Not a fair cop, or even a raven-haired one.

What do our new masters mean when they talk of preserving frontline services?

In all the pre- and post-Budget chatter about job and funding cuts in the public sector, the most worrying concern to me is that Cumbria Constabulary, which one might have thought would be protected as a frontline service, is to suffer both kinds. Already... [more]

A bonnet full of bees

What does it matter whether England's overpaid and unbder-talented soccer players sing or not, if they can't beat the likes of the USA and Algeria?

So that's where all the bees have gone: they're shacked up in Raymond Hall's bonnet. First, before England's dreary one-all World Cup draw with the USA, he told us he would be rooting... [more]

Gun Law

Looking down the muzzle: keep your head...and keep it down

I see no justification for suggestions, stated or implied, that three unarmed police officers, confronted by Derrick Bird, who had already shot a number of people, acted in any way less than duty demanded. I have, instructing recruits in shooting with military .22 rifles,... [more]

Where was God - assuming he exists?

And you thought they were funded by the faithful

If you were sick, who would you rather see at your bedside; a smartly-uniformed nurse, or some superstition pedlar with his collar on back-to-front?

It seems that we, who finance the National Health Service, pay hospital chaplains more than nurses and 150% more than cleaners – but who provide the more important service?

I had... [more]