Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

On Sublime Oblivion Anatoly Karlin notes that the disgraced former mayor of Moscow , Yuri Luzhkov, has been granted permission to enter Britain.  Contrary to some reports though, he has not yet received a residence permit for the UK. Austria and Latvia have already rejected Luzhkov’s requests to live within their borders.  His family are currently in Britain and his daughters are studying at a university in London. All sorts of Russian dissidents, out of favour oligarchs and even terrorists have chosen to make these shores their home, over the past ten years.  Boris Berezovsky, the exiled tycoon who aspires to overthrow Russia’s government by force, and the Chechen rebel Akhmed Zakayev are two of the more prominent examples. In a recent Conservative Home article , Carl Thomson revealed that 150 extradition requests by Moscow had been rejected by the UK since 2001.  Partly the statistic is explained by links, cultural and economic, which exist between the Russi...

The organisers of London 2012 are keen to encourage a sense of ownership and participation throughout the United Kingdom. Although the games themselves will be based in the capital, the bid was prepared on the basis that benefits would accrue nationally. Given the quantity of tax payers’ money required to stage a successful Olympics it is necessary that people across the country feel that they are being included in the festivities. Such is the spirit behind a series of ‘Open Weekends’ which will take place each year, in the run up to the London games, in an attempt to spread an ethos of involvement throughout Britain’s regions. Last month Northern Ireland’s goal-scoring hero, David Healy MBE, launched the local event which will take place in a variety of venues from the 24 – 26 July. The programme seems varied enough to interest most people. And although it is unclear whether any British Olympic symbols will be displayed, surely this is a weekend with UK wide benefits which eve...

I’ve just returned from an enjoyable two days in London, where the Orwell Prize for blogs was awarded to the excellent ‘Night Jack’ site. Jack Night is a police detective from the north of England, which provides him with a unique and insightful perspective from which to write about criminal justice. Like the ‘North Antrim Interest List’, that eventually topped a previous shortlist including ‘Three Thousand Versts’, ‘Night Jack’ shows mastery of a particular subject, rather than ranging widely across a great many topics. A lesson which I would endeavour to learn, were I not writing primarily for my own pleasure! My girlfriend and I were pleased to be seated next to Jack Night’s police colleague and representative at the dinner (the pseudonymous author did not feel able to pick up the prize in person). He was a charming and grounded detective whose insight into the Historical Enquiries Team was particularly fascinating. Indeed our conversation formed a neat counterpoint to the e...

I was rather enjoying Boris Johnson’s typically spirited defence of academic selection, on egalitarian grounds, until I happened upon this rather puzzling sentence, “I know a lawyer from Belfast, a man of my age, who believes fervently that he would never have gone to university had it not been for the grammar school system, and who cannot believe that no one – no one from any party – is objecting to their abolition at the hands of, yes, Martin McGuinness.” No-one, other than Boris’ own Conservative colleagues in Northern Ireland, their Ulster Unionist partners, the DUP and a coalition of parents and schools spanning the maintained and voluntary sectors.

Boris Johnson is in rude form (literally) in this morning’s Telegraph, after his appearance on last night’s ‘Dispatches’. He indulges in an entertaining ‘romp’ around the topic of Jacqui Smith’s expense claims. Personally, I wonder if the Home Secretary could not have spun the story to her advantage? After all her husband’s ‘night of rapture’ (to steal Boris’ phrase) is compelling evidence that the poor man is left alone in the family home too often! Incidentally the Channel 4 programme about Johnson was poor. Despite a litany of innuendo, all that could be concretely ascertained is that some people believe the London mayor should be doing a better job.

Am I alone in wondering exactly why controversy has attended Boris Johnson’s decision to ban alcohol on London’s public transport system? I would view myself as reasonably libertarian, but I cannot agree that asking people to keep their booze closed on buses and underground trains is an egregious curtailment of civil liberties. If anything I was surprised to learn that it was quite permissible to crack open a can or two before Boris decided otherwise. I would be the last person to lecture people about drinking, but beyond a shadow of a doubt a large group of drinkers can transform a journey into a miserable experience for fellow passengers. If banning alcohol on public transport makes travelling on it more pleasant for the majority of transport users, then asking a minority to exercise a little restraint, seems to me a reasonable imposition. London’s drinkers are hardly deprived of options when it comes to tippling elsewhere. Of course ironically the large protest party which ensu...