Current Affairs

There are many worrying aspects of the Terri Schiavo case – not least the hostility to the separation of powers expressed by people who really should know better. Perhaps the most worrying aspect, however, is the way in which the individual wishes of Mrs Schiavo have become a secondary issue, or

The Brighton Argus reports that road safety campaigners were surprised when people polled by West Sussex County Council rejected a proposed 20mph speed limit outside schools. The stunned outrage of the campaigners is amusing to read. “I can only assume that they aren’t parents, or have never lost a

As the sad case of Terri Schiavo rumbles on, one Floridian lawyer provides an illuminating introduction to the case’s legal background.

No-one seems to have spotted the irony that Michael Howard’s new plan for travellers (including ‘reviewing or repealing’ the Human Rights Act) was launched on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Well, perhaps the Morning Star.

Radio Polonia – the Polish world service – reports (web, mp3) another racist attack on Polish migrant workers in Northern Ireland. Apparently, as Catholics, the Poles are seen as Trojan horses by some (presumably quite dim) Unionists.

The Department for Transport has put the papers from its recent Future of Rail conference online. In unrelated news, they have also published their new vehicle emission rating system. (link to WorldChanging)

The Government has annnounced its new immigration policy. It’s “responding to people’s very real worries”, apparently. Well, call me a dogmatist, but I don’t think that the Government should be appeasing the poisonous libels of the Mail and its ilk. Today’s Mail headline said it all

Clean hospitals and no bus lanes. (via Honourable Fiend)

From the NY Times front page on the web: “The D.A. [of Los Angeles] said today that he would probably seek the death penalty for the suicidal man who left his S.U.V. on a track.”

Two sorts of desperation on display today. The Conservative party have said they’ll make immigration a central issue of the election campaign. And Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has declared war on the principle of democracy.