Harry's Place

This time last year Chris Huhne resigned his post as Energy Secretary after being charged with perverting the course of justice. In a short statement at the time he claimed: “I am innocent of these charges and I intend to fight this in the courts, and I am confident that a jury will agree.”
How things [...]

You couldn’t make this up. The Liberal Democrats having misled voters about tuition fees after going into government with the Tories and suffered the consequences of a loss of support and trust. Then later apologised for which we are thankful, albeit only for  giving the world some Nick Clegg auto-tune comedy, they are coming back around for another [...]

This is a cross-post from Peter Tatchell 
 The flaws and failings of the latest New Year Honours list highlight, yet again, the need to reform the system by which honours are granted.
Awards to Olympic heroes grab the headlines but they disguise the reality that a majority of the top honours go to senior Establishment figures – [...]

By popular request – a short post on the EU.  Although UKIP has other issues on its agenda apart from Europe, its decision (£) to field candidates in every constituency seems calculated to encourage the Government to listen more to its Eurosceptic wing, perhaps commit to a referendum (a position which Labour has flirted with).  Recently the Obama [...]

Three months ago Andrew Mitchell MP was forced to resign from his post as government chief whip because of an alleged verbal attack on the Police. Indeed, none other than the Head of the Police Federation (presumably happy to have to talk about something else other than the recent Hillsborough report) called for his resignation. [...]

This latest Conservative advert is truly divisive and unpleasant, and I can’t imagine it’s just going to be those implacably opposed to the Government who find it distasteful.  Of course some people don’t want to work – such is life – but in the present climate it is simply impossible for many to find jobs. [...]

One of the most repeated arguments against allowing people of the same sex to marry is that this will involve a “redefinition” of marriage. This is a nonsensical argument.
When a gay couple announce they’re getting married and to expect a wedding invitation in the post, their friends and family do not stare uncomprehending into the [...]

The Daily Record reports concerns that staff in Jobcentres are under pressure to place unemployed people in unpaid work programmes rather than paid work in order to meet Government targets. Under the terms of the back-to-work programme, young unemployed people receive expenses on top of their £53.00 jobseekers’ allowance and have to work up 30 [...]

Let us note, with satisfaction, two events that occurred in our absence: namely the humiliating  defeats of Yvonne Ridley and Lee Jasper– representing the remains of George Galloway’s Respect party– in Parliamentary by-elections.
Tendance Coatesy has more, including this pre-election announcement from Respect:
We are on the edge of a political earthquake in British politics. In polling [...]

This report in the Observer demonstrates that we are not in this together, describing the disproportionate effect cuts will have on the poorest in society. A couple of pieces on important issues caught my eye over on Liberal Conspiracy recently, first this post by Richard Exell on the stigmatization of people on benefits, and secondly this piece [...]