It is always great to see unhinged enthusiasts for the nanny state being confronted by someone in charge of the facts. The Association of Chief Police Officers told the Transport Select Committee: "Production machines are readily available for use on...

Everybody is appalled by the death of Baby P, but we need to understand that the implications go far beyond Haringey. According to Children's Secretary Balls: "When I met with the Chief Inspector, she told me that in her judgement...

This news was passed on to me by one of the readers of both this and the EUReferendum blog. He sent me some links to a Russian-language newspaper in Latvia, Telegraf. The first article appeared on November 21, in which the newspaper reported that Dmitry Smirnov (or Dmitrijs Smirnovs in Latvian, though I suspect the man a Russian) a teacher of economics in the Ventspils University College was arres...

President-Elect Obama has announced a "new dawn" in American foreign policy and appointed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as his Secretary of State, leaving Robert Gates in Defence. As I said in an interview for the BBC Russian Service this afternoon about future Anglo-American relations, I cannot see any reason to expect many changes. Here is the list of the latest appointments.

British politicians could do worse than take a leaf out of the Canadian Government's book this week, who are apparently going to abolish taxpayer-funded subsidies for political parties (Hat-tip to ConHome). There are few things less edifying than the sight...

...they still can't resist nannying us. Reflecting on the PBR, it's interesting that despite all of Alistair Darling's rhetoric about how seriously he was taking this crisis and how important the VAT cut will be to business and consumers, the...

As asked by the Czech Senate, the Constitutional Court of that country is looking at the Constitutional Reform Lisbon Treaty in order to assess whether its acceptance is in accordance with the Czech Constitution. President Vaclav Klaus made a statement to the Court. While concentrating on legal argument, he, nevertheless outlined in an introductory paragraph the general situation: However, it is e...

One positive from yesterday's Pre-Budget report was the delaying of the unfair retrospective rise in Vehicle Excise Duty. The campaign the TPA spearheaded against the rising car tax has - for 2009/10 at least - saved motorists £465 million. This...

TPA supporter Ian Taylor, a champion for giving us news on council waste, has come up with another shocking story of a Kent council using taxpayers’ money for lavish lunches. This time Canterbury City Council’s Lord Mayor has entertained 11...

Few people outside Islington will have heard of Cllr. Andrew Cornwell, the now former cabinet member for finance on Islington council. But they should do, for here we have a councillor resigning his cabinet post because of a council’s “waste,...