Friday, 3rd February 2012

Two Nations; One Calcutta Cup

4:29pm

Flower of Scotland is really a dreadful dirge. The one time it is acceptable, however, is when England come to Murrayfield. 'Tis 30 years since I first attended the Calcutta Cup. That was a 9-9 draw courtesy of the English prop Colin Smart who, in the dying moments, yapped at the referee causing a Scotland penalty to be advanced into the English half and therefore just within Andy Irvine's range. The great man duly...

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Mike Russell and the Mythical Anti-Scottish Conspiracy

3:12pm

Mike Russell is a genial chap who, most of the time, is not much of a fool. Most of the time is not all the time, however, and this week he has, inadvertently, illuminated some of the reasons why the SNP struggles with what the Americans call "high-information*" voters. Mr Russell, the Scottish government's education minister, became the latest senior SNP figure to accuse his opponents of being "anti-Scottish". This is an increasingly tedious line of attack and one suggesting both a certain defensiveness and a bleak lack of imagination. There is also a Boy Who Cried Wolf problem:...

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Falklands Talks? There Is Nothing To Talk About.

2:14pm

So much for today's Guardian. In the Independent, Philip Hensher has a grand solution for the "Falklands Problem": we should jst sell the islands to Argentina.

[I]t might be worth raising the question with the Argentinians. We've got absolutely no money. I really doubt we have much stomach for another Falklands War, and then another. They are clearly passionately keen to acquire some territory with rich resources, high GDP and as much sentimental value as you can maintain for something 300 miles from your coastline. It might be worth a lot of money in the future, but

...

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Sir Simon Jenkins Is Peddling Weapons-Grade Tripe. Again.

12:38pm

Via Norm, I see that Sir Simon Jenkins is up to his old tricks, publishing yet another meretricious column on the Afghan war which, all too conveniently, manages to ignore the reason why US and allied troops ever landed in that benighted country in the first place. That's right: Sir Simon never mentions 9/11. Not even in passing. Reading his column you could be forgiven for thinking US generals (and their British accomplices) sat around discussing the need to give their troops some proper entertainment. A kind of Club Hindu Kush M16. What a jolly wheeze!

Anyone who...

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Thursday, 2nd February 2012

Is Ed Miliband Really a Debate-Changer?

7:46pm

According to Nick Cohen Ed Miliband is Britain's Greatest Leader of the Opposition. Blimey, that's quite a statement. He's a plucky wee chap too:

Ed Miliband is a geek, a failure and a loser. All the press says so, so it must be true. Yet the apparent no-hoper retains the ability of the boy who confronted the naked emperor to change the terms of debate.

But what debates has he changed? Nick suggests Miliband was brave to stand-up to Rupert Murdoch and that he's been right to lead the way in banker-bashing. Perhaps so. But few people outside Westminster...

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Education is not rocket science

6:47pm

The other day John Rentoul, that noted Blairite scallywag, suggested David Cameron could improve his lot by binning Andrew Lansley and replacing him at the Department of Health with Michael Gove. I dare say this is true. It would, nevertheless, be a depressing, avoidable error. Mr Gove's education revolution - built upon Blairite foundations - may be the shining star in an otherwise cloudy coalition firmament. This will not, alas, bring much electoral benefit but some things are more important than winning votes. Education policy is one of those things. Mr Lansley is floundering and the government's confused and...

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