The Coffee House | Politics and News Discussion Forum

The White House pushes the Afghan decision down the road again

James Forsyth — , 21 Nov 2009 18:50:10 GMT

There will be no decision from the White House on Afghan strategy this coming week. The Obama administration has told Reuters that the decision will not come until after the Thanksgiving weekend.

This delay in making the decision is getting quite absurd. When the election process was still going on, there was an argument that holding back the decision on how many troops to send gave the Americans leverage over Karzai. But now that Karzai has been sworn in for another term this argument no longer holds. Indeed, the delay appears to]]>

An important member of the class of 2010

James Forsyth — , 21 Nov 2009 17:15:25 GMT

Dominic Raab, who has just been selected for the safe Tory seat of Esher and Walton, will be a formidable addition to the Tory benches. Raab is a lawyer who currently serves as chief of staff to Dominic Grieve, the shadow Justice Secretary. I don’t agree with all of Raab’s views, but he will be a significant player in the debate that the party will have to have once it is in power about where the balance should be struck between civil liberties and anti-terrorist measures.

One interesting thing to watch after the next election is how many]]>

Where to start cutting

David Blackburn — , 21 Nov 2009 15:30:02 GMT

Michael Portillo believes that a future Tory government, like those that came before it, will not succeed in cutting public spending. I agree with Pete: public finances are so parlous that cuts have to be made. Demolishing the state is not an overnight job; it will take time and cost money, and so it should because the stakes are too high for a quick fix, cowboy politics solution. But, immediate savings are to be made through efficiencies.

‘Efficiency savings’ are derided as being insubstantial. Such an analysis is simplistic. Endemic waste is perpetuated by]]>

Money talks in Afghanistan

Peter Hoskin — , 21 Nov 2009 12:05:33 GMT

Afghan politics stinks; we all know it. But it's still shocking to read how the former governor of Helmand, Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, encouraged his supporters to join the Taliban after he lost his position, in 2005, under a cloud of drug-running allegations. Here's what he tells today's Telegraph:

"When I was no longer governor the government stopped paying for the people who supported me .... I sent 3,000 of them off to the Taliban because I could not afford to support them but the Taliban was making payments.

Lots

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Behind the closed doors of Brussels

Peter Hoskin — , 21 Nov 2009 10:26:13 GMT

Today's Times carries a cracking account of all the wheeling and dealing that went on during the EU jobs fair this week. Here are some of the most striking points that I've culled from it:

i) Brown rejected advice from Mandelson and other ministers that he should try and secure one of the EU's financial roles for a British candidate.
ii) There are claims that Brown was "persuaded" into accepting the EU High Representative role for Britain by Europe's Socialist leaders along with José Manuel Barroso.
iii) There are also claims that Brown

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There is more shopping in three streets in London than in Birmingham and Manchester combined

James Forsyth — , 20 Nov 2009 19:27:39 GMT

Prospect magazine’s In Fact column always contains some thought provoking numbers. This month, I was particularly struck by this statistic:

“The annual retail spend of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street is £5.5bn—more than Manchester and Birmingham.”

On one level, this is testament to the importance of clusters. But it is also a sign of just how dominant in the UK London is; something that is not particularly healthy for the country as a whole.

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There are moral absolutes: aspects of Sharia are barbaric

David Blackburn — , 20 Nov 2009 18:04:45 GMT

Credit where credit’s due, Peter Tatchell wrote an article for the Guardian describing Sharia law as being “especially oppressive”. He says:

‘Its interpretations stipulate the execution of Muslims who commit adultery, renounce their faith (apostates) or have same-sex relationships. Sharia methods of execution, such as stoning, are particularly brutal and cruel – witness the stoning to death this week in Somalia of a 20-year-old woman divorcee who was accused of adultery. This is the fourth stoning of an adulterer in Somalia in the last year.
Somalia is an extreme example of

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The week that was

, 20 Nov 2009 17:58:40 GMT

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week.

Fraser Nelson congratulates Michael Heath, and introduces Britain’s AWOL ally.

James Forsyth praises Chris Grayling’s commitment to elected police commissioners, and finds an example of corruption that is shocking even by the standards of the Karzai government.

Peter Hoskin says that Brown has misjudged the Afghan waiting game, and sees Ed Balls dump Gordon Brown into another lose lose situation.

David Blackburn argues that Gordon Brown has been hoist by his own petard, and challenges]]>

Portillo: the Tories won't succeed in cutting public spending - they'll have to raise taxes

Peter Hoskin — , 20 Nov 2009 17:14:22 GMT

Ever the contrarian, Michael Portillo makes a case that you don't hear from many on the right in his interview with Andrew Neil on Straight Talk this weekend. George Osborne has given "a fair amout of detail" about the Tories' debt-reduction plans, he says, but that could be the wrong approach:

"I wouldn’t seek probably to give very much more detail .... You know, I was with Margaret Thatcher when she came in to Government in 1979, we faced a big public spending problem. It was terrible. It was a hard slog

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