The Tories are being outspun

If anyone doubts that the Labour spin machine is once more firing on all cylinders turn to pages 2 and 3 of The Sun today. On page 2, under the headline ‘Hans off PM’s car’, Sun readers are informed that ‘Gordon Brown has snubbed German car maker BMW and insisted his new bomb proof limo is a British Jaguar.’ While on the opposite page, we hear about how ‘X Factor finalists were stunned to receive letters from the Prime Minister praising them for chart-topping charity single Hero.’

These are just small examples...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (23)

Just in case you missed them...

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk:

Complete footage of the Spectator / Threadneedle Parliamentarian awards has been uploaded here.

Fraser Nelson says that Gordon Brown thinks the truth is hell.

James Forsyth warns David Cameron against shifting George Osborne, and suggests that a constitutional monarch should be seen and not heard when it comes to politics.

Clive Davis gives his take on Beethoven's Choral Symphony.

And Americano outlines Karl Rove's roadmap.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comment

Do the forecasts point to an early election?

The CBI have come out with another set of gloomy forecasts this morning, by which the recession will be "deeper and longer lasting" than previously thought.  They predict that the economy will contract by 1.7 percent in 2009 and that unemployment will hit just under 3 million in 2010.  

It's still something that I think unlikely, but every forecast such as this strengthens the increasingly popular idea that Brown will call an early election.  Not only will he find it more difficult to maintain his Economic Saviour narrative as the recession worsens...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (14)

A constitutional monarch is best seen and not heard when it comes to politics

Jonathan Dimbleby's essay in The Sunday Times about the kind of king Prince Charles would be suggests that the monarchy will be in for a turbulent time if and when Charles ascends to the throne. Dimbleby reports that Charles intends to move away from the strict silence on political issues of his mother and instead adopt a role more akin to that of the German or Irish president.

Obviously keen to avoid encouraging comparisons to To Play the King, Dimbleby stresses that Charles would avoid partisan issues. But the examples...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (17)

What needs to be done in Afghanistan

David Kilcullen is one of the intellectual forces behind the Petraeus strategy in Iraq which has transformed the situation there. It was Kilcullen, an Australian and an anthropologist by training, who grasped the pre-eminent importance of population security.  So, Kilcullen’s thoughts on Afghanistan, relayed to George Packer of the New Yorker, are well worth reflecting on.

Kilcullen sees four crucial challenges the mission there must rise to: 

“(1) We have failed to secure the Afghan people. That is, we have failed to deliver them a well-founded feeling of security. Our

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (4)