Meant to blog this before now, but was reminded to do so yesterday as I witnessed former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern being awarded an honorary doctorate in law by Queen's University Belfast. Tony Blair got one too (by video!), as a tribute...

"Do you know they got rid off the Magna Carta, about six months ago?" – Gore Vidal. I previously blogged on the inestimable Gore Vidal and quoted some of his famous words from down the years. C4 News' Jon Snow interviewed the writer...

Ok, first a confession. I don’t watch football matches at all! The last one I saw was the World Cup final in 1998 – France’s (actually very boring) 3-0 win over Brazil. But if I travel back in time to when I was about six (travel back...

Lots of news about immigration in today’s papers. Well, in the Daily Express mainly, the front page of which screams: ‘Immigration soars to new record’. The story is about the number of foreigners told they can stay in the UK...

Finally David Miliband has broken with his US mentors and stated that there can be no military solution to the "insurgencies" in Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas. This marks a major policy shift between the two allies, the US...