Monthly Archives: May 2010

Regular readers of this blog may have gathered that I’m not a great enthusiast for alternative life-styles.  I believe that there are profound reasons, based on millennia of human culture, on custom and practice over many generations, and indeed on … Continue reading →

I’ve just attended the appeal hearing in Riga, Latvia, for the Derby Two.  That’s the Prosecutor’s appeal against their acquittal last year.  Not, apparently, a case of double jeopardy, but it certainly feels like it. The story so far: (readers … Continue reading →

I was delighted to hear David Cameron say that he’d look again at the proposed 50% Income Tax band.  Indeed this morning I Tweeted “Cameron is right to review the proposed 50% income tax band. It won’t raise revenue. It … Continue reading →

OK.  So you knew that already.  But let me give you my latest example.   This morning I was driving over to the Brigstock horse trials (I’m a sponsor), when I put on the radio and heard Radio Four’s “From … Continue reading →

I’ve just returned from the Heartland Institute’s Fourth Annual Climate Conference, at the Marriott Hotel in Chicago, where something very interesting was emerging: a clear counter-consensus on climate change.  Of 700+ delegates, 400 or so were scientists in relevant disciplines … Continue reading →

I was recently interviewed on this issue by ITV.  See the full interview here

Insomnia strikes again.  In Chicago, I found myself watching TV at some odd times, and of course it’s over-populated with commercials.  But I was struck by how different the ads are from UK TV commercials. We expect to see ads … Continue reading →

Rather to my surprise, I bumped into Mother Earth at the Heartland Climate Conference in Chicago (May 17th).  There she was, large as life, in her green gown with a wreath of ivy in her hair (when I first saw … Continue reading →

I’m writing this in the Marriott Hotel in Chicago, where I’m attending the Heartland Institute Climate Conference (and I’ve just done an interview with BBC Environment Correspondent Roger Harrabin). Ahead of the interview, I thought I’d just check out the … Continue reading →

Last night I went from Brussels to Louvain, to the Aula Magna Theatre, to see the Shen Yun Dance Show.  This is a group of mostly expatriate Chinese performers who do classical and folkloric Chinese dance. While there I had … Continue reading →

As Harold Wilson never said, twenty-four hours is a long time in politics.  Yesterday morning, I was writing ruefully about the Lib-Lab “coalition of losers” that looked increasingly likely.  Today, David Cameron is in Downing Street.  Down the road, there … Continue reading →

Early in June, I am expecting to go the Pyongyang, North Korea, and on to Seoul, South Korea, with a European parliament Interparliamentary Delegation.  Ahead of that trip, our delegation had the pleasure of hosting a high-powered South Korean delegation … Continue reading →

I almost never have a good word to say for the Lib-Dems, but I must admit that some of the strident criticism that Nick Clegg has faced, as he considers his options, has been a little over-egged.  By a quirk … Continue reading →

We are all, of course, horribly disappointed that we failed to get the majority Conservative government for which we had worked and campaigned for so long.  Yet we should not belittle the scale of our achievement: we all knew we … Continue reading →

I have just been reading a Reuter’s report from India, about the suffering endured by poor, honest, hard-working climate scientists, as they seek to warn a careless world of looming climate disaster, only to be attacked, threatened and vilified by … Continue reading →