News that the Pakistani government is likely to allow the authorities in the Swat valley area of Pakistan to set up shari’a courts ought to give us pause. It’s not that the imposition of shari’a law will automatically mean that human...

So who won? Like everyone else, I can only see deadlock and “a lurch to the right” in the super-close Israeli election results . I can’t pretend I’ve ever paid much attention to domestic Israeli politics (I haven’t always looked too...

I must admit I haven’t watched Panorama for ages. (Did I ever watch it? Yes, but I think the last time I actually saw one was that amazing programme where John Sweeney loses his rag after getting stonewalled by a Scientology spokesman...

It’s a funny old world ain’t it? Take a couple of prominent speeches by our elected politicians in the House of Commons in the last two days. Yesterday: David Davis – of opposition to 42 days pre-charge detention fame – blasting the...

In my day ‘Punk’s not dead’ used to be the teenage mantra, a line beloved of Exploited fans the country over. Recently I reckon it’s more a case of the war on terror’s not dead. Hang on! You thought Obama’s (very welcome) promise to...

Back in the days when I played kick-it-and-hope football with the lads in my area and fancied myself a new Clive Walker (a temporarily promising Chelsea left-winger in about 1977), I never really thought about playing football with...

It’s all beginning to unravel, says The Times , referring to a European deadlock over which countries might be able to lend a hand in closing Guantánamo. Plus, says the Times story, there’s a new “taunting” video from former Guantánamo...

As Richard Hammond might say, sometimes things move fast, and Obama’s certainly not letting the grass grow under his feet over Guantánamo and human rights. As regular readers – both of you! – of this blog will know, I was recently...

I’m not a big lover of large events. Crowds: no, don’t like them. Football matches, too many people. Being at home on the laptop: yes, much better! Also, fanfare and big-time media hype sets my teeth on edge. Guess where this is going...

The cliché is that during the fog of war you can’t really find out what’s going on. Keeping out nearly all international media, as I’ve said before , is one very effective way of ensuring that things are enveloped in doubt, claim and...

Ive written in this blog before that Im a very cautious Obama-ite. (Booo!) With due acknowledgment of the historic and symbolic significance of a black American of (half) Kenyan parentage actually becoming US president (a big change)...

Terry Jones of Monty Python fame (he’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy) has CiF comment out today laying into the dubious behaviour of the international arms industry. He might not have been expecting the Spanish Inquisition...

As the daily carnage out of Gaza dominates news coverage, you could have missed this story in the Times today. It says: the USA and the UK are effectively negotiating an arrangement for Britain to take Guantánamo prisoners who need to...

SteveB pretty much said it all yesterday – the situation in Gaza is hugely depressing and a terrible start to the year. I’ve just come back from Italy where the national television channel Canale 5 always started every evening’s news (...