Devolution was supposed to mean that different parts of the UK could experiment, with best practice eventually being taken up elsewhere to the benefit of all. Instead, devocrats have often done everything they can to thwart cross-border comparisons altogether.
It is one thing to insist that the executive operates within the constraints of the law; it is quite another, and grossly improper, to claim that the Government cannot try to pass new legislation to alter those constraints.
Also: Another woeful week for the SNP as its health minister refuses to resign over £11k roaming fee and Yousaf defies calls for an ethics inquiry into allegations he misled the Scottish Parliament.
The Prime Minister’s mooted emergency legislation seems unlikely to pass; even if it did, there is hardly time before the next election to get the policy operational.
Sánchez’s hunger for power is exacting a toll on all Spanish citizens, who witness daily the subjugation of democratic institutions, political rights, and economic productivity to the personal ambitions of an autocratic prime minister.
He will likely be subject to more expert scrutiny than he would in the Commons – and if MPs want more opportunities to hold him directly to account, Parliament can create them.
America is heading for one of the nastiest and most divisive elections in its modern history. It could very easily overshadow our own.
So far only one city, Limerick, has endorsed the new model, with Cork and Waterford both rejecting it. A Mayor of Dublin could be a powerful national figure – but will national politicians be prepared to cede the powers required?
Also: new polls suggest Labour has reached parity with the SNP in Scotland, and the projections indicate that the next election could be absolutely brutal for the Nationalists.
By itself, the policy will likely save lives and take anti-social behaviour off the streets. But that is no basis for effectively legalising demand for drugs whilst leaving supply in criminal hands.
Well-founded concerns about the suitability of post-war international agreements to modern global conditions are not strengthened by being lumped together with attacks on multiculturalism.
The continent’s economic woes are confined to the business pages, whilst the scandalous conduct of the European Parliament is simply unreported.
Today Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, sees his thousandth day in prison. But the shadow of the Chinese security state stretches much, much further.
Those who claim the Conservatives would benefit from a spell in opposition to ‘rest and detox’ are misguided. My first nine years in Parliament were spent in opposition, and it was a frustrating experience.