... or is this "bankers have to dress down to avoid terrorists" just a plot to make these people buy casual clothes, thus stimulating the economy?

The Government is manipulating them like puppets. The only difference is that Alistair Darling isn't using his fist up a banker to attack Michael Parkinson.

Not only has MI5 not asked for 42 days, as you yourself admit, but now the previous head of MI5 has said that she can't support it.


( Read more... )

• Ireland votes "no"
• the Tory party use this to launch a renewed call for a British referendum so that they can tell Europe to bugger off
• in so doing, the Eurosceptic Tory right emerge from CallMeDave's saddle-bags, with people like the swivel-eyed Vulcan leading the charge
• a disgruntled but energized David Davies continues his activities from the back- ( Read more... )

... that Jacqui Smith has probably convinced enough Labour MPs to vote in favour that she can pass the measure if she has the backing of the DUP, which has a small number of MPs in Parliament but could swing the issue. You'd hope, therefore, that the DUP would exercise some thought before exercising their vote. After all, it's an important piece ( Read more... )

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7131540.stm In an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, Mr Abrahams says he donated cash secretly to avoid accusations of being part of a "Jewish conspiracy."
Frankly, I find this line of argument either ludicrous or spurious, ( Read more... )

1) I saw the "simple sailor" story in The Guardian:08:20: 'I'm not convinced we need to hold terror suspects longer than 28 days'
09:05: 'Actually, I am convinced'
I so wanted them to run a headline that was something like: "Brits 45 minutes From Doom - Threatened with Crass Deception". Goddamnit.

2) As I blogged about going there a couple of ( Read more... )

Question: Hypothetically, if you were an incoming Prime Minister and wanted to show your consultative, Parliamentary, cross-party, broad-tent credentials (to distinguish you from, say, a spin-driven sofa Government), would you bring up a contentious issue regarding, say, the detention of suspects so that Parliament can convince you of their point ( Read more... )

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4436238.stm The head of the National Probation Service has banned his chief officers from lobbying against government policy, according to a leaked letter ( Read more... )