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Europe needs to get real on defence; Britain needs to get real on Europe

Below is the text of a speech I am making this evening to the Labour Movement for Europe, urging a change in approach by Labour, to be bolder in the terms of the "reset" that is promised, clearer in ... Continue

Two sides to police story

I've talked before about how sometimes a prism forms over a story, so that after a while only one side gets heard. It happens most often to politicians, usually those in power, most intensely when a s... Continue

20 April 2009

Budgets, Balls, billionaires and Susan Boyle

It is the normal fate of Chancellors, on the Sunday before a Budget, to see the newspapers plastered with predictions of its contents. Today, you have to work well into the inside pages before findin... Continue

19 April 2009

Do muscles have memories?

With a long journey home ahead of us, a quick blog to pose the above question. It has come to me many times as I have cycled around the Highlands. Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago I took... Continue

18 April 2009

Bring back standing at football

Several days late, in the eyes of some, to the issue of football stadia. Late, that is, if it is indeed the case that the twentieth anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy was the subject I should h... Continue

17 April 2009

When Facebook friends fall out

So I put up a  blog on global warming yesterday, headed off for a three hour bike ride, and came back to outbreaks of incivilities all over my Facebook page. As one commenter, Terry Evans, put it, ... Continue

16 April 2009

Guardian sightings and the email and bath plug agenda

It says something about the kind of (left of centre) visitors we have up here in Scotland that on successive days we have had sightings of The Guardian.  Sighting one, on Monday, had a short extract... Continue

15 April 2009

The spin is all in the prism

'Gordon Brown's attempts to soften his image with a family pet for his young sons backfired yesterday as a canine spin operation went horribly wrong.  Downing Street had been planning to give the st... Continue

14 April 2009

A setback, not a crisis

The word crisis is the most overused in the media lexicon. In ten years with Tony Blair, I think I witnessed five full blown crises - Iraq, Kosovo, September 11, fuel protests and foot and mouth disea... Continue

13 April 2009

Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, broadcasting, charities and consultancy.