Politics

There is something weak and craven in the statements from the half- apologists for the Bloody Sunday killings. In the assertion from Sir Michael Rose that it was British soldiers who brought peace in Northern Ireland, not Tony Blair. In the right wing press showing photographs of British soldiers serving in Afghanistan and insisting look, these are good people and we ought to remember that. In the statements from my old mate Patrick Mercer MP who says that the Saville Inquiry will only make things worse in Ulster. These are pretty cheap and specious arguments, non-sequiturs. The obvious truth, much though it might hurt, is that the army, on that

As David says, the conclusions of the Saville Inquiry make for grim reading. One person with close links to the services who served in Northern Ireland just told me, ‘it is far worse than we expected.’ In the House, David Cameron’s statement on it was heard in subdued silence. It would be remiss not to say that David Cameron dealt with this situation as well as anyone could. There was no equivalent to Jonathan Powell’s disgraceful statement that ‘the war against Irish terrorism was not our war’. He pointed out the context of the event and the fact that it was very much the exception rather than the rule of

I wish that every time Martin McGuinness offered commentary on the Saville Inquiry, it was pointed out that he admitted to the inquiry that he was the IRA’s second in command in Derry. We should never forget that the IRA has more to apologise and atone for than any other group that played a role in the Troubles. The idea that the RUC or the British military and the IRA are all equally guilty is the worst kind of simplistic moral relativism. McGuinness is now deputy first minister of Northern Ireland and drawing a handsome salary as part of the peace process. If he expects his—far more morally dubious—past to

The Sunday Mirror contains a warning about the ‘mad axeman George Osborne’. It is terrifying read – a grim vision of future economic misery, a Dickensian catalogue of poverty, worklessness and social breakdown. The Mirror has attributed the piece to Danny Blanchflower, the legendary centre half and captain of Tottenham Hotspur’s 1961 double winning team who died in 1993. As I write, Professor David Blanchflower is tearing down the wing for Hamilton Academicals.

Sweet news for David Cameron in today’s Sunday Times YouGov poll, which you can read here: the Tories have broken the 40 percent barrier for the first time since the first leaders’ debate. As the senior partners, the coalition was always going to suit the Conservatives more than the Liberal Democrats. Sure enough, the Liberal Democrats have fallen away by 3 points on last month’s figures to 18 percent – their worst performance since the first TV debate and the beginning of Cleggmania. Those who voted yellow against blue won’t be doing so again. As the indispensible Anthony Wells notes, Clegg’s personal ratings remain in honeymoon territory, and I wonder