Monthly Archives: February 2008

Let’s have more countries – it’s what people want

This morning we welcome a new country to Europe. The creation of Kosovo as another state in the unstable Balkans is a reminder of how strong are the passions of people over their identity. The differences between people in Europe have been sources of tension and conflict for centuries. The shifting pattern of settlement, the [...]

Posted in Blog | 16 Comments

The treasures of the tomb

On this day in 1923 Howard Carter opened the sealed doorway into the burial chamber of Tutankhamun. He, Lord Carnarvon his patron, and Lady Herbert, Carnarvon’s daughter went into the tomb. They saw the fabulous mask and the sarcophagus of the one Pharaoh whose grave had not been plundered by earlier generations of grave robbers. [...]

Posted in Blog, History | 7 Comments

How government stifles local democracy

Yesterday I went to meet the new Chief Executive of Wokingham Unitary Borough Council. Chief Executives come and go in local government, drawing good salaries whilst they stay, before moving on to larger Councils or quangos that spend more money and employ more staff. The last couple of Chief Executives at Wokingham have had three [...]

Posted in Blog | 6 Comments

The Chancellor asks for a pay cut

The Chancellor makes a habit of clumsy speeches. In the great tradition of telling the banks they had been badly run and would not be bailed out just a few days before he guaranteed the deposits of any bank in trouble, yesterday he popped up again and says the City is paying people too much [...]

Posted in Blog | 10 Comments

In praise of Tesco

It is an easy drive to Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury or Waitrose from my home. None of them are easy to reach by train or bus. I think we are well served by our competitive supermarkets – but not by our monopoly public transport. It was typical of the OFT and the Competition Commission to pick [...]

Posted in Blog | 18 Comments

The Bank gets gloomy but doesn’t apologise

The Bank of England yesterday bowed to the inevitable and warned us that we will become worse off this year. Many people already feel worse off, after the huge increases in food and energy costs that we have experienced in recent months. There was no apology for leaving credit too loose a couple of years [...]

Posted in Blog, Northern Rock | 8 Comments

A cold and wet time for housebuilders.

The National Post of 13 December 2007 reproduced the text of a letter sent by 100 leading climate scientists and other experts to the Secretary General of the United Nations. The letter told him that “There has been no net global warming since 1998”. It urged the UN to concentrate on encouraging national and international [...]

Posted in Blog | 8 Comments

The government tears up the Bill of Rights

It is typical of this government that Parliament should not be meeting on this day of all days. On 13th February 1689 “the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster” presented a declaration to the new sovereigns, King William and Queen Mary. <a href=’http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2008/02/13/the-government-tears-up-the-bill-of-rights/889/’ rel=’attachment wp-att-889′ title=’williamiii1.jpg’><img src=’http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/williamiii1.jpg’ alt=’williamiii1.jpg’ /></a> This declaration, known [...]

Posted in Blog | 12 Comments

Let’s use the blogs – Parliament is shut down for another week.

Why oh why do Labour MPs put up with it – their government is preventing Parliament meeting all this week. We cannot discuss the government’s climb down on the Non doms, the state of play on the Northern Rock bids, the inflation rate or anything else that matters. No wonder people are fed up politics [...]

Posted in Blog | 8 Comments

Valentine’s eve – the future of marriage

On the eve of Valentine’s day we should ask Is love enough? There must be as many young men attracted to their sweethearts as ever, as many young women dreaming of their wedding day as ever. We also know that the rate of divorce is high, the hesitation about marriage is pushing it later for [...]

Posted in Blog | 7 Comments
  • About John Redwood

    John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College, and has a DPhil from All Souls, Oxford. A businessman by background, he has been a director of NM Rothschild merchant bank and chairman of a quoted industrial PLC.
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