Alastair's Blog

I have written on here before about the tragic death of Gareth Crockett, who was killed in Anglessey last year whilst trying to raise £10,000 by cycling more than 500 miles  and running four marathons in eight days, culminating in the London Marathon. He was driven to raise funds in memory of a friend who [...]

An interesting piece from Brian Cathcart, a founder of the Hacked Off campaign, who teaches journalism at Kingston University London, on the campaign’s website. There is an open secret at the Leveson inquiry. The judge knows it; the lawyers all know it; the witnesses from the press – including the editors – all know it. [...]

As the papers fill up with pre-Budget speculation (most of which will be wrong) and as the Lib Dems wriggle around over health, and Nick Clegg and Vince Cable fight proxy battles over mansion taxes and tycoon taxes, a new and highly vulnerable front is opening for both of them. Crime. One of the many [...]

I just did a short interview on Five Live on the fall-out (literally in the case of relations between Britain and Italy) from the failed attempt to rescue two hostages in Nigeria. I was preceded by an Italian politician who was venting her spleen at David Cameron’s failure to consult his Italian opposite number until [...]

This is a straight-forward thank you to Commons Speaker John Bercow who last night co-hosted with me a Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research dinner at Speaker’s House. The dinner allowed us to bring together leading lights in what might be termed the ‘cancer community’ to discuss the charity’s Trials Acceleration Programme, TAP, a clinical trials network [...]

I got in last night to catch sight of Nick Clegg talking about child benefit on the news. Now I didn’t see the start of the report, but if I read the words and body language right, I thought that rather than agitating as the Lib Dem leader in advance of the Budget, he was [...]

Michael Gove looked like a naughty boy caught with his hand in the sweet jar when Ed Miliband quizzed the Prime Minister about the Schools Secretary’s ill-judged running commentary on the Leveson Inquiry. I have a hunch it is a look that will become familiar to us as the press (or at least those parts [...]

Short and sweet today. Just to say welcome to Black Dog Tribe, a new website started by Ruby Wax, one of my fellow Time to Change Ambassadors. Ruby asked me to answer a few readers’ questions, which you can see here Good luck to Ruby, the Black Dog Tribe and all who have, or live [...]

Even after all that emerged at Leveson  yesterday, the Tory strategy to undermine the Inquiry continues. Boris Johnson, journalist and Mayor, talked about the need for ‘the caravan to move on’. Not quite on a par with Michael Gove’s ridiculous claim that the inquiry was having a ‘chilling’ effect on free speech, but in the [...]

Back in the days when people seemed to accept at face value David Cameron’s commitment to the environment, today’s revelations that billions of pounds worth of investment in wind farms is on hold would be big news. Perhaps it will be, but Cameron is very successful at moving from one ‘top priority’ to another, so [...]