Sunday Round-Up

The First Post has an excellent digest of the Sunday Papers here.

Of note are the following stories:

The Tories have announced a proposal for 'green' taxes on domestic flights, thus seeking to reinforce their environmental credentials. They've even invited Al Gore to address the shadow cabinet on Thursday! Particularly useful for A2 students working out how to answer the question about what conservatism stands for today! (Sunday Telegraph here, and pretty well every other news outlet including BBC here).

The Observer publishes a major story concerning the dismal treatment being meted out to soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems that the government is happy to send them to fight, but not so happy to deal with the collateral damage when they returned in less than full fighting health. It is a grotesque story, and worth reading here. (What with this story, and the Levy exclusive last week, the Guardian titles are rapidly becoming my favourite papers!)

No worries on the health front for Gordon Brown though. The man who would like to abolish private health care has just been in for some private dental treatment! They'll be telling us next that Labour ministers send their children to grammar and independent schools.....ah...but of course they do!

Lord Levy could face a prison sentence, according to the Sunday Times, which claims he asked Downing Street advisers to lie to police about his involvement with honours.

Prince Charles understands that, as a constitutional monarch, he cannot meddle in political affairs, reports the Sunday Express today, in another world beating exclusive.

And for all you unreconstructed homophobes out there, I'm sure you'll love the story that, since the abolition of Section 28, some local authorities are about to try out new, gay-friendly reading books in primary schools. Titles include 'King and King', about a prince whose mother introduces him to lots of princesses only to have him fall in love with one of their brothers; and 'Tango makes three', a story about two male penguins who acquire a baby penguin in the zoo. Hmmm. Frankly any story with talking animals is nauseous whatever the story premise!

Tangled Webs and Turkeys

So much to talk about, so little time.....

The big story at the beginning of the week, of course, was the Lord Levy revelation. Well, not so much a revelation as a tiny shard of light on an ever murkier business. There is an old adage that says "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive", and it is now this, rather than the original sin of selling honours for cash, that seems to be permeating No. 10 Downing Street. Whether or not Lord Levy did seek to pressure No. 10 aide Ruth Turner into altering her recollections remains to be seen, although the Guardian report that sparked the latest series of revelations certainly seemed to think so. One is reminded of the Watergate scandal, which started to mushroom in a similarly innocuous way, and ultimately became a scandal as much about the cover-up as anything else. Hardly a happy precedent for Tony Blair as he prepares for his last few months in office. Across the pond, of course, Blair's friend Bush is in similarly dire straits, with the ruling against the Vice-President's former aide Lewis Libby (read about it here) giving the distinct impression of two decaying, fin de siecle regimes.

Meanwhile, the House of Lords Reform debate received a boost with this evening's vote in the House of Commons overwhelmingly backing an elected chamber. There were plenty of high sounding comments from dull politicians about how good all this is for democracy, but whether another democratic chamber is really the solution to Britain's political ills remains to be seen. The Lords, to date, has proved a most effective revising and checking chamber, challenging the Commons on many occasions and offering more cogent scrutiny in many cases than the often superficial and whip dominated elected chamber. And one wonders how keen MP's really are on sharing their power with another elected chamber. One peeress used the old comparison of 'turkeys voting for an early Christmas' to describe today's vote. A second elected chamber really will be an alternative source of authority. A final thought on the proposed reform is that if it ain't broke don't fix it, and there is little evidence that the Lords is broke. Those ambitious, high sounding comments are already echoing rather shallowly.

Following TM's comment, there will hopefully be some more U6th - friendly posts coming soon. Fascism is being debated tomorrow, and that must be good for a rant or two.