February 2011

Democracy: Free with Every Barrel of British Tear Gas

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 27/02/2011 - 16:21

Quote of the week, with a bullet:

Yeah, I suppose I am. I forgot about that. I’m holding the fort but I’m hoping to take the end of the week off with my kids. Someone else will have to do it then

That's Nick Clegg, answering a journalist who asked if he was in charge of government business during David Cameron's Democracy: Free! With Every Barrel of Teargas tour of the Middle East. (Thanks to Think Defence for the heads up.)

Pocket Bismarck's Cunning Plan: Wrong Country, Wrong Crisis

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 27/02/2011 - 16:40

Interestingly, though, while the Tunisians were having a revolution and the Egyptians were planning one, the British Government was actually giving detailed consideration to a contingency plan for evacuating UK nationals from a major crisis in the Middle East. If this story in the Daily Telegraph from the 28th of December can be trusted (now there's an if...), that is.

Revised

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 27/02/2011 - 18:24

So, those Q4 GDP numbers were all because of the snow and they were anyway going to get revised up. Oops. The first revision has them down even further.

Tuition Fees: Did The Coalition Get Its Sums Wrong?

Submitted by Tom on Fri, 18/02/2011 - 10:07

Remember tuition fees?  Jacked up to £9000?  There was a bit of unpleasantness on the streets, I recall, after which Nick Clegg retrieved a shred of dignity with the announcement that, while £9000 per annum was the new limit, anything over £6000 had to be vetted first by the Lib Dem contribution to the story, OFFA (prop. Vince Cable, sort of), to ensure that the nasty old universities weren't profiteering.

Chief Exec Pay - Another Fine Pickles

Submitted by Tom on Thu, 17/02/2011 - 20:33

Eric 'Press Release' Pickles and his hapless sidekick Grant Shapps are fond of putting out press releases lambasting highly paid chief executives, usually (obviously) in the public sector, where they have an vested interest in keeping the tabloid monster fed and angry and providing top cover for their low-level strafing runs on the public services. Today, however, they appear to be branching out in a direction I confess I hadn't seen coming. LGC, as ever, are on the case:

Uncle Eric Explores The Outer Limits Of Accountability

Submitted by Tom on Fri, 11/02/2011 - 22:38

The most appealing thing about Eric Pickles is the marvellous way he stands up for his department in the face of criticism.  Oh, hang on, that's not right, he shoves it off onto a reliable Tory attack dog, who skilfully turns it into a woofing waffle fest of accusation upon smear upon accusation straight out of Cold War propagandist central casting:

We Have Always Been At War With Sir Winston Churchill

Submitted by Tom on Mon, 07/02/2011 - 12:03

From the super-soaraway Currant Bun:

The centre-right Policy Exchange has urged the Government to give the Strasbourg court an ultimatum - two years to stop interfering or Britain pulls out of the Convention.

When Lawyers Fight Loudmouths

Submitted by Tom on Mon, 07/02/2011 - 14:55

Further to the PX/ECHR bollocks, noted legal blogger CharonQC has a piece up, which starts: