Left, right, left, right — halt!!! one, two

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:57:37 +0000

LONDON — Oh Gawd!!!! Here we go again. In Germany, Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats win a handsome victory while the Social Democratic Party slumps to its worst defeat since the war. Here in Britain we are just waiting until next spring when the David Cameron-led Conservative Party will smash Labour (if opinion polls are to be believed and as a voting member of the British public I say, believe them).

And now come the stories about the rise of the Right, the collapse of the Left!!

So many thoughts, so little time

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:55:39 +0000

LONDON — Like a wedding, the G20 summit has taken months to prepare and it will all be over too quickly. There's a hardly enough time to talk to everyone, to say all the things you want to say. But blogging means I can try!!

Heretics or purveyors of common sense?

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:26:52 +0000

LONDON — Two Lords a leaping have the Banker/Speculator/Financier community hopping mad here in the financial services capital of the world.

On Iraq: A past question revived

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:24:47 +0000

The New York Times and Washington Post both lead today with stories about Blackwater, the private military contractor, being contracted in 2004 by the CIA to run an assassination program against Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq.

The story did not surprise me but it revived a question in my mind that neither article addresses.

Last surviving WWI veteran is buried

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:04:42 +0000

LONDON — They laid Harry Patch to rest today and with him the last living link to what is still called in this country The Great War. His funeral was held in Wells Cathedral down in Somerset, an honor that would have been unimaginable when he was born 111 years ago.

Breathing easier in Britain?

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:03:15 +0000

London — Britain's Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, has confirmed the terrorist threat level in the U.K. has been downgraded from "Severe" to "Substantial." That's the lowest level since just before the London bombings of 7/7 four years ago. Britain breaks down terrorism threats to one of five categories. Substantial is the middle one.

But no sooner does one door close on your fears than another opens.

Britain's new approach to sex education: enjoy it!!

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:48:09 +0000

LONDON — "An orgasm a day keeps the doctor away."

That got your attention, didn't it? That's clearly the intention of the authors of a new sex education booklet published by Britain's National Health Service which uses the slogan. They've given their pamphlet an equally arresting title: "Pleasure."

A friend is jailed in Tehran: What can you say?

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:28:04 +0000

London — This was going to be a notebook about the West's obsession with the hijab and how this has inevitably led to the murder of a headscarf-wearing Muslim professional in Germany.

Instead I woke up this morning to find out via an article in The Washington Post that a friend of mine, Maziar Bahari, has been detained by the authorities in Iran while covering the post-election demonstrations for Newsweek.

Murray loses: A nation pours itself a stiff one

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:58:09 +0000

LONDON — Well, that's it. Britain's hope in this year's Wimbledon, Andy Murray, lost to American Andy Roddick in the semifinals of the tournament this afternoon, by 3 sets to 1. Roddick who seemed to mouth the words, "I'm sorry" to the crowd after he had won the match (or am I imagining that) said it best in a post-match interview with the BBC, "Murray had all the pressure on him."

No kidding.

It's been more than 70 years since a British man made it to the finals of his nation's and the world's supreme tennis tournament.

Wimbledon and Andy Murray: Can Britain survive?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:26:40 +0000

I'm not sure I can take this; I know most of the people on this island can't. The Scot (hence Brit) Andy Murray, is into the semi-finals of Wimbledon ... and given that his opponent, American Andy Roddick, struggled for close to four hours in the blazing sun yesterday to earn the right to play him, there is a sense that Murray will get to Sunday's final.

No respect: European election results diss Britain's major parties.

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:29:35 +0000

London — Last week the British electorate went to the polls to elect representatives to the European Parliament. Last night the results came in. They make grim reading for embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown ... but if the leaders of Britain's main opposition parties though they would be able to gloat ... they are wrong.

Voters do not vote for individual candidates in the euro-elections. Seats are allocated based on the size of a parties vote. So the real winners in Britain are the right wing fringe.

Timber!!!!! British government is falling ... or not

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:49:00 +0000

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is finished — or not. The Labour Party is facing a generation out of office — or not. That is the fever sweeping through the nexus of politics and journalism today in Britain.

Brown's government is in crisis ... for sure ... but terminal? Well, that's not clear.

Talent news you can really use

Sun, 31 May 2009 02:20:01 +0000

Update: The results, and much more, are up on YouTube.

Parliament expenses scandal: This is getting serious

Fri, 15 May 2009 14:28:28 +0000

(Editor's note: On Friday, Labour MP Shahid Malik stepped down from his position as junior justice minister amid the scandal — pending an inquiry into allegations — according to news reports.)

London — When it first broke last weekend, the story of British members of Parliament and their expenses claims was sort of funny. Claims for everything from mini-bar chocolates to one Tory grandee's moat cleaning at his castle put a chuckle on the lips. But now it's turned serious.

Fiddling while the economy burns

Mon, 11 May 2009 10:50:47 +0000

London — Expense accounts ... they always get you in the end. When the boss wants you fired the easiest way to get at you is to check your expenses. Something is bound to be wrong in them. Take it out of context, put it under the spotlight and it's a termination offense.

Public service announcement From Britain

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:01:19 +0000

Are you looking for your place in the public eye? Want your 15 minutes of fame but can't bear the thought of auditioning for Simon Cowell? Contacting British sculptor Antony Gormley may be your best bet.

Gormley, creator of the Angel of the North, arguably this island's best known piece of contemporary art, is inviting 2,400 people to stand on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square (not all at once) as part of an ongoing program to put a sculpture on the famously empty stand.

Terror plot foiled

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:19:01 +0000

Police in the north of England made 12 arrests yesterday after raiding 15 different locations in an attempt to foil what is being called a major terrorist plot.

Major terror plot foiled in Britain

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:12:15 +0000

This is just breaking: Police in the north of England have made 10 arrests in an attempt to foil what is being called a major terrorist plot.

The action was necessitated when a senior counterterrorism officer, Bob Quick, was photographed by a pool photographer arriving for a meeting at 10 Downing Street with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Visible in the photograph is a sheet of paper giving details of the plotters ... Quick had obviously been reading it in the car that delivered him to the Prime Minister's residence and forgotten to put it back in its folder.

A trillion here a trillion there, pretty soon you're talking real money

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:44:35 +0000

The summit is over.

The headline is staggering: the G20 has committed itself to $1.1 trillion of stimulus for the global economy via increased resources to the IMF, and support for trade initiatives. But after the headline comes the Kremlinology, because the details have yet to be divulged and everything depends on interpretation.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, host of the event, faced the press alone to announce the agreement, so let's work through his speech:

Inside the ExCel

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:34:31 +0000

We're all packed in to the drafty ExCel. It holds more than 10,000 usually but it is a ghost town right now with the heads of government behind many closed doors, and the 2,500 accredited journalists in two vast exhibition halls.

No spinning going on so the press conference due imminently will have real news for us.