The range of political opinion emerging [in the] British blogosphere subculture is emphatically not representative of public opinion in this country: bloggers from left to right have a liberal (or libertarian) streak that leads to a broad oppositional consensus to things like ID cards and 90-day detention without […]

Well whaddya know, for once dear old Polly Pot has managed to write something which makes a bit of sense. Admittedly the subject of state funding for faith schools is one of those rare topics in which she’s both consistent in her views and entirely correct in both […]

Via the estimable Mr Worstall, purveyor of the ever excellent Britblg Roundup (now at #40) and editor of this year’s must have Christmas gift; 2005: Blogged, in which your humble chronicler gets a mention – buy the book and have all the fun of RSS feeds in the […]

Well, if this week’s anything to go by then the future of the Child Support Agency looks set to join the long list of other things (drugs, terrorism, etc.) where its close to impossible to engage in a sensible, meaningful debate. Of course the doyen of foot-in-mouth op-ed […]

Nosemonkey’s back from nuptuals in the Land of the Rising Sun/Credit Card Bill/Overdraft [best not speculate on other possible ‘risings’ here] and clearly full of his usual vim, vigour and vitriol. Getting both barrels today is the newly elected Labour MP for Burnley, Heather Graham look-a-like, and the […]

I’m pleased to say that last week’s great parliamentary mystery – just what exactly did Bob Marshall-Andrews actually say to Jim Dowd to cause this altercation – has now been solved courtesy of Bruce Anderson, writing in today’s Indy. It seems Bob did not, as has been suggested, […]

One thing that’s bothered me throughout the whole debate around extending the period for which terrorist suspects can be held before being charged is that I’ve never quite seen what the police would actually get out of such an extension to their statutory powers. Obviously I’ve read Andy […]

Royal Dutch Shell – third quarter (2004) net profits £4.123 billion City watchdog drops action against ex-Shell chairman Watts The main City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, ignored the advice of its own specialist enforcement staff yesterday by announcing that no further action would be taken against Sir […]

My hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Alison Seabeck) raised the issue of identity fraud. She is entirely correct. In 2004, an average of 50,000 people in the UK were victims of impersonation fraud. On average, it takes each victim 60 hours to resolve their case and […]

What was the central plank of Blair’s argument for handing the police the power to detain terrorist suspects for 90 days without charge? Why, that it was was the police that had asked for this power and as the ‘experts’ they know best. Forget all the stuff about […]