Why is it a controversy when the (unelected) heir to the throne writes low-profile letters expressing political opinons to ministers and MPs, but not when the (unelected) Metropolitan Police Commissioner stages press conferences expressing political opinions to the entire country?

Busy, so a quick heads-up: Electronic surveillance enters EU statute books – “Europe�s justice ministers have given final approval to controversial rules forcing telephone operators and internet service providers to store data.” More later, if time. But it’s worth noting … Continue reading →

Some more past parallels, from Tom Paine: 1) (from 1776’s Common Sense) “Ye that dare oppose not only tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the Old World is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the … Continue reading →

Notes from a small bedroom – a new blog that’s well worth a look. And also brings a handy H.L.Mencken quote: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed � and thus clamorous to be led … Continue reading →

A lengthy pondering on Blair, Bagehot and the threats of our consitution from me over at The Sharpener, following this, this, and especially this. Go read and stuff.

I thoroughly disapprove of this. His kind of questioning of the Holocaust may be hurtful, it may be distasteful, it may be based on dubious evidence and on the utterly unhistorical discounting of thousands of eyewitness accounts, but someone needs … Continue reading →

Hazel Blears, 20th October 2005. “It is regrettable that any families with children have to be detained at all but it is sadly the actions of the adults in the family that make this necessary.” Hazel Blears, 13th August 2003 … Continue reading →

If you want to vote in the May local elections you only have three weeks to make sure you are registered, as the deadline is Monday 13th March. Application forms can be downloaded here – and at the same site … Continue reading →

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Ch.III: “he who attempts to get another man into his absolute power does thereby put himself into a state of war with him; it being to be understood as a declaration of a design … Continue reading →

I for one will always trust a government that failed so abjectly in battling BSE and continiues to fail in fighting bovine TB when they tell us that there’s no need to follow the French example of quarantining and vaccinating … Continue reading →

Yaaaay! Sign me up for one of those biometric ID cards with my fingerprints and stuff. Nothing could ever go wrong! So, that’s �750,000 compensation due to fingerprints being misidentified (a handy precedent set). We’re constantly told that these ID … Continue reading →

Britblog Roundup 53

Sound familiar? It’s almost exactly the same nonsense John Reid came out with a couple of weeks ago, just before the footage of British troops beating up some Iraqis emerged. Only this time he goes even more mental – we … Continue reading →

Read this passage from Locke’s First Treatise of Government, and tell me there aren’t any parallels. It’s late and I’m a bit drunk, so I may well be reading too much into it. But the parallels are there: “Since there … Continue reading →