The Queen’s speech to the United Nations this week was a masterpiece. A forum which hears so much from politicians with, at best, a passing grasp of world affairs was treated to the views of a head of state with half a century of experience and wisdom. As she so rightly observed, the most ‘sweeping
If David Cameron is looking for potential enemies, he need not worry about the Labour party. Mired in a five-way leadership race without any decent candidates or agendas, they are a danger only to themselves. Nor should he worry about rogue Liberal Democrats resigning to destabilise the coalition. His generous offer to hold a referendum
The coalition government contemplated legislation to reduce Civil Service lay-off payments in prospect of large redundancies. The Public and Commercial Services Union predicted strikes. Mr George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was accused by the opposition of scare tactics after asking ministerial colleagues to prepare plans for departmental cuts of 40 per cent. Mr
When I finally croak, this is what it’s gonna say on my headstone: ‘Ozzy Osbourne: born 1948; died whenever. PS: He bit the head off a bat.’ It’s been almost 30 years since I mistook that bat for a rubber toy — it’s not like I wanted to get rabies shots for the next two
By sacking General McChrystal for humiliating the presidential team in a rock magazine, Barack Obama reasserted the American Founding Fathers’ principle: ‘The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy.’ Quite right too: the military must be subservient to (civilian) state control. By sacking General McChrystal for humiliating the presidential team in a rock
How to save the seas Sir: We can predict, sadly, that the so-called management of the ocean mining described in Charles Clover’s article (‘The scramble for the seas’, 3 July), will be as poor as the current management of the oceans’ fish stocks. To save the world’s oceans, we need much better policy, coupled with
