Brian Walker

Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London

A NEW LONG WAR?

| Readers 6

I’ve been mulling over a recent encounter with Phillip Bobbitt, now regarded as the Free World’s greatest anti-terrorist guru and author of his latest work “Terror and Consent The Wars for the Twenty-First Century. 672 pages. £25, Allen Lane.” WW2, the Cold War, dealing with the IRA are all yesterday’s wars and give us few clues for dealing with present and future wars (and “wars” is what they are, he insists). The internet, a global world and science generally give …

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The next referendum twist, for the Brits this time

| Readers 2

Another twist I’ve just noticed in the Great Referendum Saga. It could take up to two years for the Irish to decide to hold another referendum or whatever, leaving the Lisbon Treaty unratified by the EU as a whole for all that time. In the meantime, a UK general election could well bring the Conservatives to power, leaving Cameron holding a very unwelcome European baby. For at that point, the whole idea of a British referendum would spring to life …

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