An unnamed serving soldier this evening told Channel 4 News he believed the Army was forcing servicemen to "jump before they are pushed" in a bid to save money.

there are no plans to conduct any Manning Control Point reviews in the next 12 months.

...a document obtained by the programme indicated that three weeks later 3 Para was sent a list of soldiers approaching their 12-year Manning Control review point.

(These are) the most loyal group of people this country has - people who are prepared to lay down their lives in the service of the Crown and the service of this country.

If some of them are so disgusted by the way that they have been treated and the way their comrades have been treated that they are prepared to take legal action against the Government, then that really says there is a problem.

So who can get away with not blogging? Or have an excuse for not blogging? Starting from the top:

Prime Minister - I think I would rather he ran the country, if you don't mind. There are already many sources of information regarding the PM's activities. And there is no way he could personally blog - too busy, too careful, too risk averse, doesn't need name recognition or to build a profile, too much of a target for nuts, etc, etc.

Cabinet Ministers - A lot of the same reasons as above arguing against blogging; but to a lesser degree. However, they (and the PM) are surrounded by a massive bureaucracy which shields them from what, "The People" really think. But they need that shield to function. Too large an audience for blogging to work? Just a thought.

Junior Ministers - Such as Nick Raynsford. I'm not sure. I'm really not. Very busy and all.

Lewis Moonie was unexpectedly omitted from Tony Blair's first government when Labour came to power in 1997... During his unexpected years in the cold, he exhibited some coolness towards New Labour which even membership of the government does not seem entirely to have eradicated.

The move, by nine out of 20 ministers with hitherto undisclosed interests who have served since 1999, in effect torpedoes a ferociously defended government policy of keeping the information secret on grounds of "privacy".

It marks a major development in freedom of information. The Guardian is publishing their declarations as the first step towards a full public register.

...

Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said: "These ministers were acting conscientiously. Why did the government get so agitated? They are damaging public confidence by creating unnecessary obstacles of secrecy."

The company provides consultancy, technical services and products to three markets:

• Rail
• Environment
• Portable Power

ROBIN COOK last night led a rebellion of 19 Labour MPs who defied the Government to vote for a move to presume everyone had consented to the use of their organs in transplant operations unless they had specifically opted out.

Although the bid was rejected by MPs, the former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the Commons was joined by fellow ex-Cabinet minister Clare Short in supporting the move brought forward by Liberal Democrat Evan Harris.

Linlithgow MP Tam Dalyell - the longest serving member of the Commons; Kirkcaldy MP Lewis Moonie (a former defence minister); and Dunfermline West MP Rachel Squire joined Mr Cook in the revolt. Under the current system people have to choose to opt in to give their organs to others after death.

But the National Health Service is facing a growing shortage of hearts, livers, kidneys and other organs.

...

While the Tories and the Liberal Democrats gave a free vote on the issue Labour imposed a whip on its MPs - which the 19 defied claiming this was a conscience issue.

This is completely unofficial, and should I ever make something of myself in the world, i reserve the right to revoke the following comments.

Politically-speaking, (and, for that amtter, in all other respects) Dr Moonie is a complete twunt. I base this fleeting judgement upon a visit he made to my school a few months ago, in which he not only made many feeble attempts to win the s6 audience over with his cool, arrogant veneer - bragging of his unflailing confidence that he would have a parliamentary career forEVER, he also showed himself to be somewhat of a political renter - admitting to having been a socialist, then a tory, then a member of the Labour party, finally reaching the conclusion that he was of no particular political affiliation, but this, unlike the attainment of power, is inconsequential.

Of course, all of the above can be justified and defended very easily through reference to life experience, open-mindedness etc etc etc. His contrary approach to answering questions presented by a not particularly motivated or incisive audience, however, cannot. I charge him with the offence of being a vile, measley cretin on the following grounds:

1. His appallingly supercilious and dogmatic manner. I refer in particular to his repsonse to a question regarding the provsion of services for young people. Admittedly, the question was kind of crap, but even so, the dissmive-cum-'why-are-you-shitting-out-my-grandmother-you-disgusting-creature' tone of response adopted by moonie was unwarranted.

2. His flagrant use of incomprehensible political jargon when asked to comment on the suggestion that britains involvement in iraq was contrary to the nature of democracy, given that public opinion was so strongly against it.

3. His assorted downright condractory statements. Unfortunately, it is late and i am unable to quote him, but im sure he said something about saddam hussein not being a direct threat to his family, then saying that he posed a very real threat to people like us,then saying that he didnt think it was the duty og politicians to tackle the issue of drugs (surely, one must ask, peddlars pose an immediate threat on out streets?)

Anyway, I know Duncan is a bit Labour and has created this site, therefore probably wants up Moonie's bum, and I am also aware that there *IS* an argument FOR the war in iraq, which Dr Mooney never successfully presented. Therefore I am being brutally honest when I say that I was sure I could see something growing out of Moonie's forehead, and I'm almost certain it was a cock.

Kirkcaldy has come a long way since I was first elected in 1987 despite having had to cope with the closure of our pits and the GEC Telecomm factory with thousands of job losses.

Unemployment in the area has fallen by a third and around 2170 local people are in work thanks to our flagship New Deal programme...

Marilyn Livingstone and her colleagues are doing a great job of increasing skills through their lifelong learning policy. When you complement this with Gordon Brown's highly successful stewardship of the economy then you have the seeds from which a prosperous Kirkcaldy can grow, but it will take time...

I have not seen the survey quoted by the media and question the validity of the conclusions drawn.

Despite everything we have been through in the last twenty years, Kirkcaldy is still a great place to live.

Many of the towns featured in the poll's top ten communities with the lowest income are former mining communities or towns with a heavy reliance on manufacturing. It has been Labour's priority since 1997 to address issues of poverty and deprivation and whilst we have achieved some success, there is still a lot to be done.

Tony Finn, headteacher at St Andrew's High School in Kirkcaldy, dismissed the comments and invited Dr Moonie to visit the school and see for himself the work by staff and pupils.
St Andrew's performed well above the national average in exam league tables for S4 and S5 pupils published last year.
He said: "I would be happy for him to come to the school and see for himself we are strongly opposed to divisiveness and indoctrination.
"Indeed, our emphasis on good learning and on Christian values of tolerance and understanding is now attracting a very large number of pupils from very diverse religious backgrounds.
"Consequently, we believe that our existence certainly cannot be used as an excuse for sectarianism."

"I think the education system should be secular for all children.
"They (faith schools) have no part in the education system and nor should they.
''The vast majority of people in Scotland have no affiliation to any church or religious group.
"Therefore it should not be the job of the state to provide them, because religion has nothing to do with education.

"We have never attempted to deny that there might have been cases of abuse.

"Every one of them has been investigated. There was absolutely no need for this kind of gratuitous publication of material, which clearly had not been checked out, and which has turned out to be false.

"The fact is that this paper has published something which has put the lives of our troops at risk.

"At the very least, they should apologise for it, and try to, in some way, to set the matter right. If they don't do that, then I think the editor should go."

"It would be a lie for me to suggest that people are not talking about whether he is likely to carry on or not," former Defense Minister Lewis Moonie told British Broadcasting Corp. radio on Friday. "There is a lot of general talk, but not to the extent that people are saying that the prime minister ought to go."