Jess The Dog (Free subscription) | yesterday
Tom Peterkin. Cunt. Now that is a deserved use of the word! Not since the Armed Forces adopted the soubriquet "That C*nt Hoon" or "TCH" for Geoff Hoon has it felt so appropriate. Grassing up a blogger to their employer for unparliamentary language , when the Fourth Estate is hardly a shining beacon of integrity, is behaviour entirely worthy of this Anglo-Saxon expletive, forgotten...
The Independent (Free subscription) | 21/11/2009
Tony Blair knew the game was up a week ago. He admitted it in telephone calls to Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel. It was clear that the job described as "President of Europe" was going to be nothing of the sort. After eight years of navel-gazing, the European Union had finally decided to appoint ... well, someone to chair meetings of its 27 leaders. Big deal.
News Scotsman (Free subscription) | 21/11/2009
GORDON Brown's team had been working for weeks on a back-up plan in the likely event that Tony Blair was vetoed for the top job.
Lobbydog (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
Sorry for being distant over the last few days, I was busy preparing copy for Brown’s visit to the East Midlands. Oh, and there was the Queen’s Speech too – it’s amazing the amount you can find to write about an event with nothing in it. Anyhoo, to start the day I notice that Baroness Ashton is the British contribution to the ‘big two’ EU jobs. This is a woman who...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
After a turbulent 500 years it is understandable – I sometimes feel like putting my feet up too – but it is a mistake It's not true that last night's appointments at the EU's Brussels conclave are without historic precedence. When the Italian politician Signor Caligula was president of the European commission during one of the continent's more dynamic phases he appointed his horse to negotiate...
The Irish Times (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
STILL VIRTUALLY unknown in international politics, EU trade commissioner Baroness Catherine Ashton took a unexpected leap forward last night when she was made foreign policy chief of the EU.
The Independent (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
Cathy Ashton has a lucky habit of being in the right place at the right time. The 53-year-old Labour peer rose quietly up the Government's ranks to join the Cabinet as Leader of the House of Lords even though she had a low profile in her own party.
Guy Fawkes' blog (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
The total absence of anything in the Queen’s Speech on the expenses issue is glaring, could the above be why? The Telegraph reports that Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, will shortly receive a police file on half-a-dozen suspected political financial fraudsters. A source told The Times: “The investigation is progressing and [...]
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009
You are to be congratulated for bringing to public notice the possible causes of birth defects and cancers among infants in Falluja ( Report , 14 November). You mention radiation poisoning, but not depleted uranium munitions. These munitions were used in the first and second Gulf wars, and in the Balkans. The then defence minister, Geoff Hoon, said in January 2001 that banning their use would put...
Heliogenic Climate Change (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
"Who's the biggest eco villain of the noughties? 3.8% James Inhofe, for labelling global warming a "hoax" 1.6% Christopher Monckton, for prolific climate denial 5.6% Sarah Palin, for putting oil and gas exploration ahead of the polar bear 3.1% Christopher Booker, for his columns of misinformation on climate change 1.6% Paul Golby, for trying to build new coal power stations in the UK...
OberonHouston (Free subscription) | 09/11/2009
Do you remember the frurory back in the summer when the Guardian whipped up a media frenzy over the News of the World phone hacking scandal? This is where NoTW hacks were gaining access to public figures voicemail by, wait for it, phoning a targets mobile and entering the default voicemail password to listen to the owners messages if there was no answer. Hardly James Bond. This was actually a Labour...
Scotsman.com (Free subscription) | 30/10/2009
The recent report on the fatal Nimrod crash (your report, 29 October) condemns the MoD, but what pressure was put on the department by the Treasury and the Cabinet to
Labourlist (Free subscription) | 29/10/2009
By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 On Septmeber 2, 2006, 14 servicemen died in Afghanistan on an RAF Nimrod. The results of the inquiry into that tragedy, released yesterday, reveal that the MoD is largely culpable. The report describes a: "PowerPoint culture in government that glosses over hard questions and detailed evidence, and sacrifices safety to incompotence, sloppiness, complacency and cynism."...
Lightwater (Free subscription) | 29/10/2009
For once here’s an independent report – the 2006 Nimrod crash review - which successfully identifies the causes and names those responsible. Michael Evans, The Times Defence Editor open his report with these words: “The Nimrod report is the most devastating attack on the Ministry of Defence and the defence industry in living memory.” The report severely criticises the government,...
Lobbydog (Free subscription) | 26/10/2009
Loved this Hoonish bit from Black Dog ... In his first public speech since quitting as Black Rod, Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Willcocks recalled how ex-Lord Chancellor Charlie Falconer apologised to the Queen at the 2005 State Opening of Parliament for the over-long Queen's Speech written for her by No10. Geoff Hoon, Commons Leader at the time, chipped in limply: "We tried to take as much...
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