[books] Digested read: Tony Blair A Journey … ‘You know, I had a tear in my eye when I entered No10 for the first time in 1997, though it wasn’t, as the Daily Mail tried to claim, because I was choked with emotion at how far I had come since I was a young, ordinary boy standing on the terraces of St James’ Park, watching Jackie Milburn play for Newcastle. It was because Gordon had hit me. Ah, Gordon! He meant well, I suppose, in his funny little emotionally inarticulate...

In an exclusive deal with Daedalus Parrot Publishing Inc., the long awaited memoirs of Anthony Blair, “Why I Was Right”, will be serialised in this column over the next few minutes. In this first instalment, Anthony describes how right he was. Thank You Before we proceed, some thanks are in order. I know, wise reader,...

Community Care have an exclusive interview with Paul Burstow this week where he discusses his approach to mental health care. Useful, as he is the Department of Health minister responsible for care services. In the article he makes a link between poverty and mental health – nothing particularly ground-breaking there except a vague indication that the government acknowledges this and their responsibility to approaching this issue as he says But, in facing up to poverty, we must acknowledge another truth: that poor mental health is often a key link in that miserable chain. Of course there is a side swipe which is not altogether unmerited, at the previous government and their lack of action on tackling both poverty and mental health. Interestingly, he picks up on the New Horizons document...

If you’re living and/or working in and around East Belfast then pop Wednesday 20/10/2010 into your diary.East Belfast Speaks Out returns to Ashfield Boys School on the Holywood Road at 7.30pm.This year’s line-up of political panellists hasn’t yet been publicly announced, but there are some heavyweights expected to attend and respond to questions from the floor. Last year’s event was a response to the successful West Belfast Talks Back that has become a regular feature of the summer festival.Last September around 130 people came to the school hall and asked Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP), Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin), Naomi Long (Alliance), Laurence Robertson (Conservative) and Patrick Corrigan (Amnesty) about:loyalist working class areas getting left behind;the effectiveness of the...

The very possibility of bisexuality can sometimes run into the same disbelief that Queen Victoria is said to have shown towards lesbianismIt has to be said that something is awry when rumours about a politician's sexuality leave him feeling forced to publicise the miscarriages his wife has suffered. Quite what that something is, however, is harder to pinpoint than it would have been in the past. William Hague made his extraordinary statement on Wednesday despite serving in a government alongside openly gay ministers. Homosexuality is not the bar to office that it once was, and yet gay politicians face a distinctive pressure to declare themselves as such.While suggestions that the foreign secretary is anything other than straight are no more than gossip, in a truly tolerant society there...

• Calls for judicial inquiry after reporter is suspended• Latest phone hacking allegation dates from earlier this year• Four targets poised to sue police over failure to warn themThe government tonight came under pressure to set up a judicial inquiry into the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World after the paper confirmed that it has suspended a journalist while it investigates new allegations of the unlawful interception of voicemail.The prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, has denied a report in the New York Times which claimed he freely discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques when he was editing the paper and "actively encouraged" a named reporter to engage in illegal interception of voicemail messages. Coulson has always denied knowing of any...

Senior Whitehall figures concerned that Tory party employees have been given civil service rolesThe coalition has quietly appointed a string of party employees to civil service roles – including one aide to the foreign secretary, William Hague – in a move that has raised concerns among senior Whitehall figures, the Guardian has learned.Hague today said he felt forced to give yesterday's unprecedented personal statement about his marriage to "put the record straight" after intense speculation about his relationship with a special adviser in a row that has cast light on the propriety of political appointments.Separately, several Conservative party and MP employees have been given civil service roles in the Cabinet Office, Department for Education, Foreign Office and Downing Street,...

guardian.co.uk

Reports that two countries are to combine forces denied as defence secretaries meet to discuss closer military co-operationBritish and French officials engaged in high-level defence talks have denied reports the two countries are considering sharing aircraft carriers, but are paving the way for unprecedented military co-operation, according to sources on both sides of the Channel.Speaking on the eve of talks in Paris between the defence secretary, Liam Fox, and his French counterpart, Hervé Morin, officials said plans were being drawn up in an attempt to save money but maintain capabilities."We're in a phase where we must absolutely synchronise our budget cuts so that, in the end, there's no loss in our military capacities," a senior French diplomat told Agence France Presse news agency...

Since when has it become a shameful act for two male colleagues to share a room? Why was it naive if needs must? I don’t feel William Hague was compromised, except by the smutty minds of those who enjoy spreading salacious rumours about an innocent act. I think William Hague is terrific; he is a decent man through and through and won (I believe) the largest vote share in the country at this year’s general election winning an astonishing 62.8% of votes in his Richmond constituency. I was moved by the touching personal statement he made denying any wrong doing, and the declaration of love for his stunning wife Ffion, especially learning about their personal tragedy and how she has been unable to conceive. Only those who have tried unsuccessfully for years to have a baby will...

There’s a one-eyed yellow Scotsman of a dour and sullen hue There’s a stench of pious bullshit all around There’s a broken-heated woman dreams of socialism true And the yellow Scot forever lets her down He was known as Red McBroon, and he made the Party swoon Though his cowardice had long begun to smell...

Labour leadership contender says he wants to lead 'a government not a gang'Labour leadership hopeful David Miliband today sought to distance himself from the party feuding reignited by Tony Blair's new book, declaring that he wanted to lead "a government not a gang".As ballot papers went out to eligible voters, Miliband sent an email to all party members in which he said he was "sick and tired" of seeing the leadership race characterised in terms of a choice between rejecting or retaining New Labour.Instead, the shadow foreign secretary pledged to "change the way we do politics" and said he was "ready to lead".Miliband dispatched the email to members after the publication yesterday of Blair's autobiography, which charted the former PM's deteriorating relationship with Brown.Urging members...

Industrial action on London Underground to start on 6 September in protest against plans to cut 800 jobsTalks aimed at averting a series of strikes by London Underground workers from next week have broken down and the industrial action will go ahead as planned, union leaders said today.The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said LU had failed to remove the threat of cuts to safety and safe staffing levels that would have allowed "meaningful discussions" to take place.Thousands of Tube staff are due to launch the walkouts from next Monday evening, 6 September, in protest against plans to cut 800 jobs, threatening travel chaos in the capital.The RMT accused LU management of "sabotaging" talks today at the conciliation service Acas with officials from the union, and the Transport...

Wikio.co.uk – General Ranking Preview – September 2010 1 Iain Dale’s Diary 2 Liberal Conspiracy 3 Cute Card Thursday 4 Papertake Weekly Challenge 5 Guy Fawkes’ blog 6 A Spoon Full of Sugar 7 allsorts challenge blog 8 Liberal Democrat Voice 9 Left Foot Forward 10 Cupcake Craft Challenges 11 Charisma Cardz 12 Stamping Ground...

Amid the reams of commentary over President Obama’s speech on 31 August, marking the official end to Operation Iraqi Freedom, there has not been much attention paid to one key line he made around half way through. In describing how the remaining US troops in Iraq (until the end of 20011), combined with the enduring legions of US diplomats and aid workers, would focus their efforts on supporting the Iraqi government and people as they made their own way in the world, the President said “This new approach reflects our long term partnership with Iraq – one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect”.This is the foundation of what we are trying to do with Afghanistan too. Obama also said on 31 August, "We can’t do for Afghans what they must ultimately do for themselves.”...

As so many other Liberal Democrats that I know have tried Vote Match, I thought I should.  It’s the questionnaire that shows how closely you match the views of the various Labour leadership contenders.  Also, like many Lib Dems I came out as closest to Diane Abbott. The full figures were: Diane Abbott – 71% Ed Miliband – 49% David Miliband – 37% Ed Balls – 29% (Andy Burnham doesn’t get a comparison as he didn’t provide Vote Match with the relevant information in time) I suppose Diane is reasonably liberal on some things, (although I still always remember her controversial comments about Finnish nurses) and we would also agree on some key issues like Trident, academies and student tuition fees, to name a few.  But unlike Diane I would never...

Just a brief note to say that I’ve been informed of a Take Back Parliament (the organisation campaigning for a Yes vote in the referendum on the voting system next year) meeting for Essex that’s happening next Tuesday. It’s at 7.30pm in the Charles Peters Lounge of Chelmsford YMCA. I’ll be going along with at...

No 10 says Hague enjoys PM's full support as foreign secretary says he wanted to 'put the record straight' about his sexualityDavid Cameron declared his "100% support" for William Hague today, as the foreign secretary said he had decided to speak out about his private life because he could no longer put up with allegations about his sexuality.Hague also received the backing of his local constituency party chair after issuing a statement yesterday in which he denied having had an "improper" relationship with his special adviser, Christopher Myers, who resigned as a result of the "pressure" put on his family due to the "untrue and malicious allegations" circulating on the internet.At a press conference this morning with the German foreign minster, Guido Westerwelle, Hague refused to be...

There is a miniature tape recorder inside every female brain that loops a continuous message, implanted at our Mother’s breast. ‘Little princess, you will grow up to be beautiful and make some man very happy’ Some women manage to drown out the message by force of their attraction to other women. Some women are forced...

In a stunning display of petty vindictiveness, the screws are being tightened once again on that blight of humanity known as smokers: More than 90 per cent of smokers are barred from renting a property, new figures have suggested. Actually, having read the article, that is not what the survey is actually saying, although I...

(Orin Kerr) for the Presidency in 2012. I hope he does: From what I know at this point, he’s my favorite potential GOP candidate by far....

David and Ed Miliband distance themselves from former PM's statement of support for coalition's deficit strategyCandidates for the Labour leadership moved tonight to limit the impact of politically explosive remarks in Tony Blair's memoirs in which he backed the economic strategy of the Conservative-led coalition government.Blair shook the party with his backing of David Cameron and George Osborne's economic strategy to cut the financial deficit. Blair also backed the government's decision to raise VAT, which Gordon Brown vehemently warned against throughout the election campaign."If governments don't tackle deficits, the bill is footed by taxpayers, who fear that big deficits mean big taxes, both of which reduce confidence, investment and purchasing power," Blair wrote, in sharp...

Original Home Page – And another very early post from this blog Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here Comment at end 1st September, 2010 The Middle East Peace representative for the Quartet for the last three years and three months Tony Blair arrived in Washington yesterday for the first meeting of Israelis and Palestinians for over two years. But first, with regard to the “journey’s end” jibe – the anti-Iraq war Independent’s choice phrase – today Mr Blair is, correct me if I’m wrong, the only European at the Washington peace talks Perhaps, dear Indy, his journey is NOT yet over. Watch a clip of tonight’s interview with Andrew Marr I managed to see it in the end. It was fine. Not...

New Labour dogma pervades Tony Blair's biography. Bringing it into the leadership race is a depressing mistakeNearly over now, then – so let us count the cliches used to decry the Labour leadership contest. "Interminable," claims the Daily Telegraph. "The least inspiring contest ever," says a columnist in the Independent. "A bunch of clueless clodhoppers," reckons the characteristically emollient Mail. Now, the hysterically received Blair memoirs add another commonplace to the noise: that beneath the alleged tedium lurks grave danger – and if it isn't careful, Labour will stray from the New Labour path, and lurch into irrelevance.I dutifully bought my copy of A Journey today, and eventually reached the postscript, in which Blair sets out his vision of the future. What awaited was a...

The publicity mad Mullah of Blackburn is in the news again today. A curious case. Salim Mulla claims that he has not been able to take gainful employment since April Fool’s Day 1998 – the day the British public started financially supporting him because of ‘sight and hearing’ problems – and the present day. One...

The Foreign Secretary is keen to be seen as an unaccompanied man tucking into meat with gusto, but has been forced to take the extraordinary step of issuing a statement about his alleged clandestine fruit eating habits with Ffion, variously described as his wife and his long time companion after a series of bloggers became...

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair - Author of The Journey Related Posts:Before and after the SpeakerMPs expenses cartoon – official versionLet’s go global summitsPresident of the Council BlairChannel 4 newsPowered by Contextual Related...

I have a few safeguarding investigations underway at various stages at the moment. There are a lot running concurrently and while wanting to patter off the usual gripes and groans about workloads increasing at different rates, at different times of the year – I can safely blame my current predicament on a shortage of staff and of people who have trained up to complete safeguarding investigations within our team. Historically, it would have been one of those situations which would have been lead by the social workers in a multi-disciplinary team – because the local authority provides additional training for us in this respect and it is seen to fit into the ‘social work’ role and domain  but over the last year, this training and this role has been extended to other disciplines. For...

Original Home Page – And another very early post from this blog Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here Comment at end 1st September 2010 Martin Kettle’s World Exclusive Interview: ‘… he felt “sick, a mixture of anger and anguish” when he was asked by the Iraq inquiry chair, Sir John Chilcot, in January if had regrets over Iraq. “Do they really suppose I don’t care, don’t feel, don’t regret with every fibre of my being the loss of those who died?”‘ BLAIR MEMOIRS  – HE FEELS, CRIES AND DRINKS WOW! You don’t expect us to believe he’s HUMAN? EXTRACTS FROM TONY BLAIR’S WEBSITE DEDICATED TO HIS MEMOIRS INTRODUCTION: (2 pages) “The...

Original Home Page – And another very early post from this blog Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here Comment at end 31st August 2010 ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? THEN HE’LL BEGIN Only 15 minutes to wait, kiddies. According to the dedicated website here – http://www.tonyblairjourney.co.uk/Exclusive_extracts_released – it shouldn’t be long before the press are at it hammer and tongs. The papers and the broadcasters have already leaked a little. One, on Gordon Brown, and two on Mr Blair’s appearance in January at the Iraq Inquiry. On Gordon Brown it is said by one of the leaking papers that Tony Blair has accused Mr Brown of “trying to blackmail me.” Even without the present soul of the...

World exclusive: As he publishes memoir, ex-PM urges party not to shift to the left• 'I've got something to say' – exclusive Tony Blair interview• Blair on Brown: 'Emotional intelligence: zero'• I didn't see Iraq nightmare coming, says BlairTony Blair came to the view that Gordon Brown would be a disaster as prime minister and that Labour could not win the 2010 general election, he reveals in his long awaited memoirs."It was never going to work," Blair writes of Brown's three years in No 10, arguing that the former chancellor had "zero emotional intelligence" and fatally abandoned the New Labour formula.Blair's memoir contains a passionate defence of the war in Iraq and of New Labour's public service and welfare reform plans, which the former prime minister believes his successor...

'Soap opera' moves on to talk of close-run contest to be settled by second or third preferencesDavid Miliband enters the home stretch of the Labour leadership race claiming the support of more than half the shadow cabinet amid speculation that the contest will be so close it could be decided by second and third preferences.All candidates were attempting to move the contest away from the "soap opera" of sibling rivalry and the politics of old versus new Labour after interventions from senior party figures.Ballot papers will be sent to Labour party members with up to 80% expected to return them within the week. The result will be announced on the eve of the Labour party conference on 25 September.The shadow foreign secretary, bookies' favourite, made a peace offering to his brother Ed...

The Milibands' fight has highlighted their flaws but left many in the party asking: why can't we have the best of both?You wait a lifetime for a Miliband, then two come along at once. Not my joke but one cracked by Miliband the younger, sympathising with the plight in which he and his brother have landed the Labour tribe, inflicting on them a dilemma that comes to a head this week as ballot papers drop through millions of letterboxes, demanding that Labour members and affiliated trade unionists finally make their choice.Behind the quip is a recognition that if just one of them were in this contest, it would have been easy: current form suggests either one, David or Ed, would have left his rivals for dust. Instead, by fighting each other, they have turned this into a nailbiter, a contest...

I've had to rewrite this posting a number of times, and temper my disgust. I'm not sure I succeeded.One cheer for the blatant electioneering that delivers nothing much, but the opportunity for the next Government (whoever they might be) to cancel the 'pilot'.The fare reductions are A Good Thing. But, by themselves they achieve little of lasting benefit for the islands. It is only as part of a wider strategy that they will actually be of great and lasting benefit to the islands.The failure of RET has been that the necessary infrastructure - bigger and more frequent ferries - aren't even on the horizon with CalMac having announced that they (for which read the Government) hasn't got the cash.We have ferries that locals can't get onto; tourists who arrive at the ferry ports to find that...

Wondering why there was a flood of hits on the blog coming from Iain Dale's blog, I discovered that - unbeknownst to me - Alan in Belfast had been entered into Total Politics vote for Top Northern Ireland Blog, and made it into the top 20.For what it's worth, AiB came 14th ... but I wouldn't put too much trust in the science or judgement behind inclusion in the list, never mind...

It was not only MPs who were casualties of the last election, when failing to get re-elected. Business men crashed to earth too, as government contracts changed focus and allegiance. One of the most remarkable is young Gareth. Young Gareth has fixed ideas of what constitutes a respectable businessman. It is someone who rests their...

It's difficult not to blog about the events of last Friday, that chilly but moving day when we sat in Uhuru Park and watched the promulgation of Kenya's new constitution.  Particularly as the British High Commissioner to Kenya, given the history of our two countries, I felt privileged to be a part of the celebration of a key moment in constitutional history.  Saying goodbye to the much-amended Independence constitution of 1963, Kenyans have voted for (and participated in the making of) a law that massively strengthens the human and civil rights of citizens, brings in separation of powers, and paves the way for far-reaching reforms.  Of course, a law is just a law, and there are huge challenges ahead in implementing it.  But a day to be savoured, and I felt honoured to...

Original Home Page – And another very early post from this blog Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here Comment at end 31st August 2010 SHUT UP – YOU WINNERS!!! After Peter Mandelson‘s warning (video) about the leadership of Labour (aka as New Labour) and the sadly inevitable response to the Dark Lord’s words, Iain Martin puts it succinctly here. “At last, the Labour leadership race has come alive. The Dark Lord (Mandelson) has clearly got sick of it being a mealy-mouthed affair and has criticized Ed Miliband — saying he wants to hark back to an age before New Labour rather than reaching out into floating voter land. It was a perfectly fairly worded critique, the normal stuff of healthy, robust...

Philip Salter at the Adam Smith Institute laments the lack of French taught in schools, and attributes this to schools preferring that children take easier subjects that will reflect well in the league tables. There may be an element of truth in this, in that French or German at ‘O’ level is on a par...

Since it’s now a bit more than three months since the election and the BBC still haven’t got round to replying to my email about the coverage, here it is in isolation: Thank you for your impartial coverage of the general election which focussed on the important parts rather than frivolous nonsense. This was exemplified by your coverage of the two high-profile Liberal Democrat losses, Dr Evan Harris and Lembit Opik. While large photos of each outgoing MP were on the screen, you rightly ignored Dr Harris’ place on the Science and Technology Subcommittee. You rightly paid no heed to his campaigning against religious interference in abortion law. You wisely didn’t mention his campaigning against NHS spending on unproven and disproven forms of alternative medicine. His...