Brian Barder's website

Articles in the Guardian of 24 May 06, by Simon Jenkins and Ronald Dworkin, comprise a crushing indictment of the failings of New Labour generally and Tony Blair in particular [More >>>]

The Tories and the tabloids are lambasting the government for not knowing how many illegal immigrants there are. I offer a solution [More >>>]

The prime minister and Lord Chancellor, shrilly supported by David Cameron, The Times and The Sun, threaten to amend or scrap the Human Rights Act on the mistaken assumption that this would enable them to deport those whom the courts won’t currently allow them to [More >>>]

I have just come across an interesting post and discussion on The Sharpener going back to last November about the West Lothian question — why should a Scottish MP speak and vote in the House of Commons on subjects such as education which have been devolved to the Scottish parliament and which are no longer [...]

A diary of a week in Paris, and some pictures [More >>>]

The Blair-Clarke proposals for the automatic deportation of all foreigners convicted of even quite minor offences regardless of individual circumstances, and for appeals against deportation to be permitted only after the deportation has taken place, should be strongly resisted if they surface again following the immolation of Charles Clarke [More >>>]

As well as the broad implications of Tony Blair’s reshuffle of 5 May, there are some interesting (and profoundly worrying) implications for the personalities involved [More >>>]

Tony Blair’s reshuffle, following disastrous local election results, has the smell of the bunker about it. Does he intend to bring the party and government down with him? [More >>>]

Ephems is off to Paris tomorrow for a week ‘Away From Keyboard’, or AFK, as the knowing anoraks say. No more new posts after today; no more comments on comments, however misguided (or provocative or laudatory). Ephems will spend the week basking, not in the sun (the forecast is for almost continuous showers) but in the warm glow of being awarded pride of place in last week’s Britblogs of The Week for a recent post. Thanks for that, Tim.