As I Please

As I Please is a weekly blog, written by Graham Smith, available free to readers who register with the Cornwall Reports local news website.

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How to save the leisure centres: why Alf and Roy provide a blueprint for survival 17th September 2021
Situations Vacant: Red Queen needed to draft Covid Safety Bill before the next general election 2nd September 2021
You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps: Why Tony Blair is both right, and wrong, about Afghanistan 22nd August 2021
The more things change the more they stay the same: will the real winners of the Cornwall Council election please stand up? 11th August 2021
Fightback: holding out for a hero in a world where truth is often stranger than fiction 23rd July 2021
Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser: there are lessons for Cornwall in Batley & Spen 1st July 2021
New coat pegs and no running in the corridor: a few points to watch for when life gets back to (nearly) normal at County Hall 23rd May 2021
Keeping things in proportion: why Churchill was right, and democracy really is the worst form of government – apart from all the others 11th May 2021
Our Friends In The North: A brief, recent, history of the Labour Party and why I now have more time for my cousins 4th May 2021
Here is the news 28th April 2021
Everyone’s a winner: there is no need to wait until 7th May to find out who triumphed the previous day 5th April 2021
Elections 2021: The Battle for County Hall – what do you think of it so far? 26th March 2021
Lifting the veil: a brief guide to “purdah” and why we should be paying even closer attention to what goes on at County Hall during the next six weeks 21st March 2021
Inside the G7: how to make a drama out of a crisis 19th March 2021
“Winning here” and other lies: get ready for a bulging sack of political waste paper 28th February 2021
Hot Gossip: nothing is proven, everything is possible 8th February 2021
Inside the G7: A letter from America 25th January 2021
Inside the G7: so true, it has to be made up 21st January 2021
I brief, you leak and she’s just been charged under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 16th January 2021
As Cornwall falls off a Covid cliff, will 2021 be the year the Boris Bug triggers yet another coup within the Conservative party? 1st January 2021
“Clarification is not to clarify things. It is to put one’s self in the clear” – why the Cormac-gate review must ask the right questions 14th November 2020
Out of the mouths of babes: why Cornwall’s Conservatives need to swallow hard, and admit they have got it badly wrong on free school meals 25th October 2020
Living by numbers: As the government wrangles over tougher Covid-19 restrictions, is it time to embrace logic and consistency? 8th October 2020
Covid-19 and Cornwall at the tipping point: will the lessons be learned? 21st September 2020
Is there something fishy going on in Mevagissey? As the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy sinks below the UK’s horizon, Cornwall’s own fishermen show they have plenty of other ways to fall out with each other 14th September 2020
Remember, remember, the 5th of November and how Cornwall Council ended up sleepwalking into “reasonable” constitutional chaos 10th August 2020
Black lives matter everywhere, but who controls the past controls the future: Cornwall’s uncomfortable history with slavery 9th June 2020
Will the war against Covid-19 end the same way as most wars, with refugees evacuated by helicopter from embassy roofs even as the politicians declare victory? 11th April 2020
Covid-19: A postcard from Midwich, village of the damned 17th March 2020
Ring A-Ring O’Roses, A Pocket Full of Posies, and other ways to Keep Calm And Carry On 12th March 2020
Could you be our next Police and Crime Commissioner? There are only 97 campaigning days to go 31st January 2020
Look North, in wonder, as Scotland edges closer to affordable local government by pioneering Britain’s first tourism tax 30th December 2019
If you tolerate this, then your children will be next 21st December 2019
Cornwall is going to be Conservative for a very long time – we just have to get used to it 18th December 2019
Is the Newquay airport goose being fattened up for privatisation? 29th November 2019
Getting into space is about maths and physics, not public relations: why Cornwall Council should say “no” to Richard Branson 13th September 2019
A lesson for Cornwall? Why Brecon & Radnor might not be the Brexit game-changer the bookies are forecasting 31st July 2019
After Peterborough: while politicians try to understand what happened, Labour should bring back its £3 supporters’ scheme and then ballot to determine Brexit policy 7th June 2019
Why Cornwall should brace for defeat next week 18th May 2019
Why only Jeremy Corbyn can beat Nigel Farage, and why it’s all about the turnout – a partisan view 21st April 2019
Inside Kennally Care: details start to emerge of how charities and companies are now taking over Cornwall’s health service – with orders to cut spending 8th February 2019
As I Please: Glittering Prizes – The Cornwall Reports New Year Honours 29th December 2018
A day in the life of the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator 23rd November 2018
All the way from Arabia – a sci-fi vision of Cornwall’s future? 16th November 2018
Got an allotment? Get ready to once more Dig For Victory, as the new Agriculture Bill looks set to devastate Cornwall 13th September 2018
Slow Train Coming: why the Devonwall boundary changes are not entirely welcome news for the Tories 12th September 2018
Cornwall’s local government: no place for grown-ups 31st August 2018
Cornwall and the idea of a tourism tax: a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing 17th August 2018
Jumpers for goalposts: Why we need a Cornwall United to get serious about public health, and why the council should start its own football club 10th August 2018
In a sleepy part of rural North Cornwall, another revolution is underway 3rd August 2018
Tragedy, farce, repeat: why County Hall would be an ideal location for Midsummer Murders 27th July 2018
Bucaneers and Pirate Ports: time for Cornwall’s LEP to re-think its strategy on Economic Zones 20th July 2018
After the football – business as usual with Cornwall’s NHS, and why it’s important to keep an eye on what’s happening in Parliament 13th July 2018
The best possible birthday present for Cornwall’s NHS would be management from outside Cornwall 6th July 2018
Cornwall, Your Cornwall 29th June 2018
A design for life 22nd June 2018
Bread and circuses 15th June 2018
Is dementia to blame for Brexit? In Cornwall, it’s a serious question 8th June 2018
Why badgers should take extra care on the A38, and why I miss the sight of a squashed hedgehog 1st June 2018
Cornwall, the Final Frontier, and how to make “devolution” more inspirational than a stale fart 25th May 2018
Struggling in the stormy seas of shrinking ratings, BBC local radio’s “Dementia FM” heads for its iceberg 18th May 2018
Newquay spaceport: reach for the stars, but watch your wallet and beware of half-baked big ideas 11th May 2018