a judicial system for all, not just the privileged few

The Ministry of Justice is in trouble. Its finances are a mess and it is struggling to find savings across its responsibilities for the Courts & Tribunals Service, Prisons, and Probation. But unlike other departments of state, the ‘overspend’ is not due to profligacy by ministers of whatever colour nor to lack of budgetary control… Continue reading a judicial system for all, not just the privileged few

Really Mr Cameron? When would you launch Trident?

So, today the Prime Minister visits Scotland to welcome home one of our submarines carrying the current Trident nuclear deterrent, emphasising the benefits of UK defence spending north of the border and the need, as he sees it, for Britain to retain its nuclear capability. He makes that point as well in an article in… Continue reading Really Mr Cameron? When would you launch Trident?

Polly Toynbee and the polarisation of the benefits debate

This morning I found myself almost without thinking ‘liking’ a friend’s post on Facebook which shared Polly Toynbee’s piece from Thursday’s Guardian “Benefit cuts: Monday will be the day that defines this government” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/28/benefit-cuts-monday-defines-government). That in and of itself is an interesting departure as I have never been Ms Toynbee’s greatest fan, having felt for… Continue reading Polly Toynbee and the polarisation of the benefits debate