The Bewilderness

Misjudgements at home, battlefield deaths in Helmand

A number of soldiers died yesterday in a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The campaign against the Taliban is taking its toll and Gordon Brown has warned that the death rate will rise. Lest we forget their sacrifice, questions still remain over all aspects of this war. British forces have engaged with the enemy alongside a sustained campaign by the Americans

It is known that the British Army's equipment and level of forces are inadequate. The lack of helicoptors exposes soldiers to a far greater risk of sophisticated IEDs and the refusal to provide additional forces by Gordon Brown leaves our soldiers overexposed. One must ask why politicians are making judgements on the number of soldiers needed to win a war; that is the job of the military commanders.

The Government will, however, face questions about the way it has responded to the call from military commanders to send reinforcements to Afghanistan.

The senior command had wanted to send about 2,500 extra troops, but Gordon Brown refused the request, agreeing to the temporary deployment of 700 just for the period of the Afghan elections scheduled for August.

One of the senior officers intimately involved in drawing up the reinforcement plan said last night: "What has happened has shown the sheer danger our forces face out there day in, day out. We know the force levels needed for safety. This was not a spurious request and there is sincere hope the Government will think again."

In such matters, you cannot afford to make the wrong value-judgement; we already lost one war. As always, the blood on this government's hands keeps dripping over the flagged coffins that fly into Brize Norton.

How to make 'The Times' Tory?

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the case of Andy Coulson, there is a concerted effort by the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party to 'nobble' the communications guru who has played such a role in turning around the media fortunes of the Conservatives. The unified campaign could infer that both parties find their electoral success savaged by the rise of the Conservatives and realpolitik is now overriding principle. Such a possibility also explains the turn by Clegg towards attacking the Tories rather than Labour.

Today we saw Cameron doorstopped by Charles Clarke in what was supposed to be a symbolic attack upon his integrity. Chris Huhne has asked the Independent Police Complaints Commission to determine whether the conclusion of the Metropolitan Police in keeping the prosecution of the News of the World closed was unlawful. The hysteria from Labour is palpable and foolish:

Former minister Dennis Mac-Shane called for a Commons inquiry and Labour MP Anne Clwyd said Mr Coulson should be stripped of his House of Commons pass.

She claimed: 'None of us on the Labour benches can feel comfortable while this man is allowed to wander the corridors.'

Tonight, it is doubtful that the story will remain focused on the Tory party. The news media have undertaken dubious practices for many years and are unwilling to pursue this story. Already, it is degenerating into a spat between News International and the Guardian. If Coulson survives his appearance before the Culture Select Committee on Tuseday, then an attack designed to undermine Cameron will have failed and Ruper Murdoch will be seeking vengeance on the socialist parties that crossed him.

Better than a preacher at the pulpit: biotech breakthroughs

You can sieve for nuggets of gold on occasion, but the quest for publicity, fortune and finance creates its own pecking order of scientific press releases. No doubt, some professional ethics still draws upon the disdain of the last century but we have seen two distinct breakthroughs enter the mainstream press today. One was the creation of artificial sperm using stem cells. I use the term artificial advisedly as these cells were created, not born:

The medical breakthrough, which is reported in the respected journal Stem Cells and Development, is the latest from the institute, which is made up of the Newcastle and Durham Universities along with the Newcastle NHS Foundation.

Led by the leading stem cell biologist Professor Karim Nayernia, the team has already used the technique in mice which have then gone on to produce offspring.

Professor Nayernia, who is calling for a debate on the use of his breakthrough, said the sperm created was not perfect but had all the essential qualities for creating life.

He said: "This is very amazing and very exciting. They have heads, they have tails and they move. The shape is not quite normal nor the movement, but they contain the proteins for egg activation."

Cue ethical arguments! the second breakthrough was an artifical chip that could replicate a neuronal cell. This concept could prove invaluable for a new paradigm for developing 'cognitive crutches' for those whose aging has impaired their senses:

Nerve cells in the brain release and use neurotransmitters, or chemicals that to talk to each other.

The new artificial cells can do the same, opening up potential treatments, the researchers claim.

Prof Agneta Richter-Dahlfors, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who led the research, said: "The ability to deliver exact doses of neurotransmitters opens completely new possibilities for correcting the signalling systems that are faulty in a number of neurological diseases."

This is good news, better than they preach from the pulpit.

Eleven months to run till the election.

If we look at the latest revolt from the Labour Party, Brown must have been gratified to win with a decent majority. It is as if the parliamentary party, tired of defeats and rifts, decided to toe the line before the summer recess. After the whole Parliament was discredited, we have a final few weeks where the normal rhythms of governing hold sway again. A whiff of Mandelsonian populism pervades the air with prestidigitatory announcements on unpopular policies that promise much and deliver nothing. A spat on public spending demarcates further lines between the two parties, as 'investment versus cuts' is traded for 'honesty versus deceit'.


The myth that the public understand the need for cuts to public spending still needs to be tested, though this is the new consensus, so it is undoubtedly wrong, in whole or in parts. Now, all would-be kings gingerly step forward armed with polls, looking for landmines that will weaken their parties. Naturally, Brown is now on stumps.

The most interesting change channels through the Liberal Democrats. Squeezed more than any other party, their distinctive voice waning, they have been carried by a genuinely popular face, who is not their leader.

Without the febrile crisis, we may sit back and see a few months of political shallows before the autumn rapids of conferences flood the media again. For now, it looks like a clear run to an election, only for now. 

Fears for the heartland as Punjab sizzles

The South Asia Intelligence Review has issued a report criticising the view of violence in Pakistan's Punjab province as an overspill from the tribal areas and the North West Frontier province. The report concludes that the Punjab faces particular social and economic problems that leave the province vulnerable to jihadist infiltration, building upon the grievances of the poor.

“A deeper scrutiny indicates that the state of affairs in Punjab is, in many ways, precarious - and this will have far-reaching consequences for Pakistan,” SAIR says in its report. An inadequate police force, vast militant networks and a sense of deprivation and injustice among the people, particularly in South Punjab, all combine to create an unstable environment, it says. “As disorder spreads in the other provinces of Pakistan, its heartland, Punjab, is bound to come under intense pressure in the immediate future.”

The heartland of Pakistan is vulnerable to revolution and violence. If the heartland burns, then the army, overstretched and thinned, will prove unable to defend the current regime.

Circumstances in Punjab are, at the moment, certainly not as bad as conditions in the Frontier or FATA. There is, however, an environment, as also the essential dramatis personae, for a Frontier-like scenario to emerge in Punjab. The TTP-Al Qaeda combine and other jihadi groups like the LeT and LeJ have, in fact, over the years, ably exploited the favourable circumstances prevailing in the region not only to build a strong and vast extremist network in Punjab, but also to escape adverse state action. In the absence of a situation marked by escalating militancy and widespread violence, military deployment in Punjab may not be a viable proposition. Crucially, it is not clear whether the Pakistan Army, which is dominated by Punjabis (estimated to approximately 65 per cent of the Force), will be keen on fighting their own.

Potemkin politicians or national heroes?

And on a related matter, the EU wishes to kick an economy when it's down, accruing further powers to itself. Brown stands by, perhaps mesmerised by some future role when he can lord over a new Prime Minister without having to face an election. the City will be governed by new regulators with a simple majority so that Britain and pesky Anglo-Saxons can be overruled again and again. If that is the case, then kiss our financial services industry goodbye.

This has the feel of an endgame: a new government entering power will find itself with two options: comply as potemkin politicians or withdraw. .

Idiot consensus calls time on growth

Whilst the sheer scale of the drop has reached a floor, the bouts of optimism infecting the media whores has been tested to destruction. Weened on the teat of confidence, they know no other currency and boost growth as the panacea to their ills. I think not, as do wiser heads:

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) has calculated that GDP, which is a key measure of a country’s economic strength, dropped by 0.4 per cent in the three months to June, leading to the fifth consecutive quarter of economic decline.

Some analysts had predicted that GDP would stagnate or even rise slightly in the second quarter, but this is now looking increasingly unlikely.

Both manufacturing output and industrial production fell in May, contradicting the idiot consensus that sings Springtime for Britain and Brown. The debt overhang and the large public deficit show that priming the pumps of public expenditure is the only engine in town.

An unsustainable policy consensus will lead to crisis. Cutbacks to short-term stagnation. Whoever is mapping this new territory is not in government or the Bank of England..

Labour advances on the defence budget

There will be a full scale defence review of the armed forces months before a general election. Such a programme can only be viewed with suspicion. It fits with the disgusting pattern of behaviour in this government that they ditch national security for partisan ends: aware that they face possible defeat, they wish to 'fix' the next Parliament and destroy any future government's room for manoevre. Any conclusions from this review should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

Whilst the armed forces, like ferrets in a sack, all have their own demands, protecting various weapons programmes. Whatever conclusions are cooked up will need to be revisited.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that Mr Ainsworth would be making a statement on defence strategic planning.

The review comes at a time when the defence budget is under intense pressure, with questions over whether major equipment projects can be afforded at a time of looming public spending cuts.

A series of senior military figures - including the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt - have warned that some planned new capabilities are no longer relevant to the challenges they face in the post-9/11 era.

Brown would welcome the opprtunity to exchange swords for a means tested, Labour goodie, vote for Laboutr tax credit.

Decimate the state

Needs must and the Romans acted. We can add one last item to the list of what ever did the Romans do for us. Although we are more civilised (measured by less blood!), we can gainfully deploy their policy of decimation, on an annualised basis.

Forget wishy-washy arguments about repeals or sunset clauses. Every year, cut one in ten who receive a payment from the state: one in ten able bodied citizens who idle their lives away and receive a pay as you go pension afterwards (an idea that only ever worked on mobile phones!); one in ten quangos (or just abolish them all in go); one in ten departments of state; and one in ten Members of Parliament, either from the Lords or Commons. Ringfence defence personnel for nightwatchmen status and we have a blueprint for a downsizing classic.

Bercow belongs to the vandals

What has changed? He finds that he cannot stop Ministers and the Executive destroying parliamentary privilege or announcing to the nation before the House. So Bercow decides to destroy the traditions, joining the vandals instead of fighting them.

New Labour to the core. A pity he didn't defect as he seems to have been infected with their disdain for history by osmosis.

Let us return and retain convention by repealing his appointment at the same time as New Labour's laws are repealed. Fat chance, but this Speaker is standing by whilst Gordon Brown drafts the last rites for MPs' independence.