Don't clobber drinkers

10:59am

The idea of vastly increasing the tax on alcohol to deal with Britain’s ‘binge-drinking’ problem is gaining ground. The Tory Social Justice policy group was keen on the idea and now the British Medical Association has come out in favour of it. It certainly appeals to the ‘something must be done’ school of thought but it is also grossly unfair as Charles Moore argues in the Telegraph today. As he puts it,

“In 2004, 21.6 million adults who drank alcohol consumed less than the recommended guidelines per week, whereas 1.8 million consumed at very heavy levels (more than double the guidelines). So a price rise designed to deter the excessive drinkers - even if it worked - would inflict collateral damage on the innocent 90 or so per cent of the drinking population.”

Another point worth bearing in mind is--as Fraser pointed out when the Tories were flirting with the idea--is that alcohol competes against a bunch of drugs that don’t have to pay tax because they are illegal. Making drink prohibitively expensive could result in pushing many of those prone to addiction on to harder and more dangerous drugs.  

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (15)

Is Yvette Cooper beyond help?

10:15am

Iain Martin has a great post over at Three Line Whip about the rather disastrous effect that media training has had on Yvette Cooper’s manner—proof that things can get worse.  

For the Kremlinologists of this government, the relationship between Alistair Darling and the newly arrived Chief Secretary to the Treasury is going to be fascinating, not least because so many people think that her husband is manoeuvring for her boss’s job.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (13)

The original Coffee House

9:33am

Some people ask why we call this blog Coffee House. The principal reason is that this magazine’s founders, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, went around such places picking up gossip and scandal – coffee houses were the 18th century equivalent of blogs, hated by the establishment for irreverence. Reports from the coffee houses filled the 1711 incarnation of the publication you are now reading online. The Times today quotes Charles II describing them in 1675 as “places where the disaffected met and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty and his Ministers.” Our job remit precisely.
 
PS The first 1711 edition was printed every day, on a single piece of newspaper. In the first edition, Addison introduced himself and the places he spied on. “I appear on Sunday nights at St James Coffee House and sometimes join the little Committee of Politicks in the Inner Room” to hear what was going on. And your loyal correspondents do the best to hang out the modern day equivalents of such places, and report back – online, or in the magazine.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (9)

Labour still in danger of drifting onto the rocks

6:30pm

Today’s Economist poll on Northern Rock is a belated birthday present for Gordon Brown. Only 5 percent believe the government is most responsible for the crisis and people are more impressed with Brown and Darling’s handling of it now than they were a month ago. But what will really cheer up the PM is that almost 60 percent of the public think the Tories are playing politics with the issue and only one in five say that David Cameron and George Osborne would have done any better.

However, this doesn’t mean that the danger has passed for Labour. There are still, as The Economist points out, a whole bunch of problems for Labour—the management of the bank, the inevitable job loses, the repossessions to name but a few—to deal with. There is also the fact that little stories about Northern Rock are going to crop up on a regular basis until the government manages to get the bank back into the public sector, a tricky operation in and of itself. In short, Northern Rock could still destroy Labour's ratings on the economic question.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (2)

What on earth were the Tories thinking?

4:54pm

Putting the words Auschwitz and gimmick together is ill-advised and for a politician to do this is particularly foolish. Whatever the substance of David Cameron’s criticisms he has opened himself up to some awful headlines.

The Tories would be wise to back down gracefully and quickly. If they don’t, they will open themselves up to the charge that they genuinely think that trips to Auschwitz are a gimmick—which they do not.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (34)

Gimmicky Gordon

2:26pm

In the wake of Coffee House's Brownies campaign, numerous commenters have been imploring the opposition parties to undermine Gordon Brown's little porkies.  Take, for instance, CoffeeHouser Mike O'Callaghan's recent suggestion:

"Each week Brown is allowed to provide statistical lies and seemingly gets away with it although anyone with an ounce of intelligence is not fooled. Can I suggest a tactical ploy for Cameron. Each week analyse the Brown statistical lies and the following week ask him specific questions relating to those figures. When Brown is unable to back the figures up he loses credibility. This tactic would allow the public once and for all to pick up on the lies being told."

On this front, the "Government by gimmick" paper that the Tories released today is a step in the right direction.  It dissects 26 of Brown's policy announcements which have "grabbed the headlines" but "amounted to nothing".  After Jack Straw's interview in the Guardian today, the prisons entry is especially pertinent:

There might be some inspiration there for CoffeeHousers who are yet to have their say.  Then, next week, we'll put together our own catalogue of Brownies...

P.S. All of this blends nicely with Martin Wolf's FT column today, in which he observes that Brown has been "putting political advantage ahead of principles".

P.P.S. There's a controversy brewing about point No. 4 in the Tory document ("Trips to Auschwitz") - see Ben Brogan and the Spectator's own Stephen Pollard.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (1)

An act of genius, or of self-indulgence?

12:34pm

Does Daniel Day Lewis deserve an Oscar for There Will Be Blood? I'd say so, over Clooney anyway - who rarely differs the characters he plays. In a Hollywood era where stars basically play themselves, Day Lewis changes beyond recognition and always has - think Room with a View, My Beautiful Laundrette or My Left Foot.

But he has a detractor in Gerald Kaufman, who has just recorded an interview for GMTV on Sunday. This is his take:-

"There Will Be Blood is one of the most phoney and ostentatious films I've seen for years, technically brilliant - but, technically brilliant - anybody can do that. I went to see, when Amadeus got its showing at the National Theatre, I went to see it and the actor playing Salieri, whom I will not name out of respect, seemed to be saying to the audience, 'Look at me! I'm a great actor giving a great performance' and it's the same with Daniel Day-Lewis. I don't question the accomplishment of Daniel Day-Lewis as an actor, but that performance! It was so self-indulgent, but he'll get the Oscar for it."

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (6)

Killer Cable strikes again

10:40am

I'm on the train back from Question Time (most of the panel stayed in Newcastle last night) and I am again sitting three seats down from a man who has come to personify the Tories' problem. Vince Cable was lauded by Alan Duncan and Ruth Kelly for his leadership on Northern Rock - before, after and during filming. Why is Brown now back in the lead on economic management? What has he done right that Osborne has not done? My take:-

1. Cable knows his Onions. He has been as constant as the north star on this, where the Tories' position has been complex and changing. Who in Britain can explain what the Tory position is? That's the problem.

2. Cable works hard at it. He's on the phone now, talking journalists through the wider points and finest detail in language so engaging that the rest of our train carriage (incl. Chris Smith) seems hooked. He speaks to merchant bankers, industry experts and is impeccably well informed. He is a one-stop shop for journalists, and has made himself the first call for any broadcaster seeking to demystify this baffling issue.

3. Cable is older. It's a benefit in finance, where people want a Chancellor that looks and sounds like a trustworthy bank manager: Osborne's youth is, in this area, a disadvantage.

4. Cable has looked beyond party political point-scoring, and focusing on giving a firmer and clearer explanation of events than anyone else. That is how you gain credibility. The Tory strategy can be summed up in five words: "Gordon Brown, ha ha ha". Cable has risen above this, hence the halo.

5. Cable is former chief economist at Shell. Packed with real world experience he is that rare beast: a politician who is properly qualified for the brief he holds. He talks as an expert, whereas Osborne talks as a politcian. The public far prefer the former.

This is not to trash Osborne, whom I rate highly and who visibly outclasses Darling. But the Tories should be exploiting all this far more. I bet even Osborne wishes Cable was on his team (and, perhaps, in his job). Maybe I'll sidle up to him after we pass York and persuade him to defect.... 

P.S. Political Betting critiques the Populus poll here.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (27)

Where the burden of Brown falls most heavily

8:58am

 In the Telegraph, John Kampfner makes the case that Gordon Brown is as ‘uncritically’ adoring of the super rich as Tony Blair ever was. He argues that this attitude stems from Brown’s fear of being seen as anti-business, his acceptance that the wealthiest just won’t pay their fair share of tax and his conversion to ‘trickle-down’ theory.

The most interesting part of Kampfner’s piece, though, is his contention that this approach combined with Brown’s desire to redistribute wealth has left to the tax burden being raised ever higher on the middle classes.  Certainly, one of the hall marks of Brown’s tenure as Chancellor was how fiscal drag saw more and more people being pushed into the top tax band. For the Tories, who are now once more behind Labour on the economic question, coming up with an agenda to appeal to these people should be their top domestic priority.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (3)

Groundhog Day

8:50am

With the prison population reaching an all-time high of 82,006 (only 21 places short of full capacity), Jack Straw once again begs judges to consider more non-custodial sentences.  Of course, it's embarrassing for the Justice Minister.  His line is wide-open to opposition attack, and he's condemned to repeat it until those Titan prisons are finally completed. 

Not that we should feel sorry for him.  Straw should have made the right, forward-looking decisions during his time as Home Secretary between 1997 and 2001.  Yet, somewhat masochistically, he's reluctant to take the proper steps even now.  The result?  Numerous tragedies waiting to happen.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (6)