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An African crusade is lunacy when cuts have left us barely enough soldiers to troop the colour

0 shares 156 View comments The Government has announced its third round of Armed Forces cuts, imposing 5,300 job losses as part of a programme to reduce the British Army to a strength of 82,000 by 2017. Yet almost in the same breath, the Prime Minister declared Britain’s support for the French military intervention in Mali, telling the House of Commons that Britain is in the midst of ‘a generational struggle’ against Islamic jihadism. It is hard to decide which is pottier: reducing our Army to a strength at which it can troop the colour and not much else, or giving even the smallest military assistance to France’s operations in North Africa, let alone doing both at once. Military assistance: David Cameron has declared Britain's support for the French military intervention in Mali, telling the House of Commons that Britain is in the midst of 'a generational struggle' against Islamic jihadism Moreover, the Ministry of Defence’s right hand does not see

Democracy in peril: This was the week Britons finally despaired of their leaders. It may be remembered as a disastrous turning point in our history

0 shares 563 View comments This week saw Britain’s first ‘Grillo moment’. Just as on Sunday a quarter of Italians responded to their country’s dire political and economic crisis by voting for comedian Beppe Grillo, so on Thursday, the Liberal Democrat candidate was elected to parliament in the Eastleigh by‑election. Worse still for David Cameron, his own party was pushed into third place by Ukip, a protest movement that blames the European Union for almost everything from global warming to the failure of Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust. Of course the result — which also offered no comfort to fourth-placed Labour — represented a gesture of disgust towards mainstream politicians which lots of people far from suburban Hampshire will welcome. On Thursday, the Lib Dem candidate Mike Thornton was elected to parliament in the Eastleigh by-election But it is very frightening that the relatively prosperous and educated voters of Eastleigh, at a critical moment in the natio

How local democracy is being crushed under the jackboot of the Government's Mr Concrete

0 shares 172 View comments As if Middle England was not already angry enough with this Government, a new battle is commencing. After gay marriage, wind turbines and the London-Birmingham rail link through the Chilterns, comes the concreting of the English countryside. Ministers insist that the country needs hundreds of thousands more houses, and that many of these must be built on rural greenfield sites. The Government has changed planning law, supposedly in the interests of economic growth, to impose ‘a presumption in favour of development’. All over Britain, communities find themselves confronted with draconian demands from central Government to accept new housing — far in excess of anything local plans recognise as acceptable — which threatens to change their areas beyond recognition. This Government is bent on a massive housing programme, which it believes will generate economic growth Nicholas Boles, the ruthless, fiercely ambitious Tory under-secretary in c

If they had a scintilla of decency, Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell and John Scarlett would not show their faces in public again

0 shares 478 View comments Ten years ago today, American and British tanks stormed across the border of Kuwait into Iraq, precipitating a torrent of violence which has since cost more than 100,000 Iraqi and Allied lives. We, the British people, were told by our leader Tony Blair that the invasion was indispensable to Britain’s national security because Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction which could be used against us. Soon after Western forces reached Baghdad, it became plain that no such weapons existed. Blair said the invasion was vital to Britain's security because Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. Soon after Western forces reached Baghdad, it was clear that no such weapons existed Moreover, it also emerged that the Prime Minister had assured President George Bush of Britain’s armed support in deposing Saddam Hussein, well ahead of the WMD claims, because he wished to assist the Americans in doing what he con

One of the nastiest and most immoral political acts in modern times

0 shares 712 View comments People who rob old ladies in the street, or hold up security vans, are branded as thieves. Yet when Germany presides over a heist of billions of pounds from private savers’ Cyprus bank accounts, to ‘save the euro’ for the hundredth time, this is claimed as high statesmanship. It is nothing of the sort. The deal to secure a €10 billion German bailout of the bankrupt Mediterranean island is one of the nastiest and most immoral political acts of modern times.  It has struck fear into the hearts of hundreds of millions of European citizens, because it establishes a dire precedent. Scroll down for video Hands off! Banking sector workers have been protesting outside of Cyprus's parliament in Nicosia A Europe-wide precedent? The deal to secure a German bailout of the bankrupt Mediterranean island has struck fear into the hearts of hundreds of millions of European citizens If democratically elected governments are willing to impose out

BBC drama The Village: Rural life WAS grim (but in some ways it was richer) says MAX HASTINGS

77 shares 191 View comments Some viewers have complained about the ‘unrelenting grimness’ of BBC1’s new Sunday night period drama series, which its makers hope will grip the nation in the same fashion as ITV’s Downton Abbey. The 42-part epic aims to depict the life of a rustic Derbyshire community across the 20th century through the story of one family — but without a butler or water closet in sight. This is intended to be the countryside as it really was, with lots of poverty and incest and no toffs. But I welcome the grittiness of The Village because most TV versions of old England are characterised by soppiness and ignorance. Scroll down for video Harsh reality: The cast of new BBC drama The Village Recently, I have been thinking a lot about such issues, while spending some idle hours leafing through copies of a magazine my father created and edited in the Fifties, entitled Country Fair. Its pages offer a wonderfully vivid picture of the life of old rural comm

Margaret Thatcher dead: If Britain languishes, we have wasted her legacy

10 shares 125 View comments She was Britain’s greatest peacetime prime minister of the modern era, perhaps of all time. She inspired love in her admirers, hatred in her foes, and fear among many of her own ministers. It was her achievement to halt a national economic and industrial decline that had seemed irreversible. She dominated her government, and the nation, like no other British leader since 1945. Like many others, I never forgot my own first encounter with Margaret Thatcher.  After interviewing her when she was Education Secretary back in 1973, I pressed the button for the lift outside her office. She told me, scornfully: ‘You don’t need a lift. Walk!’. So I did, and so she taught her people to do on becoming prime minister six years later. Thatcher was Britain's greatest peacetime prime minister of the modern era, perhaps of all time. She inspired love in her admirers, hatred in her foes, and fear among many of her own ministers To grasp the impact o