In the time I’ve been muse-less, and as such on a blogging hiatus, the world has kept turning…
 
The NHS
Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan made a few comments about the NHS and a bit of Twitter-storm followed, which has meant that the Conservatives are having to vigorously defend their position on the health service. Though it pretty damn obvious that everyone supports the principle of universal healthcare free at the point of use – they just think that the instititution of the NHS needs reforming to properly do its job.
Labour have been …

I just love the way the BBC News referred to North Korea launching ballistic missiles:

contrary to UN Security Council resolutions.

It made me laugh.
What does North Korea care about the United Nations or any of its Security Council resolutions? It is not in the UN, and sanctions against it are already implemented. Nothing short of an invasion could really phase them – and the last time th UN tried an invasion, they lost (or at least didn’t win).
What is most amusing about the situation – even though North Korea having …

So the inquiry into Iraq is going to be held in behind closed doors, in secrecy, private. What a surprise. Just like always, Brown cannot help but hide things.
Has he never really believed in freedom of information? Obviously not – at least when it comes to Iraq. After all, he refused to publish the minutes of the Cabinet meeting when they decided to go to war. And now this inquiry is going to be held in secret, rather than in public like it should.
The big question that has to be …

Watching the trooping of the colour. It’s so impressive how perfectly in time they all are!

I just don’t get this whole story about Prince Harry using so-called “racist” and “offensive” language. What did he do? Refer to a colleague and friend as “Paki”, which appears to have been his nickname, and then to another as “raghead”.
Oh so offensive! Not.
Harry made the remarks within a specific context – that of an army camp. They were not offensive to the individuals concerned, so why do the media and politicians feel the need to jump in and condemn him? They haven’t fought in Iraq, they haven’t been in …

The UN, Blair, and Sarkozy have failed miserably to broker peace in the Middle East, as Israel has declared all-out war on Hamas, which they will continue “to the bitter end“, which will be “widened and deepened as needed”. So basically there will be no end to it. Ever.
I don’t hold a torch for either side, and I’m definitely no apologist for Hamas or any other Palestinian terrorist group. But in the end it is Israel who have the greater responsibility as they are the ones with a real country …

The government has sold off its one-third stake in the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston to a US firm, meaning that Britain will now have no control over the firm that produces and maintains our “independent” nuclear deterrent and will instead be reliant on a firm that is two-thirds owned by US companies.
The biggest issue, however, is that this news was not announced in a statement to Parliament. It only became public knowledge because the US company issued a statement to the media. Surely this is a change of policy …

Douglas Carswell, Conservative MP for Harwich and Clacton, was thrown off the armed forces parliamentary scheme for speaking up for our soldiers in Afghanistan, who he says are poorly equipped:

Having learnt from our troops on the ground some of the serious problems with helicopter shortages, and then raised the issue responsibly, I found myself slung off the scheme…
The defence budget is being spent in the interests of some contractors, not our armed forces.

Damning indictments. Especially since the MoD could have replaced the Lynx with US Black Hawk helicopters, but had …

The Ministry of Defence is finally allowing members of the armed forces to march in the Gay Pride parade in their uniform. Good.
The only difference between homosecual and heterosexual people is the gender of their preferred partner in bed.
That gay soldiers and sailors can all march in their uniform and show that the military is not homophobic is an unqualified Good Thing. Homophobia must be stamped out both in the military and everywhere else.
I look forward to the day when events such as Gay Pride simply aren’t required, because no-one …

Only a few days ago I wrote about the government brokering a deal to ban the use of cluster bombs. A treaty, signed by 108 other countries, which I applauded because cluster bombs are abhorrent.
Yet it appears that all cluster bombs haven’t been banned. Gordon Brown has actually negotiated a loophole for Britain to continue using cluster bombs, despite announcing support for “a ban on all cluster bombs, including those currently in service by the UK”. Let’s read that again “a ban on all cluster bombs”.
Except some new anti-tank cluster …