The ultimate goal

NATO’S remit in Libya was to impose a no-fly zone and protect civilians (while killing others) although generals now fear a stalemate because they can only attack targets posing a direct threat to the population.  Gaddafi was not the goal, they insisted, but admitted it would be “within the rules” if he were killed in an airstrike.  So it was regime change all along.

Over-growing pains

THE dinosaurs died out because they were too big to survive.  Tragically, the same is true of Britain’s National Health Service, the country’s former pride and joy at the heart of the Welfare State. Too big to reform, its gigantic size means the bureaucrats running it now outnumber medical staff and patients come last of all.  Aneurin Bevan must be turning in his grave.

Lies, lies, lies

TONY BLAIR and his former spin doctor Alastair Campbell are accused of having lied to Lord Chilcot’s enquiry into Britain’s role in the Iraq war.  Nothing new: they had already lied to the Hutton Enquiry, to the British public and Parliament.  As far as both these two were concerned, it seems lying was merely part of the job description for a very dirty business indeed.