Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 106

Oscar Pistorius should not be going to jail | Simon Jenkins

Pistoriuss life is ruined. No one will be deterred by his sentence. Imprisonment is a brutal response that achieves nothing in such cases
Pistorius jailed for five years
Deborah Orr on a troubling verdict
Roxane Gay on the mythical black intruder

Oscar Pistorius was guilty. However gripped by anger, its difficult to accept he didnt know whom he was likely to kill. He had a violent history and his claim that he thought he was shooting a burglar stretches credulity. He killed his girlfriend.

Give...

Downing Streets Ebola panic is a classic case of the politics of fear | Simon Jenkins

Remember Sars? What about bird flu? Here we are again with the latest pandemic, having our insecurities cynically exploited

No one can tell me if Ebola is the worst plague since, variously, Aids, Sars, BSE or the black death. All I hear is that it might be. I do not mind being told no one knows. But what do I make of a prime minister who emerges from his Cobra bunker and declares a very serious threat to the UK, a US president who says it is spiralling out of control, and a World Health Organi...

Post-Scotland vote, a grand convention on devolution is needed - politicians keep out

Ministers pledged the moon to Scotland but cant and wont deliver with the English question muddying the waters

Tuesdays live blog: MPs debate further devolution

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive, said Scotlands Walter Scott. His hour has come. Frantic to stop Scotland leaving the union last month, Westminster leaders rushed north to promise the moon. Scotland could have more devolved powers. Scotland would lose no Barnett subsidy. Scotland would stay represente...

Bombing Isis fails wars most critical imperative, so where is the opposition? | Simon Jenkins

Terrified to be seen as weak, our political leaders have backed a half-war they have no capacity to end

It is my first Hitler of this war. I queried the wests strategy of bombing Islamic State (Isis) and an elegant thinktanker retorted, I suppose you would let Hitler run riot over Europe. I walked away. I always respect Godwins Law, which states that the longer an argument runs, the greater the likelihood Hitler gets mentioned, killing it stone dead.

I cannot recall a conflict so swamped by inc...

Nick Clegg, human rights and Ukip Politics Weekly podcast

Simon Jenkins, Nick Cohen and Naomi Smith join Tom Clark to discuss the Liberal Democrat party conference; Conservative plans to reform the Human Rights Act and Ukip's parliamentary ambitions Continue reading...

The National Crime Agency would take us back to Soviet-style surveillance | Simon Jenkins

There is no threat to national security that justifies the kind of erosion of civil liberties suggested by the NCA chief Keith Bristow

Whenever I hear the words national security, I reach for my subscription to Liberty. According to the director general of the National Crime Agency, Keith Bristow, in todays Guardian, the police need new powers to hack private phone calls and emails. The requested snoopers charter is needed to find out who is talking to whom so as to catch serious and organised...

We should reform council tax not impose Ed Ballss ludicrous mansion tax | Simon Jenkins

Extending council tax bands as in Wales would be fairer. But Balls rejects it because he is a Westminster politician

The case for a mansion tax in Britain is overwhelming. The case for the mansion tax proposed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats is not overwhelming. It is rubbish.

In Britain there are three sorts of taxes: taxes, bad taxes and property taxes. Property taxes seem to drive politicians mad. They overthrew Margaret Thatcher. They all but drove Scotland to secession. They have erode...

Why scare stories about disappearing wildlife do matter | Simon Jenkins

I may not care if the Hoolock gibbon or the Gabon viper become extinct. But as humans, we need reminding of our relationship with nature so we can choose how to act

The surest way of sending the world to sleep is to give it a wake-up call. The World Wildlife Fund applies the cliche to half the Earths animals having disappeared in the past 40 years. The cause is chiefly human exploitation and habitat decline. The losers range from lions to dolphins, vipers to curlews, monkeys to eels. These are...

Wales: can the slumbering dragon awake? | Simon Jenkins

The upheaval after Scotlands vote should bring a historic moment for Wales. But, can it finally seize the opportunity to become more than
a nearly nation?

So what of Wales? Throughout the turbulent Scottish referendum, it has been the bystander, the afterthought, the constitutional Cinderella. When Scotland toyed with departing the United Kingdom, Wales shuddered. When Scotland was wooed with lavish gifts, Wales feared those same gifts might pass it by. Now Wales is suddenly thrust on stage: t...

Britains involvement in the new Iraq war is a doomed and dangerous gesture | Simon Jenkins

With no proper strategy, the return to conflict will only reinforce the politics of fear that is the grimmest legacy of the Blair era

This is the moment in any war when peace goes dumb. The cause is just. The enemy is in our sights, and the provocation is extreme. Blood races through tabloid veins. It is white feathers for dissenters. The British governments evident eagerness to bomb Iraq will be put by David Cameron to the House of Commons on Friday. With an election in the offing, Labou...