Friday, 20th November 2009

The XI of the Decade

11:19pm

It's that time of year and that time of the decade. So, what's the best XI of the last ten years? In some ways it is a disappointingly easy selection. But here it is anyway:

1. G Smith
2. V Sehwag
3. R Ponting
4. S Tendulkar
5. B Lara
6. A Gilchrist* (Wkt)
7. S Pollock
8. S Warne (Capt)
9. J Gillespie
10. M Muralitharan
11. G McGrath

Criteria: Anyone who retired before 2006 is ineligible. Lara, Tendulkar and Warne etc could also, of course, be in a...

Filed under: Cricket (97 more articles)

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Petraeus 2012 Watch

7:15pm

Previously, I've argued that even if General David Petraeus does have political ambitions there are any number of obstacles that might make it difficult for him to make a successful bid for the Presidency. All those points still stand. Nevertheless, it's worth noting that the CENTCOM commander is this year's recipient of the American Enterprise Institute's annual Irving Kristol Award and that he'll be AEI's guest of honour at its annual dinner next year.

As I say, a 2012 run seems most improbable (at the moment!) but 2016? Well, that could, conceivably, be a different story. Consider...

Filed under: 2012 (7 more articles) , Neo-conservatism (2 more articles) , Petraeus (3 more articles)

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Backroom Deals in Brussels Are No Big Deal

5:43pm

It's always heads they win, tails you lose with the euro-sceptics isn't it? For instance, they were adamant that they didn't want a high-profile figure such as Tony Blair to become President of the EU Council. No Big Beasts please, we're British! Now it turns-out that they're equally disappointed that an unknown Belgian and a scarcely-known Briton have become President and EU High Representative respectively. There's no pleasing some people...

All this reflects the euro-sceptics belief that nothing that happens in Brussels can't be spun to their advantage. Sure, as Iain Martin says, perhaps the elevation of this pair...

Filed under: Brussels (1 more articles) , Europe (95 more articles) , Trade (12 more articles)

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Photo of the Day

3:26pm

The River Ettrick, running high and fast, at 2.45pm this afternoon.

...

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Paul Clarke Update II

12:31pm

The national newspapers may not be terribly interested in the Paul Clarke case but, happily, legal blogger Jack of Kent is. He's produced a detailed account of the case, and the law, that I highly recommend.

Mr Clarke may not be the ideal poster boy for liberty but it's equally clear that this is of little to no import. What we have here, as Jack of Kent makes clear, is a case that makes a nonsense of a) strict liability offences, b) manadatory minimums, c) the police and d) the CPS. It's possible that e)...

Filed under: Britain (283 more articles) , Guns (12 more articles) , Law (14 more articles) , Newspapers (204 more articles) , Police (14 more articles)

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Thursday, 19th November 2009

Did Obama Steal the Election?

8:52pm

Sure, plenty of Democrats thought George W Bush "stole" the 2000 election (and conservatives would have reacted similarly had Al Gore been pronounced the victor by the Supreme Court) but did Barack Obama steal the 2008 election? Apparently our nutty American cousins believe so:

PPP's newest national survey finds that a 52% majority of GOP voters nationally think that ACORN stole the Presidential election for Barack Obama last year, with only 27% granting that he won it legitimately.

I'd like to say that this poll can't possibly be accurate. But PPP aren't a rogue outfit. And anyway, it's...

Filed under: GOP (140 more articles) , Lunacy (119 more articles) , Obama (211 more articles)

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