News Blog

With Commander Ali Dizaei's conviction for perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office today, the Met has finally rid itself of its single most destructive officer. Many Met chiefs – and many anti-racism campaigners with impeccable records – believe that at least some of what was described over the last few years… Read more

It looks as if Yulia Tymoshenko has lost the Ukraine presidential election. Her supporters are joined in their distress by newspaper production staff the world over. Rather like the French president's wife who is used to illustrate anything faintly Gallic in every paper every day, Mrs Tymoshenko's Princess Leia hair and pleasant female countenance made… Read more

You can watch me tackling the questions listed below on video footage here:

My rescue greyhound has started to lose hair from his tummy and bottom. Are we doing something wrong or why is this happening? Since one of our two dogs died, our Old English Sheepdog won’t eat. What can we do? My son wants to get… Read more

The Guardian reports that the first televised pre-election debates between party leaders are in danger of being "negotiated to death". Why does this not surprise me? Somehow the idea that Britain could freely embrace one of the most successful and engaging devices of modern American political life always seemed beyond hope. The thought of spontaneous confrontations beyond the control of… Read more

I don’t mean to sound snide or sneering or anything – but Jesus wept, have you seen this “artwork” by Sarkozy Père, which will apparently be exhibited in a Parisian gallery?

It makes the sort of posters teenagers used to buy from Athena – you know, a buff bare-chested man cradling a baby, a kitten with… Read more

Still casting around for a good reason to vote Conservative? Read David Cameron's latest speech. The Conservative leader has taken the agenda set out in The Plan (summarised here) and turned it into a manifesto: open primaries, curbs on lobbyists, a clean-up of Parliament, referendums, recall procedures, fewer MPs, localism, the works. Well, alright, not quite the works:… Read more

"Class act or on the edge?", asks Guido in reference to Alastair Campbell's appearance on the Andrew Marr show yesterday. Melanie Phillips joins the debate in her Mail column: "Genuine emotion or shameless spin?" Yet both fail to reach any conclusions. Why on earth not? From my perspective it couldn't be any clearer: just take… Read more

David Cameron needed to turn the tables on Labour after a week of difficult headlines that suggested he has somehow lost his way.  Those urging him to do what he does best – show steel in adversity – will be delighted by his speech on political reform just now. Gordon Brown's flip flop on the… Read more

The latest combat fatalities in Afghanistan, which brings the British death toll in the conflict level with that of the 1982 Falklands War, will inevitably reopen the debate about how much longer British troops will be required to risk their lives fighting the Taliban. Compared with the eight years British soldiers have been deployed to Afghanistan, the Falklands… Read more

It's long been known that Alastair Campbell once lost his marbles but now he seems to have lost the plot. It's not so much the fact that he was so evidently over-wrought on Andrew Marr's programme yesterday, though it was disconcerting to see the old bruiser look so close to the edge. It's more his… Read more