Monthly Archives: November 2008

Both I, and the Freedom Association which I have the privilege to Chair, have been fulminating for sometime about the steady erosion of our liberties in Brown’s Britain.   We have noted the proliferation of pretexts which minions of the … Continue reading →

I was amused to see that Rahm Emanuel, President-Elect Obama’s new Chief-of-Staff, was quoted as saying “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste”.  Apparently the President-Elect, far from regarding the financial crisis as a constraint on what … Continue reading →

We are accustomed to horror stories from Northern Ireland, although thankfully they have been a bit less frequent of late.  But now we read of a new one.  Catriona Ruane, the ideologue Sinn Fein Education Minister of Northern Ireland has … Continue reading →

The trouble with Socialists is their contempt for history, and their pathetic belief that half-baked left-wing ideas can be made to fly.  Tony Blair seemed to think that 1997 was Year Zero, and despite his spin about his respect for … Continue reading →

Some time ago I was working in Brussels with Dan Mitchell, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, now with the Cato Institute (both excellent conservative Washington think-tanks), and I noticed he was wearing a really great tie — all stars and … Continue reading →

We all know that those funny French and Belgians will eat horse meat, given the chance.  Many years ago I worked for a company headquartered in Lille, France, and I remember passing the horse meat shop every time I travelled … Continue reading →

It seems that the Obama régime in America is poised to have the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declare Carbon Dioxide a pollutant — which shows that they know even less about science than they know about economics. CO2 is … Continue reading →

The “Motion for a Resolution on the pursuit of the ratification procedures for the Treaty Of Lisbon” is coming up in the European parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee, on which I sit.  The deadline for amendments was Wednesday October 5th, at … Continue reading →

There has been huge media interest in the announcement that Robert Kilroy Silk MEP is going to appear on “I’m a Celebrity”, eating bush tucker and widgetty grubs in the Australian outback.  I can’t wait to see it (if I … Continue reading →

It is a challenge to keep up the with rash of windfarm planning applications breaking out across the East Midlands, and especially on the Northants/Leics borders along the A14 and M1 corridors.  Both I and my colleague Chris Heaton-Harris have … Continue reading →

Recently East Midlands MEPs have been at the sharp end of a write-in campaign about saving the world’s forests (an objective I fully support, by the way).  Lib-Dem MEP Bill Newton Dunn (or Turncoat Dunn, as I have thought of … Continue reading →

As an MEP, I am privileged to be invited to several Remembrance ceremonies on Remembrance Sunday.  Sadly, I can only go to one, and this year, I decided to go again to the Leicester ceremony, in Victoria Park, under the … Continue reading →

Michael Crichton, best-selling author, has died of cancer at the age of 66.  It seems an eternity since his novel (with film and TV versions) “The Andromeda Strain” hit an unsuspecting world, though it was only 1971.  The story created … Continue reading →

I have heard one or two senior people in the Conservative Party saying that we should not engage on the issues raised by single-issue or minority parties, for fear of giving them an advantage by “fighting on their ground” or … Continue reading →