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On Monday, Abu Qatada, widely recognised to be one of the world’s most dangerous men, was released on bail. Everyone thought it was wrong, including the government. But when the executive starts blaming the judiciary for the implementation…
Imagine a major British political figure, like the Mayor of London or the First Minister of Scotland, in the middle of a political scandal which everyone thought he would go down for. At the last minute a jury finds him not guilty by one…
All of us sometimes have mixed feelings about the EU but, in one area, even its harshest critics would have to reluctantly agree that it has succeeded. In its expansion eastwards it has helped consolidate democratic rule where there…
The New Year. Our thoughts and hopes for the future. A difficult year behind. Another one ahead. Sound at all familiar? In the film 1993 film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a character who realises that he is getting up to the same song…
As our leaders sit back and take stock during the holidays, they might reflect, not just on the daily parliamentary grind against Cameron and the coalition, but of something else: of the time that opposition affords parties to deal with…
Last week, two things happened which produced condemnation by our politicians. Jeremy Clarkson appeared on national television threatening to shoot strikers in front of their families. And Paul Flynn MP, interviewed by the Jewish Chronicle…
We are all taught at school about the five, or even the seven, continents. But in business and elsewhere many still think of the world in three groupings, matching the three broad time-zones, or the three big financial centres, of the…
On Monday Alastair Campbell ran a positive blog piece which points out that a billion pounds worth of infrastructure projects signals a change in the Tories’ previous policy of “no plan B”: “It is not exactly plan B. But it is an admission…
Freethinking with Rob Marchant (With profuse apologies to the late Frankie Laine, or the Blues Brothers, depending on your generation. Sorry about that.) Just in case anyone is still feeling a bit too upbeat after Mark Ferguson's piece…
Freethinking with Rob Marchant While we are still in the throes of reforming our Party (although that debate is pretty much over, it seems) and defining our policies, we are in some ways a little hamstrung. However, there still is one thing…
Freethinking with Rob Marchant David Miliband, a man for whom I have great admiration and would like to see back in front-line politics sooner rather than later, is a politician with considerable achievements to his name. However, and…
Freethinking with Rob Marchant I imagine that, in the run-up to his conference speech - and having had a rather unexpectedly busy summer - Ed Miliband is turning his thoughts to his grand plan for Britain. And rightly - this will be a…
