http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:49:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en  “Racist!” “One-eyed freak!” “Fascist!” Yes, I regret to inform you that I felt the need to write something about our good friend Nick. This has been prompted by his recent visit to my hometown of Cockermouth, Cumbria, which was hit by severe flooding at the end of November. My initial ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2010/02/05/nicholas-griffin-hes-not-so-spiffin/ Public opinion is fickle. Opinion polls regarding the major parties swing wildly from week to week, in entirely whimsical and unpredictable ways. Labour are doing considerably better now than they were a while ago. The only cause, as far as I can tell, is that David Cameron has been getting ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2010/02/01/assisted-suicide-again/ Coca-Cola Co. has always had a murky human rights record, but recent Pentagon releases prove the company's (and its bottling partners') connection to Colombian paramilitary groups whose purpose is to silence those who: are found guilty of “union organizing and recruiting;” pass out “propaganda in favor of workers;” and “sympathize with demonstrators or ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2010/01/31/murder-best-served-chilled/ It's the centrepiece of Obama's domestic agenda, and there have been months of haggling, deal-cutting and sausage-making in order to push it through. The prospect of a Democratic loss in the Massachusetts special election has further injected a sense of urgency. Given the unwieldy, dysfunctional nature of the Senate, with ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2010/01/19/dont-let-this-bill-be-the-last-word-on-healthcare-reform/ Creative Commons licensed photo courtesy of Flickr user jackhynes. Every year for the past 27 years GCSE results have gone up and a quarter of A level passes are now at grade A. One might think this was a chance to congratulate teenagers in their achievements but conversely the better the ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2010/01/13/straight-a-idiots/ Creative Commons licensed photo courtesy of Flickr user jackhynes. Many of us on the left feel jaded by the broken promises of New Labour and betrayed by university fees, private finance initiatives in healthcare and the Iraq War. Yet we are not ready to put our faith in David Cameron who ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2010/01/12/to-be-a-liberal-democrat-or-not-to-be/ As the judicial review of the proposed extradition of Gary McKinnon continues, his ever-growing band of supporters claim that the 43 year old should not be extradited on human rights grounds. Not only are they fighting a losing battle, Mr McKinnon should be extradited. Mr McKinnon has become something of a ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2010/01/11/the-strange-case-of-gary-mckinnon/ With today's resolution to Debbie Purdy's court battle to have the law on assisted suicide clarified, there is now an inescapable feeling that matters are coming to a head regarding the issue in this country. A tide of opinion polls, news stories and incessant letters in newspapers show that this ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2009/07/30/the-dignity-of-assisted-suicide/ Here's what I wrote a month ago: It turns out that some MPs have been claiming hefty expenses to which they are technically entitled under the current rules, even though they don’t really need the money. This must have come as a terrible shock to all those who thought MPs were ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2009/05/13/attending-parliament-is-an-expensive-hobby/ An aide to the Prime Minister spreads some nasty gossip in a private email to a blogger. The blogger's emails are hacked, the emails are leaked to another blog, and the aide resigns. It's a juicy and very modern tale of a spin doctor getting a taste of his own ... http://www.clarepolitics.co.uk/2009/04/12/our-sleazy-obsession/