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The background
Having set up my first website in 1998, I began writing a regular Comment column, giving my views on the news, in June 2000. It was published monthly until December 2003, and then weekly from January 2004.
Two years later I decided to focus exclusively on education and, in May 2006, I removed all the other material and renamed the site Education in England. The last Comment column appeared on 22 May 2006.
All 162 of the columns are reproduced here. I have made no significant changes to the text, but I have updated the many links (mostly to stories in The Guardian) which were all out of date.
The biggest issue of the period - and the one which made me most angry - was the Iraq war and its devastating consequences for children. But many other issues are addressed in these columns, including the death penalty, the use of torture in the 'war on terror', the abuse of animals, the development of genetically modified food and the education policies of Tony Blair's government. For a full list of the topics covered, see the alphabetical subject index.
The opinions expressed in these columns were mine at the time.
The Comment columns
listed in chronological order
June 2000
A civilised society? After three years of prevaricating on the issue, the UK government has finally decided to bring forward a bill which will offer MPs various choices in relation to hunting with dogs, ranging from leaving the 'sport' as it is to an outright ban. With its large majority, why is it still dithering?
July 2000
Gary Graham RIP We shouldn't be surprised at Gary Graham's execution. After all, he was just one of the 135 people who've been executed in Texas during the governorship of George W. Bush. And he was black. And being black in Texas is not helpful if you're accused of a crime.
August 2000
Lessons in hate David Copeland has been gaoled for life for bombing places used by blacks, Asians and gays. But others are guilty, too. Guilty of promoting a climate in which Copeland's bigotry could fester.
Broadsheet priorities An interesting insight into the priorities of our 'serious' newspapers.
September 2000
Naming and shaming The News of the World has set itself up as the protector of children by campaigning for the naming of paedophiles. The result has been mob rule and hysteria.
The News - Murdoch Style What a peculiarly distorted view of the world Rupert Murdoch offers his readers.
October 2000
The sanctity of life - American style What an extraordinarily contradictory lot the Americans are. The anti-abortion lobby proclaims the sanctity of life, while many of its members also support the death penalty. Life, it would appear, is only sacred as long as you haven't actually been born.
Time's Up! Betty Boothroyd retires as Speaker of the House of Commons.
November 2000
Who rules the world? The US is insisting that supermarket food labels in Europe must not tell consumers whether the products are genetically modified. Outrageous.
Corporate Greed Barclays Bank closes branches and sacks staff. Now it's giving its Chief Executive a pay and bonuses deal worth £30m.
December 2000
Clinton's last stand Bill Clinton's time as President hasn't been easy. But there's one thing even his most vociferous critics can't fault him on, and that's his commitment to securing a long-term peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
January 2001
Just another legacy of the Tories During their eighteen years ruling Britain the Tories closed the coalmines, destroyed jobs, ruined the education system, sold off our publicly-owned assets, gave us BSE, Section 28 and Railtrack, and turned the NHS into a market. They also ruined ITV.
February 2001
Cars and taxes Convoys of lorry drivers hold up traffic on motorways and fishermen and taxi drivers mount blockades of oil refineries. Why? Because petrol's gone up two pence a litre. Never mind the environment. The only thing that seems to matter is our inalienable right to drive to the corner shop.
March 2001
Blair at prayer Blair in the UK and Bush in the US are courting the religious vote. They both want 'faith groups' to be more involved in the provision of social services. Personally, I think there are huge dangers in mixing religion and politics.
The toxic Texan Bush pulls the US out of the Kyoto agreement on global warming.
April 2001
Hobson's choice? How should I vote in the General Election? I certainly don't want to return to the ghastly Tories. But given its huge parliamentary majority and the goodwill and anticipation with which it was greeted in 1997, Tony Blair's government has been extraordinarily disappointing.
May 2001
Technology sucks! Mobile phone manufacturers are closing factories because they can't sell their latest offerings - the so-called G3 phones. Personally, I'm not surprised. Just because we can do something doesn't mean it's worth doing.
Frog for breakfast Wildlife in my garden - some of it welcome, some not.
June 2001
Landslide With his huge second term majority, Blair now has no excuse for not delivering first rate public services. As for the Tories, long may they languish in the hell they've made for themselves.
Get your facts right, Dr Harris Oxford West MP Evan Harris supports vivisection. He's wrong. Animal experimentation has been a scientific and medical disaster that demeans us all.
July 2001
Funny old world Four teenagers are prosecuted for hitting a piglet with a metal bar and then killing it. Adults in red coats chase a fox across the countryside and then kill it by setting a pack of dogs on it. They must not be prosecuted for fear of breaching their human rights.
Sign of the times The strange effects of the Literacy Hour.
Dark Night of the Soul A disturbing set of sculptures by Ana Maria Pacheco.
August 2001
Bushworld In just six months, George Bush has managed to make his country the bogeyman of the rest of the world.
Privatisation sucks I'm glad I didn't vote Labour on 7 June. I'd hate to think I'd supported the election of a government which is about to dismantle the state education system, destroy the National Health Service and Railtrack the Tube.
September 2001
Child abuse Of all Northern Ireland's obscenities in the past thirty years, surely the most grotesque is the spectacle of a five year old girl crying on her way to her Catholic primary school while Protestant thugs shout abuse and hurl bricks and pipe bombs.
Death bed Should general anaesthesia be used for trivial operations and in dentistry?
Larry Adler 1914-2001 A brief appreciation.
Spare the rod Does corporal punishment of children achieve anything positive? Swedish research suggests not.
October 2001
What can I say? What can I say about the horrific events in New York and Washington last month that has not already been said by thousands of commentators in acres of newsprint? What words can I use which won't make somebody's wounds worse?
The Conservative Party 1830-2001 An obituary.
November 2001
A letter to Mr Blair The 'war on terrorism' is looking increasingly like a war on innocent Afghan villagers. I write to the Prime Minister expressing my concerns. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office replies.
Tory values? You must be joking! Iain Duncan-Smith claims that Tory values don't need re-evaluating. I beg to differ.
December 2001
Tweedledum and Tweedledee Education Secretary Estelle Morris wants to allow unqualified classroom assistants to teach. I agree with union leader Nigel de Gruchy that it's a bad idea. But the real problem is that we now have a generation of teachers who know nothing about education, other than 'delivering' the National Curriculum.
January 2002
What is happening to our public services? Schools are short of teachers, hospitals are short of doctors, the police are not solving crimes and the railways are falling apart. How ever did we get into this mess? And what needs to be done?
To be or not to be Should we legalise euthanasia?
February 2002
It's not just about them. It's also about us. Since 11 September the US has had the sympathy and support of governments and ordinary people around the world. Is it now squandering that support with its treatment of those detained in Guantanamo Bay?
Own goals It's not been a good month for the Toffs in Tweeds. More on fox hunting.
March 2002
Scotland today. England tomorrow? After more than six hours of debate the Scottish Parliament passed the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill and 'the fox-manglers slunk into history with a whimper'. When will Blair keep his promise and do the same for England?
Good news for monkeys. For now, at least. Cambridge throws out plans for a lab for torturing primates.
Nutty beliefs No. 164 The Raelians want to clone a human.
John Thaw 1942-2002 An appreciation.
April 2002
Tested to destruction English children now sit 105 tests and exams during their school careers. This is harming the children and distorting the curriculum and teaching methods as schools find themselves under pressure to do well in league tables.
Tabloid bigotry wins again The homophobic campaign against Metropolitan Police Commander Brian Paddick.
May 2002
Leeching the NHS The medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis was used extensively in the past for bleeding patients. Today, the National Health Service (NHS) uses a different kind of leech. It's called the pharmaceutical industry.
Killing for fish The murder of 77 year old Marie Watson for her fish supper tests to the limit my liberal views on crime.
June 2002
Science and animals Tony Blair says 'fanatical protesters' must not stop researchers using animals. It was an unfortunate moment to make the argument, coming at the end of a month in which scientists stand accused of appalling abuse.
Pim Fortuyn Is Islam a 'backward culture'?
Transatlantic tetchiness Bush's relations with Europe reach a new low.
July 2002
Stop trying to appease them, Tony It's been a pretty dire month for Tony Blair, as relations between his government and the right-wing press reached an all-time low. But should anyone be surprised? The Rothermeres, Blacks and Murdochs of this world are never going to support a Labour government.
The Lion, the Witch and the Racist Philip Pullman accuses CS Lewis.
August 2002
Time to say Yes! Tony Blair wants to start the euro debate. He's been beaten to it by No campaigners who've issued a cinema ad featuring the supremely unfunny Rik Mayall in a Nazi uniform. Leading British Jews and war veterans groups are appalled. Looks like a disastrous own goal.
But life goes on A quote from Joyce Grenfell.
September 2002
Not a good month for GM Tony Blair hoped that if he kept quiet about GM for long enough, people would either get fed up with campaigning against it or would just forget about it altogether. Neither seems very likely, especially after the dreadful month the GM firms have just had.
Cambridge 'science' = animal cruelty Researchers get away with torture.
October 2002
Marching for peace and ... what? Four hundred thousand people marched through London to protest at Bush's forthcoming Iraq war. Another four hundred thousand marched in support of fox hunting. One march for peace. The other for a barbaric anachronism.
Another Blair bribe for Murdoch? Giving away our TV.
Leave my tap water alone! No flouride, thanks.
Baroness Young I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but in her case I'll make an exception.
November 2002
'New Tories'? I don't think so Iain Duncan Smith wants the Tories to shed their 'nasty' image and dedicate themselves to 'inclusiveness' - protecting the vulnerable, welcoming ethnic minorities and - yes - even gays. Trouble is, most Tories like their party the way it is. Nasty.
Who's in charge of education? No wonder Estelle Morris quit.
The lottery, the Mail and the racists A disgraceful hate campaign.
December 2002
Big Mac? No thanks I was intrigued to see that eight New York children are suing McDonald's, accusing it of failing to warn them that a daily diet of Big Macs and chips would make them obese and possibly even diabetic. I'm no fan of the fast-food giant, but what on earth were the parents of these kids thinking about?
Witchfinder General Bush treats Saddam like a medieval witch.
Bizarre values Nigeria's Muslims disapprove of Miss World but think stoning women to death is fine.
January 2003
Pots and kettles The Daily Mail has printed pages of tittle-tattle about the 'new-age' interests of Cherie Blair and her friends. Would that be the same Daily Mail that published extracts from Michael Drosnin's daft books in which he argues that the Bible was written by visiting aliens?
More pots and kettles The hypocrites attacking the firemen.
Soft sentences Is fourteen years long enough for murder?
February 2003
Shared values? A recent opinion poll shows that just thirteen per cent of Britons are in favour of participation in Bush's Iraq war. Tony Blair describes this as 'foolish anti-Americanism' and says we must support the US because of our 'shared values'. Who's he kidding?
End of the line Charles Clarke kills off the teaching profession.
March 2003
The United States of Death Bush/America's obsession with the death penalty is under the spotlight again as the argument over the execution of juvenile offenders is reignited, Illinois cancels the executions of all those on its death row, Texas kills Jackie Elliott and Mexico challenges the US over executions of its citizens.
Blunder? I don't think so Blair's Iraq 'dossier' stinks.
April 2003
Blood for oil A four year old with seventy per cent burns. A student with his left arm blown off. The cost of the US/British invasion for Iraq's children.
War is peace 'When war is declared, truth is the first casualty.' So, it is alleged, said Hiram Johnson in a speech to the US Senate in 1918. He was right. This illegal and immoral war has been characterised by more lies than a Tory election campaign.
May 2003
Blood on our hands Blair talks of 'victory'. Victory for whom? Certainly not the children of Iraq lying in hospitals with their arms blown off, their bodies burned and their families dead.
GM: decision made With GM advocate Lord Sainsbury's two and half million in the Labour Party's bank account, anyone like to hazard a guess at the government's decision on the commercial growing of GM crops?
June 2003
Weapons of mass deception So the war wasn't about weapons of mass destruction (since there clearly aren't any). And it wasn't about changing a regime with links to al-Qaeda (since no evidence for such links has ever been produced). So what was it about?
It's SATs time again New Labour ministers line up to extol the virtues of the annual school tests. But the teacher unions, too, bear a heavy responsibility for the continued existence of this appalling ritual.
Do as I say, not as I do Blair on violence.
July 2003
Unprovoked murder? I don't think so Senior army officers have described the deaths of six British soldiers in Iraq as 'unprovoked murders'. Tragic, certainly - lives wasted on behalf of Bush and his evil coterie. But unprovoked? How much provocation do you want?
Suffer the little children Blair won't ban the physical punishment of children because the Daily Mail wouldn't like it. So children will go on dying at the hands of their parents.
August 2003
Left to rot Why has the government been so slow to take up the cases of Britons left to rot in the US hell-hole in Guantanamo Bay and now facing kangaroo courts?
It might have been said by Bush 'All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.' Some thoughts on war propaganda.
Finland shows the way An OECD/UNESCO report says Finland's schools come out top in reading, maths and science. And they're all comprehensives.
September 2003
Wrecking Iraq Bush claimed that his illegal invasion of Iraq was part of the 'war on terror'. Actually, it's had exactly the opposite effect.
Lies, lies, lies Murdoch's editors toe the line and attack the BBC.
Arms for arms Ali Ismaeel Abbas, the eleven year old who lost his arms and his family in Bush's bombing of Baghdad, is now in the UK being fitted with artificial limbs.
October 2003
GM: Blair's next Iraq? On the face of it there doesn't appear to be much in common between Iraq and genetically modified food. But if you look at how the two issues have been handled by the Blair government, there are some surprising similarities.
Salt in the wound George Bush's state visit to Britain should be cancelled immediately.
It's official - garlic is repellent Researchers at Newcastle University have discovered that garlic oil is an effective deterrent - as if we didn't already know!
November 2003
Becoming the truth? Was it Stalin who said that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth? Whoever it was, politicians - and others - certainly seem to have taken the lesson to heart.
Sauce for the goose More hypocrisy from Iain Duncan Smith and George Bush.
Sorry is the hardest word Tony Blair says we have nothing to apologise for in Iraq. I beg to differ.
December 2003
A new dark age of injustice Terror suspects locked up for two years without charge or trial. Judges condoning the use of torture. Welcome to twenty-first century Britain.
A minor milestone on the road to gay equality 'Section 28' - legalised homophobia - has finally been consigned to history.
The subversive in the White House Bush is set on destroying the International Criminal Court.
Back to the future The Tories choose arch-rightwinger Michael Howard as their new leader.
What a shambles! In the name of competition, BT's 192 Directory Enquiries service was closed and a gaggle of alternatives started up. Three months on, it's a shambles.
5 January 2004
The turkey's the one on the plate For bare-faced speciousness, Bush is quite unbeatable.
Detention and torture David Blunkett responds to my concerns.
Happy New Year? I didn't send out Christmas letters this year. After spending the best part of two hours trying to find something good to say about 2003, I gave up.
12 January 2004
Cruel and unusual punishment In Texas - and eighteen other US states - you're not allowed to use pancuronium bromide do put down a dog because vets have warned that its use is cruel. Unfortunately, pancuronium bromide is allowed when it comes to executing human beings. The Supreme Court may be about to change that, but don't hold your breath ...
19 January 2004
Howard's beliefs don't add up Tory leader Michael Howard has published, with unwarranted solemnity, his list of fifteen 'key principles'. He says he believes in equality of opportunity but supports private health and education provision. Worse, he doesn't believe that 'one person's poverty is caused by another's wealth'. Try telling that to Third World coffee producers.
26 January 2004
Weasel words 'Weapons of mass destruction' became 'weapons of mass destruction programmes'. Now they're 'weapons of mass destruction related programme activities'. What next?
So sweet was ne'er so fatal Here we go again. Once more, corporate business interests with powerful friends in the White House are dictating world policy. This time, the sugar barons are lecturing the World Health Organisation on diet and obesity.
2 February 2004
Whitewash It ought to have been a good week for Tony Blair with his victory in the top-up fees debate and his exoneration by Lord Hutton. But it hasn't worked out like that. The top-up fees victory was marginal and damaging and as for Hutton, most people are appalled by his devastating criticism of the BBC and view his report as little more than a government whitewash job.
9 February 2004
Hung out to dry Some friend Bush has turned out to be. Blair supports him through thick and thin - despite hostility at home and abroad - and gets nothing in return.
Of mice and monkeys Chickens stuffed into fertiliser bags and buried alive, baboons fitted with the hearts of GM pigs, pregnant mice starved ... business as usual for the animal abusers. But at least Cambridge's monkey torture lab has been abandoned.
16 February 2004
Tabloid injustice Once again, Blair's government bends to the will of the hate-spewing tabloids, changing the rules to keep Maxine Carr in gaol.
Listening mode? Blair claims to be listening - but on GM foods he's turning a deaf ear to absolutely everyone - except his pro-GM Science Minister Lord Sainsbury, of course.
23 February 2004
Questions no civilised society should have to answer The announcement that five British Guantanamo detainees are to be sent home raises more questions than it answers.
Blair's Broadcasting Corporation The government is bombarding the BBC with complaints and demanding apologies for practically everything. It's all part of Blair's 'Don't mention the war' campaign.
1 March 2004
It won't go away, Tony The more Tony Blair tries to deflect attention away from the war in Iraq, the more it comes back to haunt him. In the past week alone he's faced allegations from Katharine Gun, Clare Short, Kofi Annan, Hans Blix, Elizabeth Wilmshurst and others. In the face of all this, how much longer can he go on adamantly refusing to publish the Attorney General's legal advice on the war?
8 March 2004
Cheek by Jowell With its own food watchdog, a hundred MPs, thousands of doctors, more than a hundred health organisations and a majority of parents all backing a ban on junk food ads during children's TV, you'd think a 'listening government' would have got the message. You'd be wrong. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell says it wouldn't work. Another New Labour triumph.
15 March 2004
Us and them Tony Blair has made two speeches recently on the need to combat the new threat of terrorism perpetrated by religious fundamentalists. He has used a lot of very grand sounding phrases - 'human rights', 'justice for Palestine', 'the rule of law', 'the grief of the innocent'. It's a pity he didn't think of some of them before he joined Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq.
22 March 2004
The greatest treason It's a year since bombs rained down on Baghdad and George Bush's Iraq war began. What were the real motives behind the US invasion? And why did Tony Blair feel he had to take Britain to war? Did he really think Saddam possessed WMD? Or was it that he believed the world would be a significantly more dangerous place if America was left to invade Iraq on its own?
29 March 2004
Addicted to spin Last year Tony Blair promised a fresh start in relations between government and people. There would be no more 'spinning'. So how come he's trying to convince us that Col Gadafy agreed to abandon his WMD after he saw what the US and UK did to Iraq?
Coke and water Coca-Cola's money spinner Dasani comes a cropper.
5 April 2004
Poor old Todd Well, poor young Todd actually, because at the age of eighteen he's struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. Don't know what I'm talking about? Then you're obviously not a fan of the world's longest-running TV soap Coronation Street which, after forty-two years, at last has its first gay character. It'll never be the same again ...
12 April 2004
No Comment (Easter break).
19 April 2004
State of denial Do Bush and Blair actually believe the lies they spout about Iraq? There are certainly plenty of them - like the so-called 'handover' of power on 30 June.
Public wins GM battle Blair and Sainsbury tried to convince us of the 'benefits' of GM food. We weren't convinced. Now, as all the major GM firms pull out of the UK, it looks as though we've won.
26 April 2004
With friends like these ... Richard Desmond's Daily Express has announced its 'historic decision' to switch its allegiance to the Tories. Poor old Michael Howard. He now has to count among his friends a down-market paper which runs anti-immigration campaigns that some might regard as racist and a proprietor who thinks it's OK to call all Germans Nazis and give 'Sieg Heil' salutes.
3 May 2004
One year on A year after George Bush stood amongst his soldiers and proudly announced that the US had won, his 'coalition' is falling apart, Fallujah has been handed over to an ex-Saddam general and US troops are torturing prisoners. Happy anniversary, George.
The real victims Research scientists claim they are 'victims' of animal rights extremists. Surely it's the animals who are the real victims?
10 May 2004
A culture of denial Bush and Blair invaded Iraq because it had WMD, because Saddam had links with al-Qaida and because it was our 'destiny' to export 'western values'. The first two excuses were discredited long ago. With the revelations of the past week, the third just evaporated too.
Democracy sucks Bush, Blair and Sharon don't give a fig about democracy.
17 May 2004
Tabloid ethics Two stories from the past week - the pregnant schoolgirl scandal and the release of Maxine Carr - illustrate the appalling ethics of the tabloid press. The one bright spot has been the Daily Mirror whose editor took the paper upmarket, promoted serious news stories and consistently opposed the illegal invasion of Iraq. He's just been sacked.
24 May 2004
More infant deaths. More infantile lies. The Israeli army kills children and claims it was self defence. The US military slaughters forty wedding guests and claims they were 'anti-coalition forces'. I'm not sure which is worse - the massacring of civilians or the lies which almost always follow.
Agreeing with the Mail I get worried when I find myself agreeing with the Daily Mail.
31 May 2004
Fat chance The House of Commons Health Select Committee has published its report on the problem of obesity. It makes grim reading. But will the Blair government do anything serious about the junk food ads aimed at children or the Burger King outlets in NHS hospitals?
Strange Joan Collins has joined the United Kingdom Independence Party.
7 June 2004
Metal monsters In the face of threatened protests, Gordon Brown has promised to review a planned petrol tax rise. Why?
Turning in their graves Britons remember D-Day, then thousands of them prepare to vote for the fascist British National Party.
Spam Spam Spam Spam Have you had 34,253 in the past year? I have.
14 June 2004
Spinning out of control It's been quite a week for spin. Bush was at it after the UN finally agreed the Iraq resolution he wanted. Blair was playing down the worst local election results ever. And Thatcher was telling us what a great President Reagan was.
Once bitten Last Monday was the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Alan Turing. Not that you'd have noticed.
21 June 2004
Six per cent Judging by the headlines, you'd think Britons had just voted to leave the European Union. Actually, only six per cent of us did.
Suffer the children The government won't ban smacking because it's petrified of being accused of nanny-statism.
Bits and pieces Clinton admits his sins and Pentagon lawyers give Saddam the perfect defence.
28 June 2004
Sauce for the goose (again) Iran detains eight UK soldiers and Jack Straw demands that they be treated 'in accordance with international law'. Just as well they weren't captured by the Americans, then.
Vive la France verte! France is to slap a surcharge on sales of gas-guzzlers and give the cash to buyers of smaller, less polluting cars. Brilliant!
plus 3 other stories
5 July 2004
A bloody piece of paper Paul Bremer hands a piece of paper to a judge and we're told the Iraqis now have their sovereignty back. Oh really?
Partial justice It's right that Saddam Hussein should face justice for the appalling brutality of his regime. But is anyone going to pay the price for killing 30,000 Iraqis in the past year?
Doctors and nurses Foreigners in the NHS.
12 July 2004
Oxford's animal shame The University is building an £18m monkey torture facility.
Carry on smacking The Lords vote against a ban on hitting children.
Get real, Tony Yes, he still believes in WMD. It's just we haven't found them.
Spot the difference Iraq's puppet government backs the US bombing of a family in Fallujah.
19 July 2004
Gilligan was right Lord Butler's Report on the intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq was widely rubbished as yet another whitewash of the Blair government. But look again. What Butler makes clear is that Andrew Gilligan, who lost his BBC job after reporting Dr David Kelly's claim that No. 10 had 'sexed up' the dodgy dossier, was right all along.
26 July 2004
Two and a half years That's how long it's taken the US to decide what to do with Feroz Abassi, whom it has illegally held at Guantanamo since January 2002 without charge or trial.
Diversionary tactics Blair says his government is 'renewing itself'. I'm sceptical.
The Loonies are back! Remember Screaming Lord Sutch's Monster Raving Loony Party? Well, they're back in business.
2 August 2004
Who are the real animal terrorists? David Blunkett has called animal rights extremists 'terrorists'. But the government and drugs industry use terror too - frightening us about Alzeimer's, for example.
Send it back Blair is to send us all a booklet on how to survive a terror attack. I shall be sending mine back.
Car crimes 3,508 people were killed on our roads last year. Why is no one protesting?
9 August 2004
Wrong sort of phoenix With the war still raging across the country, it's a bit early to speculate on the nature of post-war Iraq, but a few clues are beginning to emerge. And they don't look hopeful.
Cliffhanger Last week's celebrations in Dover were clearly designed to insult the British, who have long been angry at the Spanish occupation of an iconic part of their homeland - the famous White Cliffs.
16 August 2004
Behaviour condoned With judges ruling that evidence obtained under torture is admissable, the UK is now in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights and the 1984 United Nations Convention against Torture.
Let freedom reign? The Iraqi people were promised freedom, but with newspapers and al-Jazeera banned, there's no sign of it yet.
23 August 2004
Hero of the poor Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has shown his determination to improve the lot of his country's poor. They rewarded him with a stunning victory in the recent referendum. But he'd better watch his back - the rich hate him and the US - which has a dreadful record in Latin America - wants him out.
An appalling indictment Eight British Muslims are indicted with terror offences. Why do I find it hard to believe?
30 August 2004
A voice from the past 'At the heart of the educational process lies the child.' The 1967 Plowden Report - the last and most thorough report on primary schools - expressed concern for the child and equality of opportunity. It is a voice from the past - but one which urgently needs hearing again today.
Lay off the sixties, Tony The PM's attack on the values of the 1960s was twenty years out of date and just plain wrong.
6 September 2004
Evil world 'Naked and bloodied children paralysed by fear, a girl with shrapnel embedded in her face, a little girl of seven, roof materials scattered across her limp, grimy body.' It is, truly, an evil world.
2004 September 1st 2004. Last night to the Republican Convention. All the talk was of war and soldiers and everyone waved banners saying 'We salute our troops'.
13 September 2004
Eighteen months in Iraq Eighteen months ago US troops toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein. Last week the thousandth US soldier died in Iraq. Bush recently described his illegal war as a 'catastrophic success'. So what has he achieved?
Legless in Pyongyang Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell is visiting North Korea, where he will raise human rights issues including the use of torture.
20 September 2004
The unspeakable Some of those protesting at a ban on hunting were thugs. So said pro-hunting Tory MP James Gray during last week's Commons debate on hunting with dogs. Who am I to disagree?
Vultures Construction company Jarvis, which has refused to accept responsibility for the 2002 Potters Bar rail crash and is in dire financial straits, is paying its executives handsome bonuses.
27 September 2004
No Comment (half-term break).
4 October 2004
Culture lite Tony Blair will undoubtedly be remembered as the Prime Minister who took Britain into an illegal war on the basis of a pack of lies. His cultural legacy won't be much better, thanks to the dubious policies of his Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.
Porkies Arnold Schwarzenegger spent his working life in the film industry acting out fictional stories. It's a habit he's finding hard to break.
11 October 2004
Wish you were here Is this the most tasteless holiday ever? A tour firm is offering trips to Norway to kill baby seals. For £650 you get to slaughter at least two.
A clanging bell OFSTED chief David Bell has had a go at education in the 60s and 70s, calling much of it 'plain crackers'. He should know better - it's today's policies that have produced schools where the photocopied worksheet is king and pupil truancy commonplace.
18 October 2004
Zero tolerance Twenty-five vulnerable children have committed suicide while in prison since 1990. No one - other than the Howard League for Penal Reform - seems to care. Certainly not the government, which has just introduced new rules allowing children in custody to be routinely strip-searched, locked up for longer in their cells and to receive less education.
25 October 2004
No decision has yet been made Why have people have become so cynical about politics? One reason is that there's little to choose between the policies of New Labour and the Tories. Another - more worrying - reason is that people no longer believe anything politicians tell them. As soon as a cabinet minister says 'no decision has yet been made' you know immediately that the opposite is true.
1 November 2004
From Thunderer to Tiddler From this week, The Times, that once great organ of the British press, is no longer being published as a broadsheet. After 216 years, it has been reduced to a Daily Mail-style tabloid.
They wouldn't, would they? No presidential campaign has ever been as ugly as this one. No decision so devastatingly important for the peoples of the whole world.
8 November 2004
Pity the people of Fallujah With insurgents shouting 'Allahu Akbar!' and US troops claiming to be 'agents of God's wrath,' the residents of Fallujah seem to have God attacking them from both sides.
Silly and dangerous A vicar claims that MEPs were trying to prevent free speech by getting rid of Rocco Buttiglione.
They did Americans have voted for four more years of Bush.
15 November 2004
Their deaths. Our disgrace. The great and the good gathered at the Cenotaph yesterday to honour the memory of those who died fighting for Britain. But not all of them. Not the 306 soldiers - most of them young and traumatised - who were executed during the so-called 'Great War'. Our refusal to remember them is our disgrace.
22 November 2004
Democracy begins at home Like his Master in the White House, Tony Blair says he is committed to bringing democracy to the world. After his attempts last week to subvert the will of the House of Commons over a ban on fox hunting, his mission might smack of a little less humbug if he cared a bit more about democracy at home.
29 November 2004
A tale of two tyrants They ruled their countries with ruthless vindictiveness, torturing and killing their political opponents and anyone else who stood in their way. They censored the media, showed callous disregard for the well-being of their countries' citizens, and grew rich while their people starved. They were widely regarded as irredeemably evil. We bombed one of them out of power. And the other ...?
6 December 2004
Joined up? The Blair administration prides itself on 'joined up government'. In some areas it's certainly true that government departments have tackled problems effectively by working together collaboratively. But it isn't always the case. Take bullying, for example. While there have been plenty of initiatives for schools, there seems to be less enthusiasm for dealing with the problem of bullying in the army.
13 December 2004
Playing politics with people's lives Tory shadow 'Homeland Security Minister' Patrick Mercer says home owners should be allowed to react to intruders with anything short of 'grossly disproportionate force'. He thinks that'll make things clearer and he's going to introduce a private member's bill to change the law. This is not only blatant politicking, it's also a bad idea.
20 December 2004
A year in Iraq For Bush, of course, the war ended on 1 May 2003 with his grotesque and ridiculously premature declaration of victory. For the inhabitants of Iraq, like little Ali Hussein, it has been, and continues to be, a disaster. What's more, it's cost more than $100,000m so far. Couldn't that money have been used to do some good in the world?
27 December 2004
No Comment (Christmas break).
3 January 2005
Sorry Mr Blunkett David Blunkett's resignation was clearly a personal tragedy. So why do I find it hard to feel sorry for him? At education, he named and shamed 'failing' schools, kept Woodhead on as Ofsted boss, privatised schools and LEAs and broke his promise to end grammar school selection. At the Home Office we've had the attack on jury trials, ID cards, Belmarsh detainees ... Will that do for starters?
10 January 2005
Mr Nice Guy? I suppose it's possible that George Bush is a warm, caring human being who is heartbroken at the human misery caused by the tsunami and wants to do all he can to help. But I find it hard to believe in the goodness of a man who can preside over Iraq, Bagram, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and who wants to appoint as Attorney General a man who approves of torture.
17 January 2005
Dirty wards, dirty words With a general election probably just a few months away, the Tories are stepping up their attacks on the government's record on health with criticism of 'filthy hospitals'. There's certainly some truth in their accusation, but perhaps we should remind them that it was Thatcher who, in 1983, privatised the cleaning of hospitals and handed out contracts to the lowest bidders.
24 January 2005
Moral strangers Gordon Brown began 2005 with a visit to Africa, where he met some of the world's poorest people and called on rich countries to increase aid, cancel debt and make trade fair. Prince Charles's younger son Harry began the year by dressing up as a Nazi and attending a 'Natives and Colonials' fancy dress party.
31 January 2005
Never again? Sixty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, Tony Blair reminded us that 'The Holocaust did not start with a concentration camp. It started with a brick through a window.'
Can you believe it? Michael Howard says he'll match Labour's spending on health, education, defence, law and order and international development and still find £4,000m to fund tax cuts. And I'm Marilyn Monroe.
7 February 2005
Dying for democracy Bush has declared the Iraq elections a vindication of his illegal war and the right-wing media have launched savage attacks on 'liberals' for opposing it.
Another nasty little right-wing party. Just what Britain needs. Robert Kilroy-Silk has established his own political party. He calls it Veritas. Most observers are calling it Vanitas. I'm not surprised.
14 February 2005
A year of abuse The last British Guantanamo detainees are back in the UK. The British and US governments insist their actions are necessary for public security, but with 540 still locked up in Bush's Cuban hellhole, with the US planning to build similar gaols around the world, and with Britain proposing to put suspects under indefinite house arrest without charge or trial, what exactly are we defending?
21 February 2005
Just a little bit more civilised At midnight last Thursday ripping wild animals to bits for the fun of it became illegal - and England became just a little bit more civilised.
You couldn't make it up Having listened to Michael Howard, Tony Blair and George Bush, I'm convinced that last week must have been International Political Hypocrisy Week.
28 February 2005
Lecturing the world Bush has spent the past week lecturing Europe's politicians on the importance of respect for democracy and the rule of law. This from the man who lost his first presidential election but stole the presidency anyway, who launched an illegal war on Iraq, whose administration turns a blind eye to the use of torture, who refuses to cooperate on global warming ...
7 March 2005
Brilliant! Education Secretary Ruth Kelly says schools are to be required to 'discuss with parents their children's education'. It's such a brilliant idea I can't think why schools have never thought of it before.
The cant continues Tony Blair says we should feel revulsion for those who kill innocent Iraqis. Condoleezza Rice tells the Lebanese government to respect the wishes of the people.
14 March 2005
Ripping up Magna Carta 'No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions ... except by the lawful judgement of his equals.' A right given on 15 June 1215 and taken away 790 years later on 11 March 2005.
Just when you thought it was safe Be afraid. Be very afraid. Under a Tory government Chris Woodhead will be running our schools.
21 March 2005
Charm offensive Bush has stuck two fingers up at the rest of the world with his appointment of John Bolton as UN ambassador and his nomination of warmonger Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank.
Spewing poison More tabloid lies about Maxine Carr.
More political cant The US has criticised the Iraqi government for human rights abuses including illegal detentions and the abuse of prisoners.
28 March 2005
Who will tell the children? Iraq's elections and events across the middle east are being claimed by Bush and Blair as vindication of their decision to go to war. Are they really saying that bombing, killing and maiming innocent victims is the only way to promote democracy? If so, how will they explain that to countless children - like little Ali Hussain, whose left eye was blown out?
4 April 2005
Half a loaf The government has had eight years to do something about junk food ads on kids' TV and the appalling standard of school dinners. Now, a month before an election, it says it's going to get tough. But it isn't allocating enough cash for proper meals and it isn't prepared to take on the fast food companies. Are its proposals just a knee-jerk reaction to Jamie Oliver's TV series on the issue?
11 April 2005
Dead lucky It may seem odd to describe someone who's been in gaol for eleven years as lucky. But I bet that's how She Xianglin feels. After all, he's not one of the 3,400 people China executed last year, nor one of the juveniles put to death in Iran.
Lovely After all the problems and setbacks - and the last minute postponement of the ceremony - the couple finally made it to the Register Office.
18 April 2005
The easy ones first Over the next three weeks I'll consider each of the parties in an attempt to decide how I'm going to vote on 5 May. This week it's the easy ones - the parties who haven't a hope in hell of persuading me to vote for them - the British National Party, the UK Independence Party, Robert Kilroy-Silk's Vanitas (sorry, Veritas) and Michael Howard's Tories.
25 April 2005
Don't mention the war You'd think Tony Blair would want to trumpet what an outstanding success the invasion was, how Iraq is now a much better place than it was under Saddam and how it proves he was right all along. Except that it wasn't, it isn't and it doesn't.
Definite maybes In the second week of my survey of the political parties I look at the Greens and the Lib Dems.
2 May 2005
100,000 reasons why I won't be voting Labour In the third instalment of my look at the political parties, I consider Tony Blair's New Labour Party. I voted Labour in every national and local election for twenty years. But I won't be supporting the Blair government on Thursday - and there are at least 100,000 reasons why. Ali Ismaeel Abbas is just one of them.
9 May 2005
And the winner is ... The people have spoken, the votes have been counted and Tony Blair is back at Number 10. But New Labour was 'decimated', the Tories barely scored any more votes than in 2001, Kilroy-Silk was humiliated, the Greens were nowhere, and the Lib Dems only did well because Labour supporters wanted to punish Blair. So who really won the 2005 general election?
16 May 2005
Listening - to whom? Outside Number Ten last week, an apparently chastened Tony Blair said he had 'listened and learned'. I'm not sure who he's been listening to, but judging by the membership of his reshuffled cabinet - which now includes Shaun 'even my butler has a butler' Woodward, Lord Smallpox and Andrew Adonis - it doesn't appear to have been his backbenchers.
23 May 2005
Tricks of the trade Nineteenth century elementary school teachers were 'trained but not educated' - they were taught only 'the tricks of the trade'. Today, New Labour is intent on destroying what's left of teachers' professional standing by employing unqualified staff to teach classes and by reducing the length and breadth of the training teachers receive. It seems we've come full circle.
30 May 2005
Respect, Man It's all uniforms this week. Some are in - like the overalls Home Secretary Charles Clarke wants kids on Community Service Orders to wear. Some are out - like the hoodies and baseball caps that Bluewater shopping centre doesn't want kids to wear. Tony Blair says it's all to do with respect for people and the law. I detect a vague whiff of hypocrisy in the air.
6 June 2005
Lying low The tabloids have pursued Maxine Carr ever since she lied to protect her boyfriend Ian Huntley, who was convicted of murdering two Soham schoolgirls in August 2002. She was given three and a half years in gaol for perverting the course of justice. Today she's living in hiding while the tabloids go on making up stories about her. She only lied once. The tabloids lie week after week.
13 June 2005
No Comment (holiday break).
20 June 2005
The longest day Tomorrow is the longest day of the year here in the UK. The sun will rise early and set late. But that will make little difference to the countless thousands who are imprisoned - and sometimes tortured - without knowing why and without being given any prospect of ever being able to defend themselves. For them, every day is just another longest day.
27 June 2005
Seriously good For our annual holiday this year Mum and I went to York again - our fourth visit. The city is full of historic interest and the countryside is beautiful. We visited Leeds and Scarborough, and toured the North York Moors. It was a seriously good holiday - except for the 'Seriously good orange' and the seriously awful Common Worship.
4 July 2005
Independence Day Every 4 July Americans commemorate the 1776 Declaration of Independence. This year many will be celebrating a different kind of independence, too - from their President. They're increasingly concerned about his appalling appointments, his lack of care for the environment, his Cuban torture camp and his disastrous Iraq war. Bush's second term is rapidly becoming a nightmare.
11 July 2005
Evil begets evil Tony Blair called it 'a terrible and tragic atrocity'. George Bush condemned it as 'barbaric'. Vladimir Putin spoke of 'inhuman crimes'. They were referring, of course, to the appalling bomb attacks on London commuters last Thursday. But they could just as easily have been speaking about what they have done in Afghanistan, Iraq and Chechnya.
18 July 2005
Motives What was the motive of the London bombers? Was it to disrupt the G8 meeting? If so, didn't it bother them that the hopes of Africa's poor rested on the deliberations of the world's leaders? Presumably not. After all, if you don't mind blowing fifty London commuters to bits, you're probably not going to worry about a few thousand dying babies.
25 July 2005
I trusted Ted I was sorry to hear of the death of Ted Heath last week. As I'm old enough to remember his time as Prime Minister, his death brought home to me how politics has changed in the past thirty years. The sleaze, dishonesty and spin - not to mention the lies and illegal wars - which now characterise so much of British political life, played no part in Ted's politics.
1 August 2005
Agreeing with Hoon It's not very often I find myself agreeing with former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. Two years ago he seemed to be on the TV news every night, trying to justify dodgy dossiers or avoid questions about the use of depleted uranium in Iraq. But I did agree with him last month when he suggested it was time to consider making voting in general elections compulsory.
8 August 2005
Nuclear fallout (1) Sixty years ago the US dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Was the aim to save lives? Or were the unfortunate victims guinea pigs in a horrific military experiment and pawns in a ruthless political struggle?
Plus Robin Cook 1946-2005.
15 August 2005
Nuclear fallout (2) Sixty years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US and UK have effectively killed off the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and are busy developing a new generation of nuclear weapons. Bush's America - abetted, as always, by Blair's Britain - is making the world an even more dangerous place.
22 August 2005
Fatal mistakes The killing of Jean Charles de Menezes was a horrific incident which is now an appalling mess and looks like becoming a serious scandal. An entirely innocent young man has lost his life. No one can give it back to him, but the least he and his family deserve is surely a full public inquiry and a thorough investigation of the Met's 'shoot to kill' policy.
29 August 2005
Lurking in your larder A year ago it looked as though we - the public - had won the battle to keep genetically modified food out of Britain's larders. But now, despite overwhelming public opposition, dozens of instances of cross-contamination, damage to lab animals fed on GM food and warnings from eminent scientists, it seems Bush, Blair, Sainsbury, Krebs, Monsanto and the WTO are still determined we're going to eat it.
5 September 2005
One small step One day we will look back on the abuse of animals for our own - often dubious - ends and regard it with the same horror we now feel at cannibalism or slavery. When that day comes, the campaign to close the Darley Oaks guinea pigs farm, which succeeded last week, may be seen - for all its distastefulness - as just one small step on the road to a more civilised and humane world.
12 September 2005
A tale of two cities One city reeled under a barrage of US bombs. The other was wrecked by wind and water. The devastation of the latter was a natural disaster of historic proportions. The devastation of the former was manmade and entirely preventable. In both cases, much of the suffering was a direct result of the policies of George Bush.
David Stannard An appreciation.
19 September 2005
Time for another peasants' revolt? We all want the services local government provides, but we don't like paying for them, especially when the way we're taxed doesn't seem fair. From the Poll Tax to the Council Tax, local taxation has been a political nightmare. So why won't either of the main parties do the obvious and introduce a fair and transparent local income tax?
26 September 2005
Sticks and carrots The Blair government's initiatives to improve school attendance aren't working - truancy is now at its highest level ever. Instead of threatening parents with gaol, perhaps ministers should consider why children truant. Could it be that politicians have imposed on schools a curriculum and testing regime that's made British education stultifyingly boring?
3 October 2005
Sorry It all began at the UN summit. US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice had been expected to lambaste Iran over its nuclear ambitions. Instead she told the UN General Assembly that the US had no right to interfere, given its own woeful record of non-compliance with international treaties and its support for Israel's illegal nuclear weapons.
10 October 2005
Sleepwalking An 82 year old is violently ejected from this year's Labour Party conference. Elsewhere, peaceful protesters are arrested under laws designed to deal with terrorists. Is there a campaign to silence dissent? If so, should we be worried?
Name calling If animal rights campaigners are 'terrorists' they're not very good ones.
17 October 2005
Not again When Calder Hall opened 51 years ago today, we were told that nuclear power would produce electricity so cheap it would hardly be worth metering. In fact, it has turned out to be the most expensive form of energy in the world, kept afloat only by massive subsidies. So why does Blair now want us to start building a new generation of nuclear power stations?
24 October 2005
Don't mention Halabja The killing of 148 Dujail villagers ranks as one of Saddam's more minor crimes, numerically at least. So why was it chosen as the subject of the first charge against him at his trial? Why not Hallabja, where five thousand men, women and children died in agony? Could it be anything to do with the fact that the US supplied the chemicals which killed them?
31 October 2005
Thatcher's legacy Margaret Thatcher celebrated her eightieth birthday a few weeks ago. The right-wing press was full of praise and admiration for the Iron Lady and her 'historic legacy'. She certainly 'casts a long shadow' as The Guardian put it. Unfortunately, with the poll tax, the poverty gap and mass unemployment, it's a shadow characterised by divisiveness and selfishness.
7 November 2005
Tory Blair No, that isn't a typing error! It's an appropriate headline for this week's Comment, given that Blair's recent education White Paper could just as easily have come from a Conservative government. It set me thinking about other policies the Blair governments have pursued over the last eight years. Most of those, too, could have come straight out of Tory Central Office.
14 November 2005
Puppet on a string Most of Blair's policies over the last eight years could have come straight out of Tory Central Office. That's certainly been true of education, where policy has been made by Blair and his friend Andrew Adonis, and education secretaries have been required to dance to their tune.
Ted Wragg I was sorry to hear of the death of the respected educationist.
21 November 2005
Smokescreen Bush claimed his war against Iraq was justified because Saddam had horrific chemical weapons and was lying about them, and because he was a murderous thug who tortured his opponents. It's now clear that in the course of that war, the US has used horrific chemical weapons and lied about them, and has enabled another bunch of murderous thugs to torture their opponents.
28 November 2005
Market forces In 1919 Jack Cohen sold fishpaste from a barrow in an east London street market. Today, the firm he built is an international business making £2,000m profit a year. The rise of Tesco has been an extraordinary British success story. But now, politicians are determined to clip its wings - despite the fact they've spent twenty-five years telling us that the market is king.
5 December 2005
Political amnesia Tory leader Michael Howard has blamed Tony Blair for the high price of gas and for not ensuring security of supply as North Sea gas begins to dwindle. He's obviously forgotten who it was who privatised the gas industry, who was determined to get 'interfering' government out of the management of our utilities and who put private profit before public interest.
12 December 2005
Phoney freedom In the Commons last week Tony Blair declared that 'schools are at their best when they're free'. Pretty rich that, coming from a prime minister who never stops meddling with education. And now he's at it again - or rather, his unofficial education secretary Andrew Adonis is. On the basis of one tiny flawed study, he's telling schools to use 'synthetic phonics' to teach reading.
19 December 2005
In memory of Dilawar Seven Law Lords have ruled that evidence gained by torture is not admissible in British courts under any circumstances. Home Office minister Hazel Blears says the ruling is 'useful clarification'. How much clarification does she need? Torture is immoral, illegal and repugnant and is prohibited absolutely by the UN Convention against Torture, to which Britain is a signatory.
26 December 2005, 2 January 2006
No Comment (Christmas break).
9 January 2006
We three kings Matthew's three wise men, you will recall, were prompted by the appearance of a new star to go and search for a saviour. Our own three kings - in the form of party leaders Cameron, Blair and Kennedy - have also been seeking saviours this Christmas. The biblical Magi were men of vision. Whether the same can be said of Dave, Tone and Chas is open to debate.
16 January 2006
Hoist with our own petard Iran's rabid fundamentalist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has publicly declared that Israel should be 'wiped off the map', so the prospect of his regime possessing nuclear weapons is certainly profoundly disturbing. Unfortunately however, when it comes to criticising Tehran's nuclear ambitions, Britain and the US haven't got a leg to stand on.
23 January 2006
Right target, wrong reason Ruth Kelly faced calls to resign after it was revealed that sex offenders have been allowed to teach in schools. It would be more appropriate to demand her resignation over her willingness to promote Blair's appalling education white paper, which is opposed by heads, teachers, parents, governors, academics, more than half of Labour backbenchers and even the Audit Commission.
30 January 2006
Proud to be human Gordon Brown says we should be proud to be British. Well, I might be if it weren't for our government's lies over Iraq, its locking up of terror suspects without trial, its craven fawning to Bush and its attacks on centuries-old human rights laws. No, in a week which saw thousands concerned for the fate of a young bottlenose whale, I'll settle for being proud to be human.
6 February 2006
Culture of cruelty Nineteen year old Russian army conscript Andrei Sychev was reportedly tortured by drunken superior officers. By the time he received medical treatment gangrene had set in and doctors amputated his legs, genitals and fingers. If the Russian government wants to continue forcing young men to serve in its army, surely the least it can do is to ensure that they are treated decently.
13 February 2006
Tackling animal abuse The government's Animal Welfare Bill aims to clamp down on the growing tide of animal cruelty in Britain. The Vietnamese government says it is phasing out the vile practice of milking moon bears for their bile. And Spanish campaigners are trying to stop greyhound owners killing their dogs in horrific ways. These are small but encouraging moves to tackle our abuse of animals.
20 February 2006
Caveat emptor McDonalds spent twenty years fighting the McLibel Two. But the fast food chain has also faced legal challenges over the temperature of its coffee and the effects of its food on health and obesity. Now, computer giant Apple is being sued over a claim that listening to an iPod loudly for long periods can damage the hearing. Whatever happened to 'caveat emptor'?
27 February 2006
A law unto itself The chorus of opposition to George Bush's Guantanamo hell-hole continues to swell. The Red Cross, Amnesty, the UN, Lords Bingham and Steyn, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, cabinet minister Peter Hain and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have all called for it to be closed. The White House couldn't care less. Bush's America is, truly, a law unto itself.
6 March 2006
Demeaning us all Another Saturday, another protest march through Oxford in connection with the building of the university's new animal research laboratory. But this time, the marchers were campaigning in support of the new lab. They were, presumably, unaware of the real facts about animal experimentation - a scientific and medical disaster which demeans us all.
13 March 2006
A good minister? In the furore that's engulfed Tony Blair's Culture, Media and Sport Minister Tessa Jowell and her husband David Mills in the past couple of weeks, what's amazed me most is the number of people - both fellow politicians and media commentators - who've described her as a 'good minister'. Perhaps it's worth reminding ourselves what she's actually done.
20 March 2006
Blair's school bombshell Westminster had been buzzing all morning with rumours that Tony Blair would make a 'significant announcement' at noon. Sure enough, as the chimes of Big Ben echoed across the City, the door of Number 10 opened and the Prime Minister stepped out into the cold sunshine. No one had guessed that he was going to announce such an extraordinary change of direction.
27 March 2006
Animal pharm The catastrophic trial of the drug TGN1412, which resulted in serious injuries to six young men, raises a whole range of ethical issues about the pharmaceutical industry. The payment of volunteers, the ethics - and efficacy - of animal testing, the dubious practices of the drugs companies and the civil rights of anti-vivisection protesters are all under the spotlight again.
3 April 2006
Unfinished business Lord Falconer has held private talks with Tories and Liberal Democrats in the hope of winning cross-party consensus on the issue of Lords reform. It's about time. After all, it's almost a century since the 1911 Parliament Act declared that 'It is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a second chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis'.
10 April 2006
Pensions? Piece of cake The Pensions Commission, chaired by Lord Turner, has just published its final report. Its proposals have split the government, with the Blair camp apparently largely in favour, but Gordon Brown and his supporters declaring the recommendations unaffordable. Gordon needn't worry, however, because I've solved the pensions problem. It's really very simple ...
17 April 2006
Waking from slumber? It's that week again, when the teaching unions hold their annual conferences. First off the mark was the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, one of the more moderate unions. But this year General Secretary Mary Bousted launched a stinging attack on New Labour's education policies - especially the city academies and the National Curriculum. And about time too.
24 April 2006
Dubious friends Last week geneticist Steve Jones delivered a lecture entitled Why creationism is wrong and evolution is right, and members of the NUT called for an end to state funding of faith schools. Yet Blair continues to pursue policies which will see even more schools handed over to nutty creationists.
1 May 2006
Word abuse Reform must be one of the most abused words in British politics. Tony Blair repeatedly tells us he's reforming our public services, by which he clearly means he's improving them. In fact, reform just means change - reshaping. And that's the only sense in which the Prime Minister is reforming our schools and hospitals.
8 May 2006
18 years too late Members of the National Association of Head Teachers met for their annual conference in Harrogate last week, and, like the teachers before them, used the opportunity to lambaste the Blair government for its appalling education policies. They agreed to launch a campaign against tests and league tables. They were right to do so - even if they were 18 years too late.
15 May 2006
Junk priorities Childhood obesity has doubled in the last ten years. A quarter of 11 - 15 year olds are now clinically obese. Yet the government is still refusing to do the one thing that every health campaign group has called for: ban junk food TV ads. And what happened to Blair's promise to improve school meals? My local school is still serving up sugary cakes, sticky buns and fat-laden sausage rolls.
22 May 2006
This is citizenship? Citizenship was recognised as part of the curriculum in the 1980s when Thatcher hoped it would produce compliant citizens. Blair has a similarly utilitarian view of it. The problem for teachers is how to persuade kids to be good citizens when government ministers set such an appalling example - allegedly selling peerages, breaking international laws and refusing to accept the blame for their failures.
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