Advise to the Sussexes

 Don't let yourselves be defined by the Royal Family.

There is money to be made now by exposés of Meghan's treatment by the clearly racist circle surrounding, and possibly including, the royal family. However, the public, even those in the UK who are on Harry and Meghan's side because the Daily Mail and the Murdoch press are not, will tire of the subject and move on. 

They need to establish themselves in the public mind in their own right. They have their charity work to build on. Meghan, smarter than the average actress, and Harry have already established their credentials as champions of racial justice and improvements in mental health care. When Harry was still a royal prince, this official web page (read it now before it is purged!) detailed his work in sport for young people and for servicemen. For instance:

The Invictus Games

Prince Harry is committed to ensuring that wounded servicemen and women have the opportunity to rediscover their self-belief and fighting spirit through physical challenges. He is the force behind The Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick Service personnel, which took place in London from 10-14 September 2014.

To be sure, charitable activity in itself does not pay the rent, but there are surely well-funded international bodies who would support their aims. Or maybe the future lies in extending their TV and film interests beyond the confines of the royal circle and possibly into gaming. After all, they have both shown themselves to be inventive.

At least UK has the most flea markets

Euronews has posted the headline results of a survey of shopping eco-consciousness in European nations. Over a range of measures (the relative weighting of which is clearly open to dispute) Finland tops the league. 

In the section on reduction in consumption footprint Italy wins with 26.03 per cent over the past 10 years. It is closely followed by Sweden (21.99 per cent) and Greece (20.75 per cent). Given Sweden's already high consumer standards, her score is outstanding.

Before Vinted, Shpock and the like, there were flea markets and these continue to thrive. This is one arena in which the UK scores highest. 

More LNG imports from the US

 Today's announcement of a deal between the UK and US governments "to increase energy security and drive down prices, as part of a new energy partnership" raises worries over increased dependence on the United States. It was the too-close linking of financial interests which led to the crashing of our economy in 2008. One notes that the States promise only to strive to supply 9-10 billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas during the next year.

There will be cooperation over the use of hydrogen as a fuel, but no guarantees about the means of production. While there are promising developments in the field of "green" hydrogen (such as Atome's in Paraguay), most industrial hydrogen today (about 95% by some estimates) is derived from fossil fuels, in processes which themselves add to carbon dioxide emissions. 

The net effect of the agreement it seems to me is to provide a safety net for US-based oil and gas producers and do nothing to accelerate the transition to non-carbon energy production/

Fair votes: one of the things that the LibDems are for

 Activists for the two big conservative parties often pose the question: "what are the Liberal Democrats for?" in attempts to squeeze our vote at election time. I fear we have rather played into their hands in the current parliament in spending more time responding to current events than publicising our core beliefs or at least our unique political positions. I am as guilty as anyone in that, but at least I have emphasised that merely getting rid of the Conservatives in national government or breaking up the Labour fiefdoms locally is not an end in itself. One must have something to put in their place. "Oppositionism" is not enough.

That is why I was pleased to receive from federal HQ this link to a speech by Sir Ed Davey to a leading think-tank. To be sure, it is peppered with attacks on the last decade of Tory government, but its main point is that of improving democracy, something that Liberals and Liberal Democrats have always stood for. As Sir Ed said:

This year marks a century since the Liberal Party made its first commitment to proportional representation. One hundred years on, our Liberal Democrat commitment to PR is stronger than ever.

This may surprise you but I see electoral reform as part of our great patriotic mission. After all, it was the nineteenth-century Liberal John Bright who famously described England as the “Mother of Parliaments”. And for a long time, the world looked to British democracy as a beacon - as the quality standard. Regrettably, that’s no longer the case.

So as someone who wants my country to lead the world once more, in the quest to build strong, vibrant democracies, I firmly believe we have to strengthen our democracy at home. To re-establish Britain’s democratic reputation in the world.

I should note for historical completeness that John Bright also coined the phrase “flogging a dead horse” in relation to his own efforts to reform our electoral system.

So our job is to revive the horse, and finish the work!

Is Sir Keir serious about replacing the House of Lords?

Or is the Labour leader merely seeking to divert headlines from criticism of his Blairite following of the agenda set by a Conservative government? His rather vague proposals have certainly achieved press and broadcast media coverage but there are few who would argue with the Opposition's contention that the basis for filling the Upper House is  indefensible in a modern democracy, 

Younger readers may not realise that the Liberal Democrats went into the 2010 general election with detailed proposals for an elected Upper House, There were sympathetic noises from Labour who under Tony Blair had gone no further than hobbling the hereditary appointments system. Yet when it came to the presentation of the Reform Bill under the coalition, Labour refused to support a timetable for the Bill which would have prevented Tory extremists (and some Labour backwoodsmen) filibustering it out of existence. We need a cast-iron assurance from the Labour leadership that they will not similarly weasel out of their responsibility when a future Reform Bill comes to the House.

One aspect of Labour's reboot of Lords reform to be welcomed is tying it to regional representation. The major flaw of the Liberal Democrat scheme was that it did not address the built-in metropolitan bias of the Lords, though one hoped this could have been tackled during Committee Stage if the 2010 Bill had been allowed to proceed. 

Amazing win in Pakistan

 While the attention of sports fans and the media is dominated by events in Doha, the achievement of the MCC tourists under Ben Stokes may not receive due recognition. Not only did the England team (actually England & Wales, though there was no direct Welsh participation on this occasion) succeed in a country where only 4 England Test teams had won before, but the victory was achieved on a flat Rawalpindi pitch which the groundsman had admittedly prepared to help batsmen. There was minimal help for spinners and seamers on the final day, yet Anderson, Leach, Robinson and captain Stokes achieved the virtual impossibility of bowling Pakistan out. Stokes has melded the morale and togetherness of Root's period as captain with a boldness at the opposite extreme to Root's caution. Stokes also appears to be learning from experience and able to adjust tactics when needed. One should also stress Root's contribution to the victory both with the bat and in the field when he was far from 100% well.

Praise is also due to Pakistan for their contribution to a match which looked on a few occasions when it was tilting towards them. It is only recently that the national team has been able to return from exile in the UAE occasioned by the Lahore bombing of the Sri Lankan test tourists. They have recovered well and the second Test in Multan may well go the other way.

An example of cricket bringing people together is that Burnley's James Anderson has a great following in Pakistan. If only the Islamic Republic's warring politicians could also see the positive sides of their opponents!

Horizon

 The latest reports from the judicial inquiry into the Post Office IT scandal confirm my suspicions about the roots of the disaster. Having concluded the part of the inquiry which exonerated hundreds of sub-postmasters of theft and false accounting, and put those who have survived in line for monetary compensation (though at the time of writing it is not clear how much of this has been paid), the legal beagles have moved on to the technical part of the inquiry: what was it about the Horizon system that caused it to generate the fallacious accounts which were used as evidence. 

It is clear from the evidence so far that the Horizon system was lashed up with no clear design plan, no standards and no testing strategy. Sadly, this product of Thatcher-Major outsourcing was not reviewed by the Blair government when it came into power. It was not too late in 1997 to pause the development and thoroughly recast it before any harm was done. 

For more, see Private Eye and Computer Weekly magazines.

Sunak unwittingly lied at PMQs

 Just because Boris Johnson said it, doesn't make it true. Membership of the EU and thus of the European Medicines Agency would not have prevented the UK from pursuing her own vaccine strategy. 

I despair of those MPs who are known to be anti-Brexit who do not pull up misstatements such as that.