The government of whichever hue convinced isd still trying to deport him back to Jordan, with those few on the other side quietly pointing out that we could have avoided all this palaver had we attempted to put him on trial here in the first place, rather than sending him back into the welcoming arms of the authoritarian state he fled from. We did after all grant him asylum back in the care-free 9...

In olden days, a politician knocking a judge was something shocking. Now, heaven knows, anything goes. In Northern Ireland, anyway. Here, former Secretary of State Peter Hain gets to tell a judge who delivered a verdict he disapproved of that he's "off his rocker", while current incumbent, Owen Paterson, orders someone into prison because he reckons we'd all be better off with her out of...

Labour has discovered that the Department for Transport has to give 'prior written consent' to Network Rail before there can be any changes to its incentive policy. This follows the release by Labour last week of documents proving that the Transport Secretary has a place on Network Rail's Remuneration Committee as the company's 'Special Member' identified in the Artic...

Mitt Romney swept to a convincing win in the Nevada caucuses, maintaining his momentum as frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination and leaving Newt Gingrich in a tussle with Ron Paul for second place

I'm back! With a filthy cold, but newly cleansed ears, having had a doctor with a little machine suck out great gobbets of Beijing ear-shit yesterday. The world is a surprisingly noisy place. Should any of you have missed me...

Taliban representatives in Pakistan allowed to travel to Qatar

Every day things are getting worse in Syria. Today the Syrian regime started what looks like an all-out assault on the key city of Homs, reportedly killing more than 200 people. The attack took place as the UN Security Council prepares to vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for President Bashar al-Assad to give up power. The problem has been the lack of information about events on the ...

Conservative plans to give married couples a tax break must take second place behind a Liberal Democrat tax cut for low-earners, Nick Clegg has insisted.

Shabana Mahmood MP, Labour's Shadow Minister for Higher Education, has written to David Willetts following the Urgent Question which took place in the House of Commons this morning on the pay and tax arrangements for the Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company. Following her letter, she added:

The first in a series of public meetings to discuss the proposed closure of police stations in west Tyrone and Fermanagh is due to take place on Thursday.