Brian Barder's website

Entries in January, 2006

Hamas and the prospects for a settlement

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Israeli brutality is rightly condemned, but with Hamas as government of Palestine there seems no longer any basis for a settlement with Israel and little chance even of a truce [More >>>]

New threat to Blair from Microsoft and the Chancellor

Saturday, January 28th, 2006

The Financial Times reveals that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Microsoft have ganged up to drive Tony Blair from office — official [More >>>]

Who wrote that FCO advice to No 10 on rendition?

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

Internal evidence suggests the hand of the CIA in the FCO’s advice on rendition to No. 10 [More >>>]

A Poem to Lenin

Monday, January 23rd, 2006

Phil Edwards of ‘Existing Actually’ has resurrected a striking poem from his younger days, ‘Our Infant’, addressed to Lenin and meditating on Lenin’s ‘infantile disorder’ [More >>>]

What Ruth Kelly didn’t say

Sunday, January 22nd, 2006

Ruth Kelly might have won more respect and saved herself much unnecessary (and objectionable) work if she had been prepared to defend a fair and defensible system against ignorant and hysterical attack [More >>>]

Odi et amo: Brokeback 2, Kong 9

Thursday, January 19th, 2006

Brokeback Mountain is beautiful and moving and I hated it. King Kong is marvellous [More >>>]

Is Simon Hoggart sparkling in error?

Tuesday, January 17th, 2006

“Lord Crickhowell also made a coruscating attack” – or did he? [More >>>]

Our Man at the Vatican

Sunday, January 15th, 2006

The latest appointment of the British ambassador to the Holy See breaks with tradition in two significant ways, and has aroused strong objections in the Vatican [More >>>]

Ruth Kelly and the plague of pervs

Sunday, January 15th, 2006

The hysterical witch-hunt over rabid child abusers being cleared in their thousands by the Education Secretary to infest our schools (according to the media) should be treated with scepticism [More >>>]

Bits and pieces

Sunday, January 8th, 2006

Some random thoughts on current politics and other things {More >>>]