From Cork to Toronto

Paul Wells, writing on Gordon Brown's settling in as Prime Minister again : Brown isn't Blair. But neither is he Paul Martin. He let his predecessor pick his own departure date. He hasn't felt the need to purge the party of its old guard. He is so sure of who he is that he needn't go on about who he isn't. Stephane Dion could use some of Brown's discipline, not just for himself but for his team. Jamie Carroll's loose talk about Liberal hiring this week would probably have more severe consequences in a Brown setup, especially for someone who had already damaged the Dion brand with his blurting out about his " sleepless nights ". But then there's this bit at the end: In 1805 Horatio Nelson told his fleet: "England expects that every man will do his duty." Nelson was hard to beat, too. I'm having the oddest sense of deja vu ...

Apparently the families of Martin Peake and Karen Reilly who were shot by then-Private Clegg at a west Belfast checkpoint in 1990 don't want him posted to Afghanistan . Convictions for murder and attempted wounding were set aside in 1998 and 2000 respectively. Mark Thompson, from Relatives for Justice declared: "It is an insult to have people like him there. Those countries need to establish their own legislative framework and at the head of that needs to be human rights. "It is a contradiction to send people like him." Well, his current post is as a combat medic, no-one said he was going to re-write their constitution or give lessons to their armed response squad. On the other hand, I bet the guys who drive the first truck down IED Alley wouldn't mind if now-Sergeant Clegg took those duties off their hands.

While the newspapers have been trumpeting the conclusion of Operation Banner , it has been noted that while the reduced British Army presence (5,000 regulars reduced from a peak of 28,000) is now subordinated to the civil police, they retain powers not available to their counterparts in Britain when they are requested.

The Magistrate's Blog returns from holiday and Bystander is already on his game: I have complained time and again over the Government's habit of passing new (and usually useless) laws every time that something alarms the tabloids. Now we have a serious, albeit bungled, attempt to blow up a lot of people and what do we read? The first man to be charged has been charged under the 1883 Explosive Substances Act . I rest my case.

I may safely assert that the insurgents are very few in comparison with the whole of the people Vice-Admiral Lord Howe , 1775.  I read with interest this review of General Sir Michael Rose's book " Washington's War " in the Spectator over the weekend, which highlighted perceived similarities between the conduct of the British campaign against the Americans with the coalition of willing's tactics in Iraq. Rose called for the impeachment of Tony Blair in January 2006 over the Iraq war and rejected the view that NATO bombing directly caused political breakthroughs in the former Yugoslavia in 1995 and 1999. The review mentioned a Newsnight interview by Jeremy Paxman between Rose and former Bush legal adviser David Rifkin who put it that only "lack of stamina and lack of political will" stood in the way of victory in Iraq. Paxman: There are going to be a lot of people in this country General, who are very distressed that a senior distinguished military o...

Gwynne Dyer's latest in NOW, the filing of which surely, surely, predated the Glasgow airport attack: It's safe to say that the driver of the car packed with explosives that was found in central London early Friday morning (June 29) was not a very impressive terrorist. Driving erratically down Haymarket at 1:30 in the morning in a big, shiny Mercedes, crashing it into a garbage bin, getting out and running away: it all suggests that he didn't pay proper attention back in terrorist school. Maybe he was just overcome by the fumes, but the other terrorist didn't do much better. He managed to park his explosives-packed car on Cockspur Street but he parked illegally, so it was ticketed and towed away. Well, Glaswegians didn't have to wait long for someone to at least try to make a better go of it. However, Scotland was not found wanting . A bit of a stretch to say this was Glasgow's " United 93 " moment but his decision to run towards rather than away see...

Given the events of the first few days of his premiership, I've wanted to ask Gordon Brown: "all the waiting, all the manoeuverings via briefings and proxies - was it worth it?" This morning Paul Wells points out Janet Daley's column in the Telegraph in which she argues that these events could shape people's perceptions of PM Brown, much to David Cameron's disadvantage: In a time of national threat we don't want cuddly; we want serious and stern. Charm might be nice when politics is becalmed and day-to-day living is secure, but gravitas is a whole lot better when there are unknown numbers of people in your midst ready to commit random mass murder. When a nation is in danger, it judges its leader (or potential leader) by his character, rather than his personality. So if the contest between Mr Brown's governing style and David Cameron's opposition is really to be, as my colleague Boris Johnson wrote on this page last week, between humourless Labou...

Lucky they are only fighting two wars I suppose so that Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne has time to do another job . Presumably communities in Scotland dependent on defence facilities can feel immune to closures now. Meanwhile the Olympics is more of a strain than two wars as Tessa Jowell is not being asked to double-job.

makes for a very interesting read, not least for the admissions respecting spin. I was surprised that the Independent came in for such stick but I lived in the UK during a time when one wondered if the Independent would be around next month so things have obviously improved. I also like Paul Wells' take - hat tip to him as his blog was the first place I noticed this story. With 15 days to go before the press gallery can't tear any more strips off him, Tony Blair takes a great big strip off the gallery. The word "harlot" makes an appearance. UPDATE: You'll be shocked to know the speech didn't go over well. The tale of the tape: BLAIR: I'm not complaining. TELEGRAPH: We're not defensive. INDEPENDENT: We're not sanctimonious . GUARDIAN: We're not as bad as the other guys .

I have been following the story of Tul Bahadur Pun VC over the past week or so, and how he was refused entry to the UK for medical treatment by some bureaucrat peon. Andrew Stuttaford quotes Kipling , but not " Tommy ", a usual source of outrage in the face of abandoned Service personnel. Instead it was a poem I was not familiar with, " the Last of the Light Brigade ", a riposte to Tennyson's " Charge of the Light Brigade ". The brief excerpt made me seek out the full text . UPDATE: Labour has caved, Pun has been granted a settlement visa .

Ken Livingstone had a bonkers idea - congestion charging . Ken was used to his bonkers ideas drawing ridicule and fury and ultimately collapsing under their ideological weight. Ken's congestion charge idea largely worked though and he was at a loss - people were starting to take him seriously. Never mind! Our hero, not having an oil industry to nationalise like Hugo Chavez, came up with the next best thing - a two million pound sterling (C$4m+) street party in Trafalgar Square to celebrate 50 years of Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution. No doubt the extension of the congestion zone and the hike in the charge he said wouldn't need to be increased for 10 years will pay for it. Red Ken - back in business! (seen at: Political Quote )

When I saw this on Keith Martin's site I thought "this has to be a joke", not least because Mark Thomas was a frequent guest on one of my favourite British comedy programmes when I was in secondary school, " the Mary Whitehouse Experience " on BBC Radio 1. Apparently arms brokerage is so easy school kids from the UK and Ireland have been test driving the arms and torture tools market legally via companies they set up called Williams Defence and Seachtar Associates . At the time the UK's legislation existed but with loopholes whereas Ireland had implemented none of the 2003 EU Common Position on arms brokerage . On April 3rd Channel 4's Dispatches broadcast Mark Thomas' documentary . Apparently legislation in Ireland has been forthcoming since but as the UK experience shows that legislation must be vigorously tested for loopholes. How many Yuri Orlovs have plied their trade in Ireland?

Britain is one of the countries that maintains a nuclear deterrent at present. Since the RAF's final withdrawal of air launched nuclear weapons in 1998, it is wholly composed of four Vanguard class submarines , built between 1993 and 1999, at least one of which remains at sea at all times. (Having four maintains redundancy for maintenance etc.) On board those submarines are up to 16 Trident II D5 intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying multiple independent warheads . When Tony Blair looked likely to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom there was a certain anticipation of a move to scrap Trident before the 2018 missile life expiry and 2020 submarine life expiry (if not refitted) given his past as a CND supporter. Not only has he maintained the deterrent force but has proposed to extend its life to 2040 by joining the US D5 Life Extension Programme . This I find surprising and probably unwise. In the past I could see reasons why foreign policy options might cau...

It was previously thought that Mr Blunkett, through his time as Home Secretary of the United Kingdom , to be a privacy invader without compare, particularly through his championing of flawed ID cards. The Big Brother Awards even named the "Lifetime Menace Award" after him. It seems now that he's a private citizen without access to the juicy fruits of State investigation, he reveals himself to be a defender of the right to private conversation . Nice to know he still has the ability to lead a double life .

As someone who flies BA as frequently as I can, at least until Willie Walsh's penny pinching ruins it, I have been following the Nadia Eweida story on and off. Ms Eweida is a BA check in agent at London Heathrow with seven years service. She was wearing a visible cross in breach of BA's uniform policy for employees dealing directly with the public. The existing protocol is that all jewellery or religious symbols which can practicably be worn concealed, should be concealed. An offer of a back office job was made (and rejected) which would have allowed Ms Eweida to wear the cross externally. Exceptions are made for employees for whom the wearing of items is a mandatory requirement of their faith, e.g. Sikh turbans or bangles and subject to health and safety requirements in respect of machinery such as luggage belts. While BA is being hammered for this, other British based airlines such as Virgin and BMI have a similar policy . Ms Eweida did not demonstrate that wearing a c...

These and other worthy petitions are to be found on the 10 Downing Street website .

Via Slashdot , the news that Ray Mallon, former police Superintendent in Middlesborough in the United Kingdom and now Mayor of that city, has introduced loudspeakers on seven city CCTV units to tell wrongdoers to stop littering, fighting or cycling through pedestrian zones. From the Daily Mail article : The control room operators have been given strict guidelines about what commands they can give. Yelling 'Oi you, stop that', is not permitted. Instead, their instructions make the following suggestions: 'Warning - you are being monitored by CCTV - Warning - you are in an alcohol-free zone, please refrain from drinking'; and Warning - your behaviour is being monitored by CCTV. It is being recorded and the police are attending.' Mr Bonner said: 'We always make the requests polite, and if the offender obeys, the operator adds 'thank you'. We think that's a nice finishing touch. Well, that's nice. I mean, "move along, citizen 599-011-334" ...

The UK Iraqi occupation forces have been accused of abuse of Iraqis since the war - this one is not going to be explained away like some of the previous ones (source via United Irelander/blogs.ie). Video here (from the Screws) - shows kicking and headbutting of Iraqis brought into the compound after stone throwing incidents.