Monthly Archives: July 2009

The large steel slab works at Redcar is in serious trouble. The collapse of steel prices allied to the loss of customers and demand leaves its future in doubt. The local MP calls for government support, but when cross examined the support he seeks is small and limited. A better system of trade credit insurance [...]

Perhaps the BBC no longer approve of me as a listener, as well as disliking my views as a contributor. I have found it increasingly difficult to pick up Radio 4 on FM at home. I have to put the radio in a contorted position and turn the volume up full to get some sound [...]

The BBC commented that there were not many of us in for the debate on Afghanistan yesterday. The truth was more of us went in than could speak, because once again the time allowed for the debate was too short. Those who did speak were limited to 6 or 8 minutes. I left it to [...]

I have been sent this by a Tory blogger, www.trueblueblood.com: John Laity comment: This weekend is the Royal Air Tattoo at Fairford. I live in the MATZ for Fairford and have been watching aircraft arrive at low level all day. It is great as we have a 1000 ft cloud base which means you can [...]

After hearing Mr Miliband announce the dawn of the new low carbon era and after a later vote I walked my way to the tube to go to a meeting about the economy outside Westminster. To my surprise there were still large numbers of Ministerial cars parked all round the Commons waiting to drive their [...]

The Daily Mail has gone to town today on the 74 Labour MPs who signed Early Day Motions criticising the one sided Extradition arrangements with the US that the government signed up to, and demanding UK justice for Mr McKinnon. Their failure to vote for the Opposition Day motion which repeated their demands from the [...]

Conservative peer Lord Jenkin of Roding has tabled a couple of important amendments to the Parliamentary Standards Bill which assert Article IX of the Bill of Rights and Parliamentary supremacy, “notwithstanding any provision of the European Communities Act 1972, the European Convention of Human Rights or the Human Rights Act”. I understand this has official [...]

So far I have avoided comment on the great pandemic. In the early days Ministers and government told us they were valiantly combatting it, to stop it reaching us. I bit my tongue. It reached the UK. Then Ministers told us they would stop it spreading in the UK. I kept quiet. It spread. Government [...]