Er.....A weekly article for the Telegraph, that is. From the BBC's Hard Talk: It's chicken feed. I think that frankly there's absolutely no reason at all why I should not knock off an article as a way of relaxation. I write anyway, I happen to write extremely fast. I don't see why on a Sunday morning I shouldn't knock off an article - if someone wants to pay me for that article then that's their l...

UNISON has just reissued the Code of Good Branch Practice (the link is to a pdf version of the revised Code. The Code is a significant document which, under UNISON’s Rules, the NEC is empowered to issue. Of course the Code itself does not have the force of the Rules – it is more like...

I've had calls this morning from two MPs spitting blood about Boris Johnson's article in this morning's Telegraph. In the article he rails against the way parliament works (or doesn't) and the whipping system in particular. He paints a picture of lazy MPs who don't bother to think about what they are voting on and who bow meekly to a powerful executive. They file through t...

So, in his paper proposing a tax code of conduct Mr. Murphy says that: It is therefore important to note what a Code of Conduct can achieve that other mechanisms cannot, especially since a Code is not law and consequently involves voluntary adoption by those who abide by it. The benefits of a Code are: 1. It is not

It seems to be something which is increasingly prevalent in our establishment. The Telegraph reports how a "leading barrister" believes we must incorporate Sharia law into our legal code. Stephen Hockman QC, a former chairman of the Bar Council, reportedly suggested that a group of MPs and legal figures should be convened to plan how elements of the Muslim religious-legal code could be introduced....

Press Complaints Commission: The Editors’ Code of Practice Committee, which writes and revises the voluntary code of standards overseen by the Press Complaints Commission, is undertaking its annual review of the Code. It welcomes suggestions from the public, civil society and the industry on how the Code might be revised to improve the system of self-regulation of the press, of which it is a...

The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has rejected a request to investigate MP Nigel Griffiths for breaching the MPs code of conduct. While Griffiths obviously made a mistake, the News of the World only brought the code of conduct into their article as a spurious means to a public interest angle to the piece. After the Max Mosley judgement infidelity alone does not make a publishable story.

How much of a joke is a uniform electoral code for the European elections? It took from 1952 to 1979 to get the first directly elected Assembly for the European Communities. Article 190(4) of the Treaty establishing the European Community sets out a uniform election code as the first option: 4. The European Parliament shall draw up a proposal for elections by direct universal suffrage in accordanc...

Yesterday's Daily Telegraph carried an article entitled "How the public is spending £7 million on Beijing Olympic staff". (The Telegraph link is a little iffy but here is one to the article in the Daily Mail. The wording is almost exactly the same, which makes one wonder which news agency provided the copy in the first place.) This details the many officials, politicians and BBC journal...

CLICK ON MAP An article in The Telegraph outlines the ways that pro- and anti-Russian ethnic tensions within the Ukraine are building. The President issued a decree restricting the movement of the Russian fleet during the Georgian crisis, and this could also be taken as a provocation by Putin. The Ukraine, in any event must know that it has to be next on his list. From the Telegraph's article...