Adrian's Musings

This morning it was announced that with effect from November, Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, plans to introduce measures which will make life more austere for male prisoners. We are told Mr Grayling's plans include requiring prisoners to wear uniform for their first two weeks in custody...
Adrian69702006
2 min read
Views
285
General
Yesterday it emerged that Iain Duncan Smith, the Work & Pensions Secretary, had expressed a view that “wealthy” pensioners might consider repaying those universal benefits to which all pensioners are entitled. We were not surprised by the consternation and perfectly proper indignation which...
It is our sad duty to record the death this morning, following a stroke, of Baroness Thatcher at the age of 87. If Winston Churchill was the best wartime Prime Minister we could have had, Margaret Thatcher was assuredly the greatest peacetime Prime Minister of the last century. She was Britain's...
Adrian69702006
1 min read
Views
271
General
We have a new Pope! This evening the conclave which assembled on Monday, chose Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, a 76-year-old Jesuit scholar, as the new Pope, and he will be known as Francis I. He is a surprising choice and the first non-European Pope for a thousand years. On...
This afternoon the conclave summoned to elect the next Pope, met in the Sistine Chapel and the first ballot has already taken place. We do not know with certainty how long this conclave will be in session. Theoretically it run on for an indefinite period of time, although experience would appear...
Yesterday Chris Huhne and his former wife, Vicky Pryce, each received eight month prison sentences for perverting the course of justice. We could argue - and we would have right on our side - that the use of custodial sentences in such cases was not an omptimal use of taxpayer's money. Mr...
Adrian69702006
2 min read
Views
250
General
Today Vicky Pryce, former wife of disgraced former cabinet minister Chris Huhne, was today convicted at Southwark Crown Court of perverting the course of justice by accepting his points for a speeding offence committed in 2003. But for Chris Huhne's affair in 2010 and the breakup of his...
Adrian69702006
2 min read
Views
254
General
Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, has indicated that a future Conservative Government could well repeal the Human Rights Act. We wonder how the Government might go about this, particularly if Britain is still part of the European Union, and no doubt in the teeth of significant opposition...
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who was forced to stand down last week as Archbishop of St Andrews & Edinburgh has admitted that in the past his sexual conduct fell short of that required for a man of his position. He has apologised to those who have been hurt by his actions and we must allow him at...
Adrian69702006
2 min read
Views
237
General
This morning the world awoke to hear the results of yesterday's Eastleigh by-election which were both surprising and yet, on another level, unsurprising. We were surprised to learn that the Liberal Democrats had held the seat, not least of all on account of the unhappy circumstances which...
Adrian69702006
1 min read
Views
486
General
We are advised that Karl McCartney, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Lincoln, has apologised for offensive remarks in notes to the body which processes MP's expenses claims, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. It is not our wish to dwell upon the remarks in question and...
Adrian69702006
2 min read
Views
371
General
This morning the world was stunned to learn that Benedict XVI will be stepping down at the end of this month because his strength is no longer equal to bearing what is, admittedly, a burdensome office. Although not unknown in the distant past, the resignation of a Pope is unprecedented in modern...
Today Parliament passed a bill which, when it finally becomes law, will legalise same-sex marriages. Despite considerable opposition within his own Tory party, Mr Cameron has forced this bill through with Labour and Liberal Democrat support. We can only hope that he feels pleased with himself...
Yesterday Chris Huhne, the former Energy Secretary, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to perverting the course of justice in connection with a speeding offence he committed in March 2003, almost ten years ago. The world knows well that he had his then wife take the blame for a speeding...
Adrian69702006
2 min read
Views
243
General
In what’s clearly meant to be a populist move, Mr Cameron appears to be staking his honour on the legalisation of gay marriage within the United Kingdom. When the proposals first surfaced some time ago we were assured that such marriages would be purely civil affairs and churches would not be...
Today the Women-Bishops Measure was narrowly defeated at the Church of England's General Synod. Having gained the required two thirds majority in the House of Bishops and also in the House of Clergy, it failed by a mere half dozen votes in the House of Laity. So near and yet so far. We can but...
On Saturday night Mr George Entwistle stepped down as director-general of the BBC after less than two months in office. Most of Mr Entwistle's record breakingly short term of office was spent fire-fighting following the making of very serious allegations about the late Sir Jimmy Savile. This...
On Friday it was announced that Rt Revd Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham for the past year, is to succeed Dr Rowan Williams, who retires in December, as Archbishop of Canterbury. It is a curiosity of the Church of England that a group of parishes can be left vacant for two years or even longer...
Adrian69702006
2 min read
Views
258
General
Today, Remembrance Sunday, coincides for once with Armistice Day, the 11th November when we call to mind the end of the First World War in 1918. Some people might question why we pause to remember when all of those who took part in the First World War have passed on and the surviving...
This morning we awoke to the news that President Obama had been re-elected for a second term. It has been a close fought contest and his victory, though not so narrow as some imagined it might be, was hardly a landslide. Neither Obama nor Mitt Romney, his rival, are what we might call...

Blog information

Author
Adrian69702006
Blog entries
45
Last update

Share this blog