as Head of State of the Vatican.
Defection 5th September 2010: A Conservative councillor in Sandwell has defected to Labour, claiming that she is ashamed of the government's spending cuts. Which party does she think is responsible for the mess which made the cuts necessary?
Liam Payne 4th September 2010: The performance in the auditions in today's episode of "X Factor" by Liam Payne was astonishing, amazing, and far more impressive and talented than I had ever dared to expect or hope for. His deep singing voice and personal confidence have both improved and advanced enormously, even compared with the very high standard which he had already achieved two years ago. I wish him well in his future endeavours and I urge everybody to vote for him to win this year's competition.
Tony Blair 2nd September 2010: The former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has written a book saying that he hates Gordon Brown because he was useless and horrid. Why has he done so? We all knew that already; we don't need to buy a book to find out.
William Hague 1st September 2010: The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has issued a statement saying that he is happily married and has not been having a gay affair with an employee. Why has he done so? Nobody has ever thought or suggested otherwise.
Budget 26th August 2010: The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that the effect of the budget will be "regressive" - i.e. it will mean a greater reduction (as a proportion of the total) in the disposable income of the poor than of the rich. Other reports suggest that the analysis is flawed. Either way, so what? The incompetence of the previous dreadful and despotic Labour government means that cuts will be inevitable and across-the-board. The reduction of one person's income is not alleviated, exacerbated or mitigated by comparison with that of someone else.
Megrahi 20th August 2010: Today is the first anniversary of the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al Megrahi, ostensibly on the basis of medical advice that he was only likely to live for a further three months. There will no doubt be a lot of media and political comment and speculation about the accuracy of that medical evidence, or the extent to which and circumstances in which it was used as the basis for the release of Mr Megrahi. All of the kerfuffle and hullabaloo about the issue will once again miss the main point, which is that the Lockerbie bomber has never been put into prison in the first place, and that therefore there can't be any discussions about the rights or wrongs of his release.
UKIP 17th August 2010: Lord Pearson has decided to resign as leader of the UKIP after only nine months, because he is no good at the job. Er, I could have told him that nine months ago.
David Kelly 13th August 2010: A number of medical experts have written to the Times, saying that the death of Dr David kelly was unlikely to have been due solely to the official cause of death as given on the death certificate, i.e. blood loss. I think that it is likely that his death may have been due to a combination of factors, including painkillers, an existing weak heart condition as well as the wrist injuries and blood loss. However, the possibility that there may have been a conspiracy or cover-up cannot be ruled out. The fact that the government ordered all the documents in the case to be kept secret for 70 years is, in itself, very suspicious and is a grave cause of concern.
Princess Anne 12th August 2010: Princess Anne and her children, Peter and Zara Phillips, are all excellent examples of the hardworking and down-to-earth values of the modern royal family. They are committed to helping others through charitable and social activities, sporting endeavours, and - in the case of Peter - being extremely gorgeous. The actions and position of the members of the royal family, and their outstanding achievements in representing and embodying the character and constitutional stability of the nation - have given me substantial pleasure and satisfaction over many years, and also helped to bring me back from the erroneous path of Marxism to which I was briefly tempted in recent years.
Micarriage of Justice 10th August 2010: Sion Jenkins has failed in his claim for compensation of £500,000 after being wrongly convicted of murder, and imprisoned for six years before being cleared. It is astonishing and appalling that someone who has suffered such an injustice, including loss of career and reputation - as well as being attacked in prison by other inmates, is not entitled to substantial compensation automatically and as a matter of course. The decision is inexplicable in that it seeks to imply an element of doubt about his innocence, although he is innocent in law as well as in fact. Under an OMRLP government, those who have been wrongly imprisoned should be entitled to compensation of £100,000 per year of incarceration, without having to go through extra hoops of proving loss.
School Milk 9th August 2010: The government has decided not to abolish free school milk for some under-7s. Why not? Free school milk was introduced during WWII as part of the rationaing scheme, to prevent malnutrition in times of scarcity. It has since been diminished in scope by Wilson, Walker, Heath, Thatcher, Callaghan and Williams. It should be abolished completely. In times of public spending cuts, priorities have to be made rigorously.
Jeremy Bamber 5th August 2010: Jeremy Bamber and his lawyers have found crucial new evidence which fundamentally undermines the prosecution case which resulted in him being convicted (wrongly, in my opinion) of the murders of five members of his family. I hope that the Criminal Cases Review Commission will allow him to have another appeal, and that this time he will be third time lucky.
Compensation for Crime Victims 31st July 2010: The murderer Ian Huntley wants to sue the prison service for compensation for injuries received in an alleged attack by another prisoner. Of course he should be allowed to do so, and as a human being of course he is entitled to the usual standards of protection of the state via the prison system. To do otherwise would give carte blanche to prison officers to abuse or attack prisoners with impunity, or to be allowed to stand idly by while prisoners attack each other. Those who have condemned theis attempted legal action, and who suggest that he should not be allowed to sue, should be ashamed of their inhuman views or need to learn some basic logic of how the law works. Otherwise - if they think that random unregulated violence should be part of a criminal's sentence - then they should say so openly.
Police Violence 22nd July 2010: A police officer has not been charged with any criminal offences relating to last year's G20 demonstrations, despite clear prima-facie evidence that he committed an unprovoked assault against an inncoent man. It is reasonable that he wasn't charged with manslaughter, but the decision not to charge him even with assault is ridiculous. It shows once again that the police are out of control and that they can attack the public with impunity.
Prince Harry 18th July 2010: A few years ago, Prince Harry was a cheeky naughty loveable rebellious handsome teenager. Now, Hunky Harry the Cheeky Chappie (Naughty but Nice) - as he used to be entitled - has become a very charming, hardworking, dedicated soldier, a caring charity worker, and a vigorous energetic gorgeous handsome physically strong athletic hunk. He is a great credit to the nation and to his family. He should be very proud of his achievements, and he has helped to reaffirm my own views as a staunch monarchist. For similar reasons, it is entirely proper that Prince William should be protected at a cost of £1.3m at his home in Wales.
Burqa 17th July 2010: Any suggestion that people should be banned from wearing a burqa, or other face covering, in public - as has already been enacted in Belgium and France - would be ridiculous as well as offensive. Anybody who dares to presume to dictate to me what I should or should not wear (as long as I am not being indecent or exposing myself) will be told in no uncertain terms to mind his own business. Any muslim woman who is subjected to similar impertinent or racist demands should be equally forthright in rejecting such bigotry.
Peter and Autumn Phillips 9th July 2010: I am absolutely delighted to hear the joyous news that Peter and Autumn Phillips are going to have their first baby in December, thus making the Queen a great-grandmother for the first time. Peter is the most gorgeous man who has ever existed, and is also very friendly and charming to everybody, so I am sure he will be an excellent father as well as being a great husband and having been a delightful boyfriend for so many girlfriends.
Prison Population 30th June 2010: The Justice Secretary, kenneth Clarke, says that prison doesn't work properly in rehabilitating offenders and that it is desirable to reduce the number of short sentences. It is a shame that he did not have the same fetish for releasing people from prison when, as Home Secretary, he refused to refer to the Court of Appeal the case of the four people who had wrongly been convicted of killing Carl Bridgwater, in spite of the fact that it was already obvious that they were innocent.
World Cup: Germany 4 England 1 27th June 2010: Der Schiedsrichter ist ein Flußpferd.
Bloody Sunday 16th June 2010: The Saville Report on the events of Bloody Sunday is to be welcomed for being clear, unambiguous and unequivocal in the extent to which it states that all of the victims were unarmed, and were not doing anything to provoke or justify being shot, or anything which could reasonably have been interpreted as justification for being shot. I do not see any proper reason as to why the individual soldiers concerned should not be prosecuted for murder.
Cuts 13th June 2010: The emergency budget should tackle the deficit by harsh but necessary measures. Teenagers who infest the buses and make them a misery for normal people by shouting and playing loud music should be charged double instead of getting a free ride. If they had to pay £5 for a single ticket, then they would think twice before using the bus as a private noisy party venue. They should instead be made to walk. In order to prevent them cluttering up the pavements and getting in the way, they should be restricted to designated "teen path" zones at the edge of the pavement (perhaps 18 inches wide) and be forced to walk in single file. Any teenager who strays out of line should be targeted by snipers (volunteer grumpy middle-aged and old people, located on strategic place on buildings in town centres)or simply shoved into the road by passing pensioners. Old people, who are also a menace, should be rounded up and resettled in somewhere like Norfolk so that they don't keep hetting in the way of normal people. There should be a network of Whinge Cameras, and an automatic £100 fine for anybody who says "They should catch real criminals" or "It's political correctness gone mad".
Proportional Representation 12th June 2010: The Labour MP Alan Johnson is considering resigning and forcing a by-election on the issue of proportional representation. If he believes in it so strongly, why didn't he do anything about it while he was Home Secretary? Why isn't he standing for the leadership of the Labour Party? If he goes ahead with his plan then he will be casting himself into the political wilderness just as David Davis did in Haltemprice & Howden.
Cuts 10th June 2010: The government will have to get serious in making extensive spending cuts, as well as tax increases, in order to deal with the horrendous deficit which was the legacy of the disastrous and incompetent Labour government. It would be proper to increase student fees, for example. The Lib Dems' policy of abolishing student fees can only be seen as a long-term aspiration rather than a current policy. The Coalition should also no be blamed if it becomes necessary to introduce charges for luxury non-essential public services, like libraries or museums.
Labour Party 9th June 2010: The Labour MP, John McDonnell, has said that he regrets that he did not assassinate the prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Such a disgraceful comment makes him totally unsuitable for the position of Labour Party leader, which he is seeking as one of the candidates in the leadership election. Fortunately he has no chance of being nominated by enough MPs to become a candidate.
Civil List 31st May 2010: The Civil List for the Royal family has been frozen at £7.9 million per year, for almost twenty years, and has thus been reduced substantially in real terms. This is in spite of the fact that the Royal Family pays far more money to the taxpeyer than vice versa. The level of public funding for the Monarchy, and the amount of ceremony and splendour which we get in return, should be increased substantially and index-linked in future.
Israel and Gaza 31st May 2010: Nine people were killed when Israeli forces defended themselves from a lynch mob of people attacking them with knives, metal bars and projectiles, under the pretext of wanting to deliver aid to Gaza. The incident happened after the ship delivering the aid refused to dock in a port in Israel or Egypt to allow it to be checked in case it was smuggling weapons or explosives to Hamas forces in Gaza. In general terms, I support the right of national determination, sovereignty and self-defence of the State of Israel, just as I respect the right of self-defence of the DPRK. If Israel went over the top in defending itself, or in using more force than was necessary, then I will condemn it. But, unlike some people today, I am not going to jump to conclusions in reaching a judgment or condemning anyone without waiting for the evidence and the proper investigation.
Expenses 29th May 2010: The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Laws, has been forced to resign because of irregularities in an expenses claim for £40,000. The problem lies in the definition of the word "partner" in the rules covering such arrangements. It is regrettable that the question of whether such a claim is right or wrong should depend on the intricacies of his private relationships; and there is no pretence that Mr Laws has financially benefited from the arrangement when compared with the alternative possibilities. It is disgustaing that the Daily Telegraph has forced Mr Laws out of office for homophobic reasons, and I hope that he will return to the cabinet very soon.
Thirsk & Malton 28th May 2010: The result of the general election in Thirsk & Malton constituency is an excellent endorsement of the Coalition. The Liberal Democrats have taken second place from the Labour opposition, thus demonstrating as rubbish the claims from some commentators that the Lib Dems are "really" a load of left-wingers who automatically prefer a Labour government.
Civil Liberties 21st May 2010: The formation and working of the Coalition has been an excellent example of how parties and politicians are supposed to behave in a hung parliament. The Conservative Party seems genuinely to have realised that without a majority it does not have a mandate for the whole of its manifesto unchanged, and indeed has a mandate to negotiate away some bits of it.
Korea Naval Sinking 20th May 2010: A few weeks ago, a South Korean naval boat sank after an explosion on board, and 46 sailors were killed. It had hitherto been thought to be an accident, but now there are allegations that it was sunk by a North Korean torpedo. It is mysterious that this allegation is only now being made. We need to have clarification about where exactly the ship was, what it was doing, where it was going, and whether it posed a reasonable perceived threat to the North. If there is no satisfcatory explanation for it, then I would condemn the DPRK for its warmongering act. However, in the realm of international diplomacy - just as in domestic law - an accused party is presumed innocent unless there is proper evidence to the contrary.
Civil Liberties 19th May 2010: It is quite correct that a number of Pakistani students, who were accused of involvement in planning terrorism but against whom no charges were brought, should not be deported back to Pakistan where there was a danger of their being tortured. It is also reassuring that the Coalition's policy on civil liberties appears to be tending towards the Lib Dems' position of safeguarding the ECHR provisions in law, and not the reactionary position of the right-wing of the Conservative Party which wanted to maintain a stranglehold on civil liberties on the bogus pretext of fighting terrorism. We hope that the draconian "control orders", whereby innocent people are subjected to house arrest, will rapidly be brought to an end.
Coalition 16th May 2010: Why are so many Lib Dem supporters moaning about being "betrayed" by the Lib Dems "propping up" a "Conservative" government? Don't they realise that there is no Conservative government available for them to prop up? A coalition government has been negotiated. Hung parliaments, coalitions, negotiation and compromise are the bread-and-butter of what the Lib Dems have wanted, and campaigned for, for decades. Surely they didn't expect to get a Lib Dem majority in parliament? Would they have preferred a Conservative minority government, and the likelihood of the Lib Dems being squeezed in an early second general election? Some people seem to have voted Lib Dem in the expectation that there would be a Labour government, and without thinking through what they were voting for. Some of them haven't even realised that by voting tactically for the Lib Dems ("to keep out the Tories") they have succeeded in their aim of preventing a Conservative majority.
Hung Parliament 11th May 2010: The party political negotiations of the last few days have shown the best workings of a balanced parliament in the traditions of western European multi-party democracies. There is nothing wrong with the attempts of the Labour Party to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, or of the Conservative Party to do so. Any such combination would be viable and legitimate; there is no divine right of the largest single party to presume to form the government, and nobody should condemn a Labour coalition as being somehow illegitimate, or a pact of the losers. If Her Majesty calls upon David Cameron to form a government, then the legitimacy for the government will come from her as well as from the House of Commons. Long live the Monarchy! Long Live the Queen! Praise be for the constitutional procedures in a hung parliament!
Hung Parliament 8th May 2010: The people have spoken, and said that they do not want any party to govern on its own. More to the point, the politicians of the main parties have a responsibility to work together to build a stable government. It should not be too difficult for the Lib-Lab-Con Tweedledum-dee-doo-don't parties to advance together in the building of their imperialist interests, as their fundamental economic philosophies are so similar. But the people have elected a parliament which should be viable for a full term, and there is no need for the media to panic into saying that there needs to be a new general election within a year or two.
Upholding the Banner 7th May 2010: The voters have upheld the banner of Loonyism by voting for me in almost the same substantial numbers as last time. My general election vote went down from 193 in 2005 to 192 in 2010, when it could easily have been squeezed down enormously by the proliferation of other parties. The fact that the voters were not bullied by the electoral system, and not blackmailed by the fierce tactical voting battle which prevailed between the campaigns of Gavin Barwell, Gerry Ryan and Anderw Pelling, is a testament to the solid foundation of the Croydon OMRLP's red, green and progressive philosophy.
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