Hell. What a day. In a strange way the reports of today’s planned attack are worse than the actual attack on the London Underground last year. Somehow the threat of a land-based or surface-transport attack is always with us – a suicide bomber can kill scores of people with a...
I woke up this morning – as so many Brits did – to the news on the radio that a terror plot has been foiled to try to plant bombs on planes via the hand luggage of passengers. Details from the BBC here, no details yet of the backgrounds or...
London has a problem: a severe lack of housing. Further, it has one of the lowest population densities of any European capital city – most areas of Paris are far more densely populated [see this excellent comparison from Wikipedia]. It’s mostly thanks to all those rows of red brick houses...
Tony Blair has been in California for the last couple of days, and gave a speech to News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch’s media firm) during his visit. Quite apart from the moral issue of whether Blair should be speaking to News Corp in the first place, his speech was both scary...
I’ve been a bit slow to get round to reading The Spin Doctor’s Diary, Lance Price’s [link to Amazon here] account of his 3 years working in Number 10 and Millbank between 1998 and 2001 – my apologies to readers of the blog that have digested Price’s account months ago!...
What should be allowed in London’s best known square – Trafalgar Square? This was the issue on my mind as I stood in front of the National Gallery waiting to meet a friend this afternoon. The place is quite busy on a Saturday at the best of times, but today...
I know it’s a very British thing to do, but I am going to write about the weather. Admittedly I have only been living in London about 2 years, but I have lived in Britain for most of my life, and I cannot remember any weather as strange as over...
The whole ID card debate [BBC Q&A] has not even been at the top of the political agenda for weeks or maybe even months, but today the final die has been cast that means I have to abandon my position on the issue of sitting on the fence for ideological...
I’m lost for words. John Reid yesterday announced his new plans for the criminal justice system. 8000 more prison places. Less chances of early release. It makes dire, dire reading. The Guardian’s article about it is here. I uttely loathe the Government’s let’s pander to the interests of the Daily...
Quick note about Cameron, as the decision on the future of the Conservative MEPs in the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament has now been taken. The aim will be to establish a new eurosceptic group after the EP elections in 2009. Looks like the decision has been kicked into...
My attention was drawn to the story entitled Poll shows Muslims in Britain are the most anti-western in Europe in The Guardian a few days ago by my mother who sent the article to me, asking me what I thought. Essentially, the poll shows that while non-Muslims in the UK...
If you were a head of state or Prime Minister, wouldn’t you want your own plane? Or perhaps the question should be how does the UK government not already have a dedicated plane for state business. Yet the decision this week to purchase 2 planes for use by the Prime...