Marring co-operation

"It is perhaps evidence, though, of how old sensitivities about relations with the old colonial power can mar co-operation even in the face of so great a threat."

You just have to spin it away from Brown, don't you. Until this latest foul up in the UK things were OK. This whole arrest stuff just a typical smokescreen.

Gordon's answer should have been decisive and brief.

Irrespective of the origins of suspected terrorists, they would be deported if reasonable doubt of their full innocence existed.

This incident is not a deliberate slur on the name of Pakistan. It is simply positive and necessary action to ensure the safety of UK residents, from a whole range of possible terrorists actions that are prevented or thwarted by our security services every year.

It is not an infringement of the human rights of suspected terrorists to expel them from Britain. What IS of paramount importance is that the human rights and the very lives of UK residents are protected.

'Gordon Brown struggled for an answer.'

Now, there's a thing.

Fortunately, back home he has all of them. Apparently.

I see that the Pakistanis share much the same opinion about this apology of a Prime minister that the Good People of this country now do.

Nick can you please tell us/me exactly what these visits are achieving?
Why are you accompanying him?
Did brown unlike the last time he visited Troops out there actually spend more than 10 minutes with them?

Or am I being cynical when I suggest it is a photo call oportunity and an attempt to take the heat of the Budget and the failed expenses panic measure he announced on "you Tube"

"All this is trivial, of course, compared with what President Zardari describes as a fight, a battle for the country's very survival against the Taleban and al-Qaeda. It is perhaps evidence, though, of how old sensitivities about relations with the old colonial power can mar co-operation even in the face of so great a threat."

===

Yes, Nick, of course, human rights and liberty are very trivial, aren't they?

By the way, where was this "great threat" that failed to materialise in Manchester?

"That is not how it's seen here. Pakistan's president did not go ahead with an expected news conference with Mr Brown, who had to make do instead with his prime ministerial counterpart."

===

Is it true that Brown told him:

"This is no time for a novice"!

No.3 JunkkMale

Have I missed something

When did Mr Brown ever answer a question?

GB in Afghanistan and Pakistan?.... i guess things are too sticky at home so he went somewhere more peaceful...little did he know that his domestic problems would follow him... i remember him commenting on the arrests of the alleged terrorists....(bandwagon jumping as usual)...he should have waited until the police found evidence of "a serious threat"..... and now to save face he is deporting those arrested...whatever happened to "innocent until proved guilty"......

I don't give a damn what the people of Pakistan think about the arrests and deportation of the students.
Our police & security services are constantly on edge trying to stop homocidal maniacs from wreaking havoc on the streets of the UK.
If the security service feel it's in the countries interests of national security to deport these men then so be it.

It's because of the civil/human rights brigade that the government has such trouble removing suspected terrorists, individuals posing a threat or law breakers from our country.

He should get out of Pakistan and shut the door firmly behind him. They are harbouring terrorists who are killing British soldiers and there should be no dialogue with them until they mend their ways and root out and destroy the Taliban. As far as the students suspected of terrorism offences are concerned, prevention is always better than cure, remove them and make sure the vetting systems for issuing visas do not allow undesirables to slip into the country in the guise of students, even if this means no further students from Pakistan.

No 9 UK-SILENT-MAJORITY

Whilst I agree with your point to some extent. I do believe that it is important that we get this right and show that we have good reason/evidence before making an arrest. We have a large minority Pakistani community in this country and the vast majority contribute to the wealth and culture of the Nation. Botched arrests sent the wrong signal to this community and give the extremist minority a hook to use to drag the impressionable younger generation into their clutches.

Of course the full force of the law should used to punish those that are intent on violence and if someone has no right to be here they should be deported whatever their origins. However, as a fair society we must be able to demonstrate that we have evidence of their misdeeds

The person raising the angry question is not the only one.

Currently there are 17969 other individuals who are requesting that the Prime Minister resign on the Downing Street petitions web-site - we each have our own grievance.

I for one was finally turned against the Government because the way it trampled over Civil Liberties during the 42 day debacle. The threatened expulsion of Pakistani citizens when there is no evidence is just more of the same from this lamentable government.

10. At 7:37pm on 27 Apr 2009, kaybraes wrote:
He should get out of Pakistan and shut the door firmly behind him. They are harbouring terrorists who are killing British soldiers and there should be no dialogue with them until they mend their ways and root out and destroy the Taliban. As far as the students suspected of terrorism offences are concerned, prevention is always better than cure, remove them and make sure the vetting systems for issuing visas do not allow undesirables to slip into the country in the guise of students, even if this means no further students from Pakistan.

===

So you are saying that all young Pakistanis are undesirables, are you?

"Headless chicken" comes to mind when describing Brown these days.

Even away from home on the world wide diplomatic stage he is shown to be a ditherer and unable to understand the consequences of his government's actions.

Did Miliband not tell him that the Pakistan leaders were a little angry?

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The Pakistanis are probably feeling upset at their students being used as a distaction. If Mr Quick hadn't made that unfortunate error the arrests would have happened just in time to blow the email scandel off the headlines. Given that they have not been charged it all seems a little too convenient or am I just cynical?

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Fighting the threat of terrorism is a deadly serious job.

Made worse when religious arguments can easily get translated into racial overtones.

Folk in the west should think back a few centuries, to when we undertook brutal wars between nations in favour of one or another version or religion and/or between religious groupings.

Blair is promoting his inter-faith project. Then berates the Vatican for it's old fashioned views on homosexuality. How does that square with many Islamic views? Would he pop up in Teheran and tell the leadership they are screwed up, too?

Allowing people from across the world to study in the UK should be a way of reaching out and planting seeds of tolerance and co-operation with many nations.

But if you can't win the hearts and minds of people already living in the UK, the future looks bleak.

"Bigging-up" security/anti-terrorism activities just doesn't help. If the PM/Smith/Quick etc believed the recent raids were that vital, why are there no charges? Exclusion from the UK should always be an option. But it would be good to apply that to everybody who is a threat to society, not just people who happen to be found in a high profile action.

There are plenty of people (hundreds/thousands?) who remain in the UK because they broke laws in their home countries (and then offended here) and we are concerned that they could face severe punishment if they were returned. Sorry. Sanctuary should come with the condition that, whatever you think, you don't bite the bum of the people who provide safety.

If we don't want to send people back to Saudi Arabia, Burma, Algeria, Zimbabwe, etc., then why do we still have diplomatic relations with these countries? Robin Cook talked about an "ethical foreign policy". That didn't make a lot of sense in the way that a loose "moral compass" was sloshing around in Downing Street, while commercial activity was and is a vital part of the UK's survival plan.

Exporting a way of thinking is very hard. Imposing it by force was fairly easy for many nations (it was not just the Brits who had empires. That could be a shock for a lot of youngsters who don't realise that the French, Spanish, Dutch, Italians, Portugese, Russians, Turks, Chinese, Japanese, Greeks, Egyptians, various African states etc... all had a go at imperial expansion. You don't have to feel guilty about things that people did 4 or 5 hundred years ago. Jyst be pleased that there are plenty of nations around the world where you can go and talk to people who speak your language.). Odd that India seems to be trying to use the English language as a way of tying together so many linguistic groups, has a legal system roughly based on UK law, follows a educational system that delivers hundreds of thousands of people who probably understand and write better English than the majority of UK citizens (including graduates!).

Afghanistan will continue to be a cross-road as it has been for millennia and hopefully can become a peaceful place. It will be on their terms.

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"Crucible of terrorism" have anything to do with the President being miffed?
Not to mention the raids last week.

GOOD TO SEE BROWN OUT OF HIS DEPTH AS USUAL.

Far away, across the fields
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to thier knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells....

@26

We should call "Time" on Brown!

Don't you think we'd have a great deal more sympathy for Brown if he had stuck to his promise of no more spin and was a bit more honest?
But he just can't force himself, can he?

23.
"Allowing people from across the world to study in the UK should be a way of reaching out and planting seeds of tolerance and co-operation with many nations."

We've tried that. Hasn't worked very well with radical Islamists who don't recognise tolerance.

interesting, very interesting ... to elevate Civil Liberties over National Security is not particularly clownish, so I'm both pleased and not a little surprised to see that noble sentiment taking up so much board space on here ... I would hate to think (and therefore I don't think) that certain bloggers are more motivated, when expressing such a view, by a visceral dislike of Gordon Brown than they are by genuine outrage over the possible infringement of the human rights of a group of Pakistani students

#30 Saga

I don't think there are many contributors to these pages that would actively put down civil liberties. Whilst many people's political views vary (wildy it would sometimes appear!) most folk do hold a genuine regard for civil rights - after all we have seen a constant degrading of our own over the years; all in the name of 'terrorism' of course

The raids were a farce, I can only say that i'm extremely thankfull that the police didn't have 42 days to hold these people - as they would have had if cetain laws hadn't been stopped in the HOL

Whilst we need to keep the country safe we also need a new approach to how we do this. We attract extremism because of our attitudes. Britain has always been extremely tolerant and open (which is a good thing) but we have also been tangled up in the whole 'lets ram our views down the rest of the world's throat' issue - which let's face it, does not endear us to certain nations. Whilst I agree entirely with an open and tolerant society we need to stop policing the world

Different countires have different attitudes - whilst we may not be comfortable with them we need to just let them be. If a country elects a party to power who supports extremism (in whatever form) we should respect that. We shouldn't support it in any way - but we should let them get on with it. If that's what they want, let them deal with it. Extremism exists here because we have allowed it to

Being offended is a choice. It is not forced on anyone, most extremists here choose to be offended over things

The thing that troubles me most is that this British PM, supposedly representing and leading our country, is actually a laughing stock. Everyone abroad knows this, and he thus has zero credibility or authority. Everything from 42 days, sleaze-ridden ministers, incompetent management of government departments, MP's "expenses", criminalisation of photography of policemen, economic stupidity and mismanagement, dodgy statistics and ridiculous forecasts - all play into the hands of anyone he talks to. Have you asked any of these foreign leaders for their views Nick?

What is the point of a bumbling PM with tongue cramp?

And why is he always out of the Country when political storms erupt in the UK - e.g the dawning realisaion, even amongst the slow witted , that the budget is a fraud underpinned by fanciful forecasts? The Country needs realism now, not in a year's time when the next Government will have to pick up the pieces.

Has anyone worked out how much each taxpayer has spent and is committed to spend to keep Brown in power?

Let's start counting from Crewe.

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Elenfea 17

The Pakistanis are probably feeling upset at their students being used as a distaction. If Mr Quick hadn't made that unfortunate error the arrests would have happened just in time to blow the email scandel off the headlines. Given that they have not been charged it all seems a little too convenient or am I just cynical?
------------------------------------------------------

No your not being too cynical your exactly right in my opinion.

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Sometimes I think this blog is a waste of space. I and others put in comments which are moderated for no apparent reason. I sometimes think the government is overseeing them and wants to "bury" bad comments.

Crash the caretaker appointed by Blair is getting above his station. He was appointed as a caretaker of a failing government but if you look back over the disastrous time he has been in he has done nothing but try and control us and the world.

Dreadful really, isn't it?

Nick,

I hadn't realised until this morning that Brown had gone out of the country yet again. What with all the economic problems at home, and a disintegration in his standing as PM caused in part by the former, I would have thought he might have more urgent matters to consider back at Downing St.

Had I given it any thought then I would have remembered that Harman jumped at the chance to make grand announcements on the last occasion she was temporarily in charge, and yesterday saw a repeat performance. When she says she has no ambitions to replace Gordon, don't believe her, after all hasn't she just proposed a law that would mean any woman who is as qualified as a man for a given vacancy should then get the job? (Gordon and Harriet are equally poor in their roles, so perhaps she has a point).

So to Gordon I simply say, hurry back, we need someone to get the Harman off our backs and our front pages.

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"Gordon Brown and the Crucible of Terror"
Chapter 2

SYNOPSIS

Gordon fails in his quest to meet the President of Pakistan and is defeated in a battle of wits by his henchman Yusuf Raza Gilani.

WRITER'S COMMENTS

I'm struggling to make my main character, Gordon, believable and/or likeable. To be honest, I'm thinking I might ditch him as he's a bit too flawed and too much of a victim. The ultimate transition to hero would require an amount of empathy from the reader that I think would be far too undeserving.

EDITOR'S COMMENTS

The main character is clearly psychologically flawed. I suggest scrapping the book altogether. Quite frankly, I considered that the preceding books were a waste of the readers' time and money.

Not that we needed telling, but Brown is firmly in the camp of those who don't think before starting brain and tongue.

We now have two telling current examples of this - the Pakistani student terrorists and the "clean-up" of MP's expenses. In both cases he uttered quick (no pun intended) ill-thought out sound bytes, to get cheap publicity, and the subsequent climb down is even more demeaning and painful.

Why doesn't he just go away quietly, or noisily if he prefers, just so long as he goes.

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Marring-cooperation, the political world is indeed a hard one. Thank goodness we have Gordon Brown to guide us through the murky waters, a tarn deep and devious which our great leader helps us navigate as we struggle. In one hand he holds the seals of government and in the other a sword bravely unsheafed to face the enemies that strive to outwit him. On, on, you noblest son of the manse, marring-cooperation will never succeed to outwit the Wise One.

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#5 yellowbelly1959

Quite, when Gordon Brown gleefully announced, prejudicially, that he'd foiled an enormous and present terrorist plot by 'Pakistani' students, he'd forgotten that we don't quite yet live in a McBridean dictatorship.

There's been lots of these 'plots' at strategic times (this one, I believe, was aimed at removing Ian Tomlinson from the front pages) yet the evidence has never been there.

He's a disgrace - he insults the nation of Pakistan who are actually fighting a war against terror, for want of a better expression, and turns up days later expecting a heroe's welcome. The sheer arrogance of the man!!!!!

#9 UK-SILENT-MAJORITY

It's news to me that studying accountancy is a grave threat to our nation.

Pity that people actually swallow the government spin about us being under threat from attack all the time.

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I am sorry, Nick, but I do not think the violent arrest of twelve innocent people from off the streets of Britain a trivial matter. Once again in my life, using the threat of terrorism as an excuse, the authorities can do this to anyone.

I was very pleased that this Pakistani journalist raised the matter and left Mr. Brown lost for words. There is a long history of Pakistani citizens coming to the UK to improve their learning. In 1950 when I was two years old a Pakistani PHd student, who was a family friend, taught my brother and I how to play cricket. It was wasted on me but it took my brother by storm who became an addict. However, I will always remember this gentle, kind man so far away from his own young family and know this is to be the true face of his country.

Yes, the people of Pakistan can be deemed from our cultural values, as touchy. We have to accept this as a reality and adjust. I always try to treat them with respect and consequently get respect back. Their country is in a terrible state with different factions trying to force their own conclusions onto what is a disparate population disunited by their different interpretations of their scared book.

I would suggest that the difficult conditions in Pakistan should be used to remind our ruling elites what could happen here if they get things badly wrong and they have not been doing too well lately. In learning about Pakistan we can teach ourselves about our own country and in so doing provide the people of Pakistan with some ideas as to how to solve their difficulties.

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#29, candre wrote:

" 23.
"Allowing people from across the world to study in the UK should be a way of reaching out and planting seeds of tolerance and co-operation with many nations."

We've tried that. Hasn't worked very well with radical Islamists who don't recognise tolerance."

I fear the problem has been that the UK offered sanctuary to people who verbally or physically threatened life in other "Islamic" states. Once here, rather than keeping their heads down and being grateful to be allowed to live (often at direct public expense), they preached the same radical ideas that caused problems in their homelands.

In my opinion, if you abuse the welcome, you should be sent back whence you came or be held until you can find another country to provide assylum. (That may offend some. I still believe that Human Rights are important - but rights without responsibility make a nonsense of society.)

We have a growing problem of radicalised British citizens/subjects. Much of that has been caused by intolerant preachers who expected tolerance to be shown towards them...

George Bush Snr could and should have toppled Saddam after the latter invaded Kuwait. That would have caused some problems, but there was a direct justification. George W (and Blair) may have proved a cause to their satisfaction (certainly not to mine), but they had no clear plans beyond "Shock and Awe".

I have no idea whether the Human Rights of a group of Pakistani students are being infringed. I've seen no detailed commentary about the outcome of interrogations, have no idea whether they are genuine, legal students.

I gather that some people who have "residency" status in the UK (some with a doubtful justification) claim Human Rights here that they abused elsewhere.

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46. At 09:57am on 28 Apr 2009, extremesense wrote:
#9 UK-SILENT-MAJORITY

It's news to me that studying accountancy is a grave threat to our nation.

===

It could be a grave threat to this government if some guerilla accountants managed to expose even more financial incompetence by Brown and his crew using OUR money!

The Pakistani students may well have been named by someone who was being tortured overseas. If so, then this intelligence led evidence is not permissable in court (lest we discover the torture carried out in our names).

As we now know, the Bush administration tortured several people repeatedly until one of them confessed to Al Qaeda being linked to and trained by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In part to get that smoking gun, the CIA waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times and Abu Zubaydah 83 times. But neither man told the interrogators what Bush and Cheney wanted to hear about Iraq and al-Qaeda. That came from Ibn al Sheikh al Libi, whom the Bush administration sent to Egypt for what CIA Director George Tenet called "further debriefing." As PBS Frontline reported back in November 2007, al Libi "confessed" - after being beaten repeatedly and locked in a small box for some 17 hours - that Saddam Hussein had trained al-Qaeda in chemical weapons. Al Libi later retracted his statement and the CIA later rejected it as reliable intelligence, but it shows how torture does not work and leads to inflicting harm and injury to more innocent people.

In the case of Ibn al Sheikh al Libi, the harm and injury is to the tune of the lives of over a million souls so far in Iraq.

O/T but with regards to the swine flu: "all action necessary will be taken to stop its spread," Gordon Brown has said.

Oh well that's us dead then. I would not trust that man to issue asprins at a headache convention, let alone deal properly or efficiently or effectively with a lethal pandemic.

#54 thin_wedge

Increasingly, I would say there is no art or science in politics at all. It's all about spin and PR and gloss and has no substance.

I mean what really does the Government 'manage'? According to last night's WatchDog, they can't even achieve the basic levels of political leadership necessary to ensure the civil service runs the DVLA properly.

Oh, and they managed to Home Office into a state of being 'unfit for purpose', didn't they?

Oh and how well they managed to regulate the financial industries - not.

**##@@** the politics, we need people who can manage to deliver outcomes - not soundbites, photo-opportunities and twaddle.

If anything, politics has become the art of conning as many people as possible about as many things as possible. Was that what you meant by the "art of the possible"?

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TheBlameGame @51,

The truth sometimes offends those who have difficulty engaging with reality.

So what are we supposed to do, tell lies?

Surely we should leave such tactics to politicians.

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Let's not forget the billion quid that's been pledged over the next few years! I mean it's not as if we are skint or anything!

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#55 yellowbelly1959

Ah ha, the global 'War on Accountancy'! I did wonder why they were being deported.

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thin_wedge

Sorry - I wrongly quoted you in my #57. Your #54 was quoting gordont10's #44.

Apologies.

"It is perhaps evidence, though, of how old sensitivities about relations with the old colonial power can mar co-operation even in the face of so great a threat."

You chaps really should bear this in mind, not least in dealings with the 'feeble little country' to the north of you without whose existing North Sea and potential Atlantic oil reserves your economy would be more enfeebled than it has already been conclusively shown to be by your own excesses and lack of foresight.

Oh, I was forgetting. According to the fashionable narrative in Blighty nowadays, it is all the fault of the routinely pilloried and vilified Scots whose departure is earnestly to be desired, apparently. Be careful of what you wish for, not that it is not coming anyway when you set the Tories on them again. The Scots still have not forgiven them for the damage which they inflicted on their country under Thatcher.

Subject peoples and former subject peoples have much in common. If you rub them up the wrong way, they tend to make you suffer for it in one way or another sooner or later. Embarrassing, but if you blighters will go about behaving as if you took yourselves to be superior to God, retribution is sure to follow, to which the crumbling remnants of your 'great country' would appear to testify.

Have a nice day, dear ones.

Ref # 53
Sir, I think the state you are calling for already exists :- its called Somalia and I understand that it is a paragon of good governance.
gordont10

buddie @ 38

When Harman says she has no ambitions to replace Gordon, don't believe her, after all hasn't she just proposed a law that would mean any woman who is as qualified as a man for a given vacancy should then get the job?

I agree - there's no doubt Harriet has her eyes on the top job and I, for one, fervently hope that she gets it - a many fold improvement on the incumbent, I would suggest - like, for example, no way would H have led us into the topic of this particular Blog ... the pickle in which we find ourselves in the Middle East - and if her new bill does what you suggest, which I doubt it will, then cheers and beers all round! - why? ... well, because slashing the number of men in senior positions (in all walks of life) is the single most important thing we could do to improve our society - far more important than trivia such as which party is in power, or the level of public spending - I don't mind who we replace the men with, btw - they don't HAVE to be women, for example - key point is only that they're NOT men - this is a core Clear Thinking Progressive policy (sitting proudly alongside the abolition of private schools, a simplified flat rate tax system and a couple of others which I'll tell you about later ... if you're nice to me, that is)

so anyway, all together now ...

Down With Toxic Testosterone!

#48 stanilic

I thought your post was fantastic - it's good to see that someone else sees human beings rather than potential terrorists.

The 'reds under the bed' rubbish has been recycled.... and unfortunately, people are swallowing it AGAIN.

This government has managed to demonise those with Pakistani heritage as well as other honest hardworking British citizens and residents.

Students from overseas have to pay large sums of money to study here and when you live in a third world country being deported half way through your studies is catastrophic.

My, my, but doesn't my expecting a little rationality and common sense amongst HYS-ers cause ructions!
My mistake of course, as clearly its all Browns fault, (whatever the problem is),and as soon as the Tories get in Utopia will have arrived. We'll be able to tell as a squadron of pigs will fly down the Mall in salute.
Yours in despair,
gordont10

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64. At 11:11am on 28 Apr 2009, extremesense wrote:
#55 yellowbelly1959

Ah ha, the global 'War on Accountancy'! I did wonder why they were being deported.

===

President Obama has announced that the War on Terror is finished. It is now known as the "Overseas Contingecy Operation". That sounds like an accounting practice to me, rather like double-entry book-keeping, so there may be something in this "War on Accountancy" thing, after all!

69. At 11:16am on 28 Apr 2009, gordont10 wrote:
Ref # 53
Sir, I think the state you are calling for already exists :- its called Somalia and I understand that it is a paragon of good governance.
gordont10

===

It is called Switzerland, and it is a paragon of good governance.

#72 gordont10

If you don't care for people's opinions, why ask for them?

People don't like Gordon Brown. That's not irrational and it doesn't lack common sense. I put it to you that he has proven he is a poor leader and it would be lacking in common sense, and therefore irrational, to maintain the status quo of his leadership.

Attacking his attackers is not a defence of the man.

Since you appear to support him but offer no defence of him, I infer that he is indefendable against the accusations put against him.

Therefore you are mistaken but your consequent conclusions are erroneous.

Your "argument" is simply an attempt to stir up opposition with confrontation and mock the opposition without addressing the substance produced by that confrontation.

In short, sir, you are a coward and a buffoon. Comments such as yours are more of an affront to my perception than those you decry.

gordont10 @ various

losing battle, babe ... everything bar the oh so sad decline of Paul Gascoigne is Brown's fault on here ... very nice to see somebody trying though

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"Gordon Brown struggled for an answer". He seems to be struggling for answers on every subject just now.

He appearance on Youtube was such a joke that I couldn't stop laughing. I laughed even more when I replayed it with the sound turned off.

He is so far away from the lifeboat that he is prepared to sacrifice the long term future of the UK for a perceived short term gain.

Drowning men struggle and Gordon is drowning. He's added an "r" in Downing Street, he will take his Darling with him if Scottish voters have any sense of responsibility for the UK.

As far as the students from Pakistan go, they should be welcomed if they are here to study, if they are involved in "extra curricular" activities they have no place or right to be in the UK. We have our human rights as well and the first is to live in a safe and secure country.

It's heartening to see how all the Brown-bashers have suddenly picked up and are charging forward with the standard of the Rights of Pakistani students.

One reply that GB could have given is that there was evidence of danger to the UK's population from a group of people with a history of militancy and sympathy with enemies of the UK. It was decided that the evidence could not made public because if it was, the media would insist on being told how it was gathered. That when it became clear thet the evidence was insufficient, every student who had a right to be here was released.

72. gordont10 wrote:

"...a squadron of pigs will fly down the Mall in salute."


Thanks to our enlightened government, I think you'll find that "squadron of pigs" has become an unsuitable turn of phrase.

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#37 flamepatricia Good morning

...Sometimes I think this blog is a waste of space. I and others put in comments which are moderated for no apparent reason. I sometimes think the government is overseeing them and wants to "bury" bad comments.....

I think you have a point, in months gone by these blogs used to rack up hundreds of comments. Now, if we are collectively lucky they may not be closed for comment before people that want to can contribute. Regarding moderation, it seems to be haphazard at best. Personal abuse shouldn't be tolerated and is rarely seen here, likewise personal details or bad weblinks shouldn't really be published. To be honest on some of the recent long threads, the subject invariably used to meander all over the place so to be moderated out for being off topic seems tenuous to me.
There definitely appears to be some kind of moderation policy change.

How can Gordon Brown or senior British Politicians expect a warm welcome in Pakistan when numerous musguided attempts at "terrorism" policy alienate, and in some cases radicalise, so many from within the nations Pakistani communities. They really do not help themselves and in my opinion, the damage is now done. Is the danger with this particular blog contentious opinions are just going to fan the flames? You cannot and should not tar everybody with the same brush. Having said that, do the UK Pakistani resdents, students or otherwise, do enough to help themselves.

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Good to see Gordon still has his political antenna working.

When all around is collapsing, the last refuge of a falling PM is to rush to a battle zone, wrap himself in a Union Flag, surround himself with soldiers and claim that he is carrying out patriotic duties.

He must surely realise that in June Labour will be demolished at the Local and European Election polls. Any right-minded man would then heed the message and stand down.

But by flying to Afghanistan he can claim that he still has unfinished business and so must stay in office (and cling to the lsat vestiges of power and the finery that accompanies it) for a little longer.

I blame Blair - he kept Brwn out of office for so long that Brown's weak judgement is now so badly clouded he is a danger to himself and this country.

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@92 gordont10

As you have stated several times that your gripe is with contributions to HYS, would not the appropriate place to voice those concerns be on Have Your Say itself, not on Nick Robinson's political blog?

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#91

However don't get photographed with the guys who go out and do the killing and dying, get after the womens vote, pictures with the female soldiers, maybe we can see the ploy with Harriet Harman, just get back into power and then she can take over.

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