Alastair's Blog

One of the downsides (or should that be upsides?) of being moderately well known, and very accessible via social media, is that you get bombarded with people asking for time, money, contacts, ideas and expertise for their (invariably) good causes. On twitter, there is rarely a day, and some days rarely an hour, that there’s [...]

September 11 2001 was without doubt one of the most extraordinary of the many remarkable days I spent with Tony Blair. I’ve printed below my diary entry for that day. Within it, I make the point that in the face of terrorist attacks, world leaders like to say these events will not make them change [...]

Very much in ‘partner of’ role, I went the other evening to the launch of School Wars, a book on the current battle for the future of education policy, written by Fiona’s fellow campaigner for comprehensive schools, Melissa Benn. Melissa is a good writer and thoroughly nice person, so I overcame my general reluctance to [...]

Earlier last month I recollected New Labour’s driving principle of ‘power, wealth and opportunity in the hands of the many not the few’ and questioned the lack of an equivalent  from the current government. One or two of you pointed out that it was worth looking on the front inside cover of the coalition’s programme [...]

I’ve been back from holiday for a few days, but am still not back in the swing of things, so apologies to anyone who has missed my political and other musings. Thought I would ease myself back in with a guest blog from Labour councillor Sarah Hayward. It is worth a read. It is how [...]

It will be no surprise to regulars to hear that I am a Francophone. My year spent in Nice as an ‘assistant d’anglais’ was one of the happiest of my life. I love the French language, much of French culture, and am most definitely not one of those Brits who holds the view that the [...]

Michael Heseltine has personal wealth, and a lifestyle, that is far removed from the vast bulk of people living in Britain’s inner cities, let alone those who took part in the riots. He spends his working life flitting in the back of a car between a beautiful home in Belgravia, and an even more beautiful [...]

Even though I thought it was nonsense at the time, I did understand why David Cameron used to drone on about Broken Britain in Opposition. He was trying to make the most of social and economic problems in the pursuit of inflicting political damage upon the Labour government. Though he failed to win the election, [...]

David Cameron’s self-confidence is a trait much commented upon by those who see him close up. Given the sheer scale of issues a PM has to deal with, and the relentlessness of the pressure, it is no bad thing that he possesses it in plenty. But it is not a good quality if it crosses [...]

I thought both David Cameron and Ed Miliband spoke well in their statements to the Commons today. They both got the tone right, and had the right mix of rhetorical condemndation of the present and recent past, and analysis of what needs to be done for the future. Ed Miliband rightly made the judgement that [...]