Drugs Nutt and the Minister

UK - Getting Drugs policy right has proved to be a thorny problem for all governments but the crisis over former drugs advisor Professor Nutt is becoming more of a tangle by the day.

The Home secretary Alan Johnson has been defending his sacking of Professor David Nutt. Some scientists are reported to have backed the sacking but further resignations have been threatened.from the Government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs as it emerged that the Home secretary has put the body under review. Two drugs advisory panel members have already quit in protest.

The Home Secretary could easily have ignored the remarks by Professor Nutt ,the UK's chief drugs adviser, who questioned the reclassification of cannabis as a "class B" drug. Instead the Home Secretary opted for confrontation.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs was established under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 during Edward Heath's Conservative government. Colleagues of the sacked Chairman say they have "serious concerns" about his decision and whether they can continue.

This is of course not the first nor will it be the last spat between a politician and a government adviser. "Advisers advise, ministers decide." said Margaret Thatcher when Nigel Lawson resigned as Chancellor in 1989 over the role of Sir Alan Walters, her Downing Street economics adviser. Nevertheless Ministers risk losing the confidence of expert advisers across government unless they confirm their independence following the sacking of Professor David Nutt, one of Britain's most senior government scientists said yesterday.

David Nutt is Professor of Psychopharmacology at Bristol University and the spat began as when he criticised policy on canabbis and suggested that Ecstasy, LSD and cannabis are less dangerous than both alcohol and cigarettes - he has also admitted that some of his children have taken drugs.

The Home Secretary Alan Johnson told MPs that he "lost confidence" in Professor David Nutt's ability to be his principal adviser on drugs policy after he had "acted in a way that undermined the government".

David Cameron called the sacking of the Government's chief drugs adviser an “unseemly spat” today, but said that his party did not support any relaxation in the penalties for taking illegal drugs.

Hamas week long truce follows rockets

Hamas appears to be re-positioning itself in response to the recently announced Israeli ceasefire. A senior Hamas official has stated that Hamas will shortly declare a cease-fire. Hamas is claiming that it will give Israel one week to withdraw from Gaza.

In Syria Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Mashaal is due to make "an important" announcement on Sunday afternoon which will address Israel's unilateral cease-fire declaration.

The move comes as Hamas militants in Gaza fired rockets into southern Israel on Sunday and continued to resist the unilateral cease-fire announced by Israel. The rocket firing risks restarting the violence that has lasted three weeks. Palestinian sources claim that more than 1,000 people have been killed. More bodies were being pulled from the rubble as the ceasefire took hold. 13 Israelis have died in the violence.

Israeli security sources have indicated that the military operation may not necessarily be over and that the Hamas response would be critical in deciding how things developed.

Israeli aircraft responded to the rockets on Sderot by destroying the rocket squad.

Hamas have said repeatedly that any truce will depend on Israel pulling out of Gaza.

The Israeli comes without a full solution to the problem of arms smuggling into Gaza.

Israel appears to have calculated that it's unilateral ceasefire in the days running up to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday would leave Hamas in a no win position politically.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007 in a violent struggle and this triggered an Israeli blockade. However the longer term violence stems from Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and provocations such as the creation of settlements in occupied territories.

Obama says McCain is negative

US Politics Presidential Election: Barack Obama has accused John McCain of negative campaigning according to the BBC The New York Times sees tensions in McCains character and Reuters reports that Obama has hit McCain on the economy.

UK News Nat Rothschild George Osbourne

Uk Politics News: Multi-millionaire Nat Rothschild is'behind Osborne's £200000 gift' according to the Daily Mail as Shadow Chancellor George Osborne is embroiled in a new row around the claims that Nat Rothschild the multi-millionaire playboy and financier bankrolled him with nearly £200000 of funding.