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Vintage TV

There seems to be a service for just about every requirement of the over 50's these days - and now we have our very own TV station.

Ireland must now pay more than Greece to borrow.
Dublin has played by the book. It has taken pre-emptive steps to please the markets and the EU. It has done an IMF job without the IMF. Indeed, is has gone further than the IMF would have dared to go.
It has imposed draconian austerity measures. The solidarity of the country has been remarkable. There have no riots, and no terrorist threats.

Why the Referendum is a “Good Thing”

John Jackson is a lawyer who has never practised the law professionally. He is chairman of Mishcon de Reya and ‘History Today’ and a director of openDemocracy.Whilst I agree with Stuart Weir that the referendum is ‘an ugly and undemocratic manoeuvre’, for all the reasons he has set out in his post of 11 August, it is nonetheless a “good thing”.

What next in the Conservative Party's relationship with Churchgoers?

In the previous series we have looked at how prior to the general election a great many practising Christians were becoming deeply disillusioned with Labour as a result of the government’s sustained attack on historic British liberties such as freedom of belief and the right to express it.

No-win journalism

Israel's president has accused the English of being anti-semitic and claimed that MPs pander to Muslim voters. Shimon Peres said England was ‘deeply pro-Arab ... and anti-Israeli’, adding: ‘They always worked against us.’
He added: ‘There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary.’ His remarks, made in an interview on a Jewish website, provoked anger from senior MPs and Jewish leaders who said the 87-year-old president had ‘got it wrong’.

Geert Wilders Is No Right-Wing Populist

Dutch politician Geert Wilders may be many things, but he is not the right-wing populist he is accused of being. What the debate over his film "Fitna" reveals most clearly is the West's cowardice toward Islam.

Bravo, Sarkozy - from one jogger to another

There are some people I know who are not so keen on Nicolas Sarkozy, the new President of France. Some prudes have been dismayed by the way he turned up at a press conference in a state of apparent alcoholic intoxication. Some think it a bit off that he tried to grab the steering wheel at the recent European summit, and change the fundamental principles of the EU Treaty.

The rule of law itself seems to be breaking down in Britain.

Under the combined weight of ideology and bigotry, the rule of law itself seems to be breaking down in Britain. For the second time, a jury has acquitted people charged with criminal acts because it appears to sympathise with their cause.
In September 2008, a jury decided that it was ok to break the law and cause more than £35,000 criminal damage to a coal-fired power station because of the threat of man-made global warming.

Why we still love bashing the Boche: As we face Germany in the World Cup tomorrow, we salute the silly side of our old enemy

My sister and I were brought up to be grateful and proud to be English, and to participate in and enjoy the English way of life. I particularly empathised with the English sense of humour.
I believe the English humour is a unique trait, and one that separates us from less-fortunate people, like the Germans
I loved those Sunday lunchtime comedy shows, such as round The Horne and The Navy Lark - although I was never sure about The Clitheroe Kid.

President Obama's enigmatic intellectualism

It can seem that at the heart of Barack Obama's foreign policy is no heart at all. It consists instead of a series of challenges -- of problems that need fixing, not wrongs that need to be righted. As Winston Churchill once said of a certain pudding, Obama's approach to foreign affairs lacks theme. So, it seems, does the man himself.