Monthly Archives: August 2009

I wish now I had blogged some weeks ago when it was fashionable to say maybe Stuart Broad should be dropped from the England cricket team. I have been a long term fan. I was telling my cricket friends I would keep him. He is a good batsman, often called on to rescue an innings [...]

One of the odd things is how much media power Labour still has. This week my phone has been hot with journalists acting as unpaid Labour researchers, wanting the low down on the great Tory health row that never was. I tell each one the same thing. There is no row, debate or discussion going [...]

Today we hear from local government that some schools and shops with a monopoly are over charging for school uniforms. Councils are told to require three solutions – access to competing shops, second hand markets and offers of school insiginia and badges at sensible prices so people can turn lower priced clothes into uniform. Great [...]

Today we learn that the government is thinking about stopping private car park owners from wheel clamping those who break the rules. If it’s wrong for the private sector, why isn’t it wrong for the public sector as well? I can accept that in busy places the public sector needs the power to remove a [...]

Yesterday the BBC cleared its lunch time programme to run the whole speech of the Scottish Justice Minister, setting out in agonising detail his thought process over the release of the man the Scottish courts found guilty of the Lockerbie mass murder. As some of you may have missed it, and as it was very [...]

The following came as an email: “These lies (about health care reform) create fear and anger, and we’re seeing the results around the country. Frightened crowds have flooded Town halls, and the office of Georgia representative was defaced …. While Americans watch their pay cheques dwindle, their (insurance) coverage disappear,and their businesses struggle…” They should [...]

Today’s borrowing figures are horrendous. July is usually a month when strong revenues exceed monthly spending. Instead the UK government borrowed another £8 billion in the month. In the April-July period last year the government borrowed an extra £16 billion. This year they have borrowed an extra £50 billion. It means we are on course [...]

The Credit Crunch and banking crash began when the UK (and US) authorities decided to bring the credit party to an abrupt end in 2007. In the UK they slammed on the brakes with high interest rates, starved the money markets of funds, and finally told the banks to lend less and save more. The [...]

Today we pray that there will no more murders in Afghanistan, as many try to go to the polls. Our soldiers have been courageous and hard working, in an effort to offer security ahead of the election. The coalition needs the election to be as free and as fair as possible. Above all we need [...]