Ian Bowater, this blog's very own LA Correspondent, with some final thoughts on the presidential race So here it is – the last ever Letter From The Left Coast. It’s been over a month since the last one but quite frankly nothing much has happened. Oh… there was some Black Guy who got made Presi...

There is no doubt that Hamas has provoked Israel in the last week since the end of the ceasefire with rocket attacks from Gaza onto Israeli territory, but the disproportionate response unleashed yesterday will do Israel nothing but harm. Commentators have suggested that retaliation would be difficul...

Ian Bowater with a Christmas Special from the Left Coast Here’s change you’re gonna have to put up with… Barack Obama ran on the left to beat Hillary in the Primary. At the general election conventional wisdom dictates that he would move to the centre to get elected. When in office he will nat...

Here's Mandy , our soldier's mum, with her annual Christmas message ON THE 1ST DAY OF CHRISTMAS...  A fleet of military helicopters buzz the skies in the East. Gordon Santa then. On the front line. Bearing gifts? This Christmas, named parcels only are being accepted by The British Forces Post O...

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Ian Austin and Linda Waltho, the two MPs whose West Midlands constituencies cover the area where Frank Foley lived until his death in 1958, have set up the annual Frank Foley lecture. If you don't know who Frank Foley was, then you should and you will if you read this post. This is the Inaugural Fra...

Ian Bowater hopes for a new New Deal from Barack. Thursday was Thanksgiving. All across West L.A. thousands of newly emboldened, well meaning Liberals held hands around a family table laden with an unlikely mélange of savoury and sweet dishes along with the obligatory vegan alternatives for the exc...

Her son might be back from Afghanistan but Mandy is still incensed at the way in which politicians put their own "rights" above those do the dead. Seems, while Ross has been away on holiday, there’s been a bit of a turf war going on. No! Not in Glenrothes, where the Labour Party celebrat...

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the Chief of the Defence Staff, has spoken out against sending more troops to Afghanistan. I’m reminded of CJ, a character in the soon-to-be-revived Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. CJ is Perrin’s boss at Sunshine Desserts, an organisation inhabited by yes me...