Blog
£1 million inheritance tax threshold
I've been to a couple of parties recently where the subject of inheritance tax has cropped up. Ageing parents are anguished at the thought of the Chancellor's coffers reaping the rewards of their lifetime's hard work and prudence because of the £300,000...
The price paid by political bloggers
I would like to pay tribute to the brave bloggers of Burma who risked their liberty to keep us updated on anti-government demonstrations, being forced underground to avoid detection. They have now been silenced by a brutal regime which switched off the internet. These...
Julian Sturdy – York Outer video
This is a video I recorded of Julian Sturdy in the constituency of York Outer, where he is a Conservative parliamentary candidate. You can see him at home and in the community, working with local people on local issues. This video focuses on Julian's campaign to dual...
I slept in the spare room last night
I was removing the last crusty flakes of mascara when I saw IT through the mirror - and froze. A spider the size of a dinner plate attached to the side of my bed. I could feel the ends of my hairs tightening in shock. Equipped for such an emergency, I silently inched...
Thanks for voting me in the Top Ten
I'm thrilled and delighted to be ranked at No 10 in Iain's 2007 Guide to Political Blogging voted for by fellow bloggers and readers. It includes a list of 500. A thousand thanks to you all. What particularly thrills me is that my blog is enjoyed by a wide spectrum of...
The Foreign Office blog
Congratulations to David Miliband for launching a blog as Foreign Secretary. I know he made mistakes with his Defra site, which he has acknowledged, and I am chuffed to still be included on his new blogroll. I did predict back in July that he might be blogging again...
Ending sex slavery is not a Home Office target
Let's hope Home Secretary Jacqui Smith reads the report in today's Times about sex slavery in Cambridgeshire. Women are said to be traded in auctions for between £500 and £3,000. They are then virtual prisoners in rented houses. An investigation by The Times...
Is Gordon Brown now a lady’s man?
First he wows Lady Thatcher, then make Mariella Frostrup come over "all unncessary". How many more women can Gordon Brown woo in the run up to the increasingly imminent election? I wonder if he has been following advice given in The Statesman which pointed out that...
Our missed IT election opportunities
I have just heard on the radio that Labour is appointing key staff for campaigning logistics and media relations - to start next Monday - gearing up for an autumn general election. Whatever the outcome, I am disappointed that we did not use this last year to further...