Congratulations to Alex and Comrades

Further to my last post, although I am sure you know already, they won the libel case against them


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Supporting Alex Hilton Today

If you can, support Alex Hilton today. They will be judged in this 3 year libel action over an article written on LabourHome and the result can affect all political blogs in this country in how we write.
Judgment Day is 2pm, Friday, Court 4, St Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane.
Everyone welcome - please spread the word!


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Parish Notice

As of tomorrow I will be on a week-long family holiday in Cornwall, so I'm afraid this blog won't be updated for a week, but have fun and we meet again next week :-)

New BBC Series: Sherlock

I am very much looking forward to this, being a big Sherlock Holmes fan. The modern day twist will either work or not, although given the trailer it should work

:-)

(BBC)

Reluctant Hat Tip to the Daily Mail

I have said before that politics creates strange bedfellows, but today The Daily Mail has highlighted two stories that do not show Cameron and Osborne in a good light.

The first is Cameron's comments regarding Britain being a "Junior Partner" to the US during the Second World War, now whether that is broadly true or not, it has caused offence and shows a lack of proper awareness of how the Allies operated at that time or the influence Churchill was able to wield.

The second is with regards to Osborne being criticised by the Conservative-dominated Commons Treasury Committee. Not only does this echo Labour's concerns at the time and the reality behind Sir Alan Budd's departure, but it also highlights Osborne's lack of competency in the role of Chancellor and that he is someone who freely ignores advice when it doesn't suit him and is probably likely to blame others when things go wrong. Trust me, when Osborne starts getting an array of negative headlines he will be caught trying to shift the blame onto Danny Alexander

Total Politics Blog Poll

It's that time of year again where Total Politics are launching their Poll for the Top Political Blogs in this country.

All can vote but you must follow the rules listed below:

1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include at least FIVE blogs in your list, but please list ten if you can. If you include fewer than five, your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
5. Only vote once.
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents or based on UK politics are eligible. No blog will be excluded from voting.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2010. Any votes received after that date will not count.

Happy voting

"Teachable Moments"

I can see how easy it would be for the White House to have a knee-Jerk reaction here, but as some have said it is a "Teachable moment". What they do need to bear in mind however is that not only do Fox News and it's kin have an agenda to bring down the Obama Administration, but that, as in the Clinton years, they will latch onto anything to try and do it, which means they will sometimes not check their facts properly or, more likely, deliberately take something out of context. The aim therefore is to go for the original story and show up the perpetrators

Al Megrahi - The Buck Stops With the SNP

I appreciate and share the concerns the Americans have and BP have a lot of awkward questions to ask, and no doubt the Coalition will be sorely tempted to blame the previous government, but lets stick to the facts.

Al Megrahi was held under Scottish custody, the decision to release him was made by the Scottish Executive which is SNP controlled, therefore one should really be asking the Scottish Executive some awkward questions, in particular to Alex Salmond and the Scottish Justice Minister. I am sure they have a plausible sounding explanation but as I have said before, sometimes the crime is so great that life-long imprisonment is the best option

Khrushchev Vs Nixon

Check out this argument at an American Fair in Moscow in 1959 between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the then Vice President Richard Nixon on capitalism Vs Communism. Entertaining and inspiring

Tom Jones's Latest Album

Whether it was a publicity stunt or not has helped draw attention to the album and you know what, good on Sir Tom for doing this album. Why should he stay in a box of simply producing songs like "Sexbomb" and "It's Not Unusual", he's an artist and if he feels confident enough to sing other stuff and broaden his range then why stop him? It's like saying to Leonardo Di Vinci; "Would you please stop doing those designs of those helicopter thingys!"

The Latest Violence in Northern Ireland

On our last full day in Dublin, Ruth and I went to a small bar near O'Connell Street and had an Irish Breakfast for brunch (well it was nearly midday), as we were given our plates, Ruth mentioned her passion for the Ulster Fry, to which the waitress said made her feel homesick (being from N. Ireland) . It made me reflect on how things has improved over the border and how settled things were becoming between N.Ireland, the Irish Republic, and the UK.

Maybe I was a bit premature in thinking that but I am hopeful that such events will clear up, especially given the general picture. The dissident Republicans have hardly much support, they are peopled by individuals who are involved in criminal activities such as drug dealing, and one suspects this is more of an excuse to use violence rather than any ideological and/or political beliefs. If they were truly serious about that they would have been more supportive of the peace process and have had a keen sense of what little progress decades of violence have done in the Province.