Falling Like Nine Pins
Thursday, March 11th, 2010The number of Labour MPs deciding to go at the last minute as now reach epidemic proportions. Just near me, in the West Midlands, the last few days have bought news of Sylvia Heal’s decision as well as Mark Fisher’s decision.
Many members will be frustrated by this not least because all of the new selections [...]
Chilcot Kicks Off!
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009The Chilcot enquiry kicks off at last amid worries that it will not be a serious piece of investigation but something of a white wash.
I wouldn’t want to comment on this so early on and want to take things at face value …
… but the room being used for the enquiry only has 6 seats [...]
Tory Complacency May Yet Come Back to Haunt Them
Friday, November 20th, 2009I still don’t really know what to make of the Queen’s Speech. It has been described as being quite surreal and in many ways it was certainly bizarre. Why enshrine a legislative commitment to something when you’ve missed your own targets? And is the financial world so shaky that it needs government to commit itself [...]
Cutting The Deficit is Only Half the Story
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009There’s no doubt that morale in the Labour Party is low and clearly it seems to me, is lower the closer you get to Westminster.
A few weeks ago I was at a small seminar in a Westminster Department. Civil Servants were excited; we were to have a pep talk from a Minister. The Minister duly [...]
General Election — No Gain in Going Short
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009It seems a long time since I’ve written anything half decent here. Lack of inspiration has been the problem and the whole expenses saga has taken its toll. But now the Kelly Report has been produced the General Election campaigns have begun and it seems sensible to take up the reigns again.
So, first up — [...]
Looking for the Model Citizen?
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009I confess to being wrong about David Blunkett’s citizen tests. Initially I thought this was a really backward step. But then I met new arrivals in the UK who were not only happy to take these on board, but who were really proud of achieving something when they received their ‘citizen’ certificate.
Often these citizen ceremonies [...]
Ministers Must be Placed More Carefully
Thursday, July 16th, 2009The time spent by Ministers in their jobs is getting ridiculously short. They are simply not in post long enough to properly grasp their briefs and — most importantly — develop deep and intelligent relationships with the world that they have to work with.
This is another area where changes in the culture of government [...]
Constitutional Confusion
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009Well, we’re off. With the next big idea that is, constitutional reform. But already confusion and a lack of clarity is threatening to blight the whole idea.
It is not the policy of this blog to spend hours muttering about the leadership. But everyone should be aware of ’spin’ at the moment. If there was a [...]
Sadness
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009I’ve given up trying to work out just what is going on in the asylum (let alone speculating on who’s running it).
Today’s events are sad on a couple of accounts.
I’m sad to see Tom Watson leave government. There should be a place for him. Steering ITC policy was a good thing for Tom to do. [...]
Brown’s Plans Lack a Sense of Reality
Monday, June 1st, 2009Thankfully Gordon Brown has ended his period of silence with two major media appearances, on the Andrew Mar Show and on the Today Programme (here the interview here).
There is something in his idea for a National Council for Democratic Renewal but somehow this seems to me to not be deliverable within his chosen time period.
And [...]
