Comment

THERE is no doubt, judging by comments from environmentalists, politicians, trade unionists and any other concerned group you can imagine, that a low carbon economy and massive reductions in the production of greenhouse gases are essential to the future of the world. It is, in short, one of the few things that everyone seems to agree about.

KEN Livingstone doesn't deserve to be called Red Ken any more. He's in bed with the City of London, he accepts the privatisation of the East London line and he defended Met police boss Ian Blair after the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes.

THERE is little chance of humanity creeping into daily Border and Immigration Agency practice if the arrogance of chief executive Lin Homer is anything to go by.

NEWCASTLE Labour MP Jim Cousins is correct in his assessment of the Financial Services Authority admission that it failed to regulate Northern Rock.

TORY shadow foreign secretary William Hague's call for an inquiry into the Iraq invasion is, undoubtedly, an exercise in political opportunism.

THE Catholic church, like every other religious institution, is entitled to its point of view, no matter how illogical or outdated it might appear.

AS has so often happened over the past few years, it has taken Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson to put into words something that the entire trade union movement knows, but most of its leaders are either too fearful or too confused to articulate.

THERE is a myth which has been floating around over the past few years, particularly within the ranks of new Labour, that RMT general secretary Bob Crow will pick a fight on anything and that it is somehow down to him that the union's record of militant action is as long and colourful as a May Day march.

WHAT a nasty little piece of work is Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells, who has reacted to justifiable concern over his choice of friends in Colombia by smearing the solidarity group Justice for Colombia (JfC).

THE anger of finance union Unite and Labour MPs in north-east England over the threat to Northern Rock jobs is entirely understandable.