Archive for the ‘British current affairs’ Category
Michael Meacher declares
February 22nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
So former Environment Minister Michael Meacher finally declares publicly that he will run for the Labour Party leadership against Gordon Brown. But the BBC
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Tackling road congestion
February 21st, 2007 by Roger Darlington
The e-petition asking the Prime Minister to “Scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy” – which I did not sign – has now closed. Below is a response from the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
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Rethinking Trident
February 16th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
In the week of the news that the courts have insisted that the Government needs to conduct a new, more genuine consultation on the future of energy policy in the UK, the democratic Left organsiation Compass has launched a campaign for a proper debate before we rush to renew the Trident nuclear weapon system. A […]
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Keeping you posted
February 6th, 2007 by Roger Darlington
This morning, I spent two hours at London’s City Hall – a really impressibe building by Tower Bridge – attending a meeting of the London Assembly’s Health and Public Services Committee. I was there as the Chair of the Greater London Region of the consumer watchdog Postwatch to answer questions – together with four other […]
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Time to rethink Trident?
February 2nd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
On 4th December 2006, the Government published a White Paper detailing its preferred option for the renewal of Trident. On the same day, the democratic left pressure group Compass launched a survey asking its members and members of the public to say what they thought. Over 1000 people responded. A clear majority of respondents (84%) […]
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How much tax should we pay?
January 23rd, 2007 by Roger Darlington
Tax returns and outstanding tax have to be in by the end of this month and today I was in telephone dialogue with Revenue & Customs to establish how much I owe them (it turns out that they owe me). After ten years of a Labour Government and in the run up to a leadership […]
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Tour 10 Downing Street
December 29th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Over the years, I must have visited 10 Downing Street – the home of the British Prime Minister – perhaps 10 times. Given my politics, I’ve never been to the premises during Conservative Governments, but I’ve been there under the tenures of Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan and Tony Blair – all of whom I’ve been […]
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Should the UK renew the Trident system? (2)
December 19th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
In an earlier posting, I linked to the on-line debate run by the pressure group Compass on the issue of whether the UK should renew the nuclear Trident weapon system. Over 1000 people have already responded to the consultation, prompting the Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne to post a short article on the […]
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Why Britain needs a new foreign policy
December 16th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
“The last few years have been disastrous for British foreign policy, and no one is held to account. The edifice of human rights law and norms, which took half a century of careful work to construct, has been undermined by those who claim to defend it. Maybe 500,000 people have died in Iraq and the […]
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Keeping you posted
December 14th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
Today the Government announced a major closure programme for our post offices – some 2,500 will go between summer 2007 and the end of 2008. The story leaked over the weekend and so I’ve done a number of radio interview this week on the subject of behalf of Postwatch. Altogether I’ve done five interviews, making […]
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