The Tories of Kensington are certainly a peculiar bunch. Following their deselection of Nicholas Scott who got drunk once or ten times too often, they have selected former Tory Minister Alan Clark who Richard Ingrams of the Observer considers ``bonkers''. I couldn't agree more. Free article

This weeks quotes Free article

LAST MONDAY, 24 January the trial of four young Irish republicans began in the Old Bailey, London. Three of the young men bravely stood up in the court and admitted bombing soldiers pubs in Guildford and Woolwich in October 1974 and for which innocent people were serving life imprisonment. Free article

In under five years, some 60,000-100,000 people have died in Algeria. Yet it is only of late that the conflict has commanded any sustained media attention. Free article

The partnership agreements might seem like a positive first step towards giving unions a role in economic and social policy but the reality is that ten years later unions are still excluded Free article

Níl aon réiteach fós san aighneas is déanaí idir micléinn agus an Aire Oideachais Niamh Bhreatnach a phléasc amach go tobann an tseachtain seo caite nuair a dheonaigh Bhreatnach ardú stadais do Choláiste Réigiúnach Teicneolaíochta, Port Láirge. Free article

``Are you right there Michael, are you you right? Do you think we'll make it home before the night? Sure I'm sick and tired of schhtar-tin' an' I couldn't say for sar-tin So we might now Michael so we might''. Free article

HELENA MOLONEY, actress, trade union activist and revolutionary was born in Dublin in 1884. Free article

The author is a Methodist theologian and has produced a highly literate and intellectual analysis of Paisley's religious and political antics from early days. Free article

Well, it's been a week for conspiracy theorists. First off we had the collapse of the Whitemoor trial on Thursday 23 January, with defence barristers telling the cameras afterwards that prison officers had played a key role in the escape plan, helpfully cutting two fences to aid the over-the-wall gang in their cross-country expedition. That was on Thursday. But by Monday's BBC evening news we heard that a public inquiry was being demanded because one of the Whitemoor screws who would have been called to give evidence had mysteriously disappeared six months after the escape and hasn't been seen since. That news item also revealed that another prison guard had suffered a fatal car accident on the way to give evidence at the trial. Coincidence? MI5 shenanigans? We may never know but the old chestnut about fact being stranger than fiction was never more apt. Maybe that's why I don't watch the X Files. Free article