Monthly Archives: April 2008

It is good news that our prevailing wind comes from the south west, bringing us fresh air from the Atlantic and the USA. It is bad news that we are currently stuck with a biting north easterly wind, that is bringing us smells from Europe. It remainds me of just how much grief over the [...]

Mugabe and his cronies are moving quickly now to undermine the legitimacy and possible authority of the recently elected Zimbabwean Parliament. If they persuade the Electoral Commission to overturn just nine of the “Opposition” – now the majority – MDC seats then Mugabe’s people are back in charge. The Parliament should meet before this happens, [...]

Today is the 28th birthday of Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe thinks that is cause for celebration, as he seeks to take people’s minds off the runaway inflation, the barbaric acts of violence, the suffering of families with little to eat or buy, and the failure to publish the results of the Presidential ballot. The best possible [...]

I am a moderniser and a traditionalist when it comes to cricket. As a traditionalist, I love the long five day Test Match, played in white kit with the red ball. It is the ultimate test of the enduring skills of great batsmen, and of the persistence and aggression of a great bowlers. I also [...]

I managed a couple of one day trips to the continent during the long two week break from Parliament, to meet people in industry and commerce in Germany and Sweden. (No, they were not paid for by the taxpayer.) It has made me want to be more European in one very important respect – to [...]

The criticism this morning of our hapless Prime Minister is a typical media one. He is condemned for arriving in New York on the day the Pope arrives in Washington, for the Pope will take the headlines. It is all part of a world where presentation triumphs over substance, where the media can mistake the [...]

This morning it is time to look at the Olympic ideals, and the sorry progress of the torch around the world. It is a story of two cultures who seem unable to comprehend each other, of mistaken spinners for China, the Olympic movement and some torch host governments who think they can spin away the [...]