Thank goodness Jeremy Leggett stepped in to correct some of the inaccuracies in George Monbiot’s ‘comment’ piece in Tuesday’s Guardian. The errors, however, are even more extensive than Jeremy highlighted.
At the moment, serious politics in Britain has imploded. The outrageous abuse, by some MPs, of the Parliamentary allowances system has lead to a general denunciation of everyone. Newspapers have discovered that they no longer need....
15/01/08 - "Nuclear Nonsense"
They are at it again. Politicians talking about ‘nuclear as part of a balanced energy policy’ have this amazing ability to make second hand car salesmen look like saints. Downing Street’s much leaked ‘green light’ to the nuclear industry....
Spare a thought for Tony Blair. Here is a man who is dead in he water; skewered by his friends more effectively than his
enemies could ever have dreamed of. Ever since he came to power, as leader, Blair has treated the Labour Party.....
Interregnums are strange events. You never quite know where you are. If they follow a death, people at least know that they are entitled to mourn. Handovers of political power bring no such certainties. Labour MP's hover in clusters, uncertain about which.....
Last weekend Gordon Brown’s office were furiously briefing the press that the new Brown, post Blair, era would be a ‘listening’ Labour government; one committed to winning hearts and minds rather than playing fast and loose with the democratic process.
17/05/06 - "Why nuclear is nonsense"
Ever heard the story of Chicken Licken? One day, whilst walking in the woods, an acorn fell on Chicken Licken’s head. “Oh no!” Cried Chicken Licken “the sky is falling in. We’re all doomed.” In a state of panic, Chicken‐Licken ran off to warn his friends.
13/03/06 - "Walking on waffle"
There was a moment in the Celebrity Big Brother house when George Galloway MP had to pretend to be a cat, purring whilst lapping imaginary milk from the hands of fading 1970s actress, Rula Lenska. Many of his colleagues regarded this as the most deeply embarrassing act of self‐abasement to the absurd, that George took part in.
This week’s parliamentary debate on the Education and Inspections Bill could eave the Labour government in a huge mess, with frightening echoes of one of
the least edifying periods of our own history.
09/02/06 - "Education - Selling the kids"
There was a moment in the Celebrity Big Brother house when George Galloway MP had to pretend to be a cat, purring whilst lapping imaginary milk from the hands of fading 1970s actress, Rula Lenska. Many of his colleagues regarded this as the most deeply embarrassing act of self‐abasement to the absurd, that George took part in.
28/06/05- ID Cards
Alan Simpson (Nottingham, South) (Lab): I do not have any problems with identity cards. I have several of them. I have a passport, a driving licence, a bank card, a credit card, a supermarket loyalty card, an NHS card and probably several.....
25/04/05 - "Silencing the lambs"
Two items in the breakfast news trapped me between the bizarre and the surreal. Norwich, it appears, is the e‐bay capital of Britain. More people in the city trade goods through the internet than anywhere else in the country.
18/02/05 - Making the pledge
This is a time to explore some important contradictions. When I went off to Rome 's anti‐war rally on the anniversary of 9/11, the British press were obsessed with something else. Blair had just appointed Alan Milburn to a Cabinet.....
18/10/04 - Gun Crime Debate
Alan Simpson (Nottingham, South) (Lab): What action he is taking in response to the latest incidents of gun crime in Nottingham.
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. David Blunkett):
04/10/04 - Gun Crime Debate
Alan Simpson (Nottingham, South) (Lab): I do not represent the area in which Danielle Beccan was killed—it is represented by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, East (Mr. Heppell)—but I lived most of my adult life in St. Ann's.
Parliament has grown tired of the war on Iraq . Downing St is desperate to move on elsewhere. America lurches from one panic to another at the mere mention of a possible terrorist attack. When the ‘evidence' used to throw the USA.....
18/06/04 "Party games"
Downing Street 's response to last week's election results come as a surprise to all but he most bullish of New Labour acolytes. An important sea change is taking place in society, with tides that will pull us all into uncertain waters.
For once a national newspaper caught the issue perfectly. The right wing think tank “Civitas” were holding a conference on migrant workers in Britain . Reluctantly, they had conceded a case for highly skilled workers being recruited for jobs in the UK.....
11/03/04 - "Animal farm"
Osman doesn't think much about how he is connected to cockle pickers or to the issues of EU enlargement that will take place on 1 st May. He is too busy trying to keep warm
and survive. Osman is an asylum seeker in Nottingham, one of the many.....
May 2003 "The Emporers no clothes"
Behind the scenes, something of enormous importance is happening. ‘The Project' is dying. The Third Way is falling apart. And in it's death throws of credibility, Downing Street is lurching towards ever more reckless commitments to
corporate greed.
This country is too small to be taking asylum seekers. We have drugs and muggings and violence on our estates, and all they give us is more asylum seekers. Thousands and thousands are coming in through the back door and no one can track them down. How many are terrorists?
January 2002 - "Silence Isn't Peace"
The Afghan war is over, unless you happen to live in Afghanistan. Day 100 of the war brought with it another round of bombings that the villagers of Zhawar have become accustomed to.
Whatever the press briefings have been saying, Britain has not yet declared war on Afghanistan, nor should we do so. Every day that I wake to the news that no bombing has taken place is a celebration of the restraining role Tony Blair as played with the US....
We are repeatedly told there is overwhelming public support for the war in Afghanistan. After the first weeks of bombing, opinion polls suggested only 16% of people
opposed it. But what does this mean?
September 2001 - "Tribune article - Bomb & We Loose"
Whatever George W. Bush may say,
this is not the first war of the 21st
Century. To describe the awesome
destruction in New York and Washington as 'war' is to
misunderstand both what happened,
and how we must confront it.
Let us be clear about gun crime. The likelihood of being shot is remote. Guns are a minute part of overall crime in this area, and even a small fragment of the violent crime we face. a
Does this make it ny less urgent to come up with a more effective plan to tackle gun crime?
Alan Simpson: Partly because I think the war is wrong full stop. It's just the wrong way of seeking to track down terrorists and bring them to justice. The second is that I am really fearful that we're sitting on the dge of a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.....
