Spectator Live

The XI of the Decade

Alex Massie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:19:17 GMT

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 Gilchrest
7. S Pollock
8. S Warne
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 team of]]>

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

James Forsyth — Fri, 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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Petraeus 2012 Watch

Alex Massie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:15:42 GMT

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]]>

There are moral absolutes: aspects of Sharia are barbaric

David Blackburn — Fri, 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

Fri, 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]]>

Backroom Deals in Brussels Are No Big Deal

Alex Massie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:43:17 GMT

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]]>

Lost poem in the Lost City

Olivia Cole — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:24:51 GMT

Who painted over Waterloo’s best loved work of public art? Ten years ago, poet and art critic Sue Hubbard, was commissioned by the Poetry Society and the BFI to decorate the tunnel that leads from Waterloo to the Imax cinema. She duly did so with a poem about Eurydice, the mythical heroine imprisoned underground in the underworld. This was very apt as commuters made their way through the tunnel, and suddenly emerged into the light.

On passing by recently, Hubbard was understandably upset to discover that the mosaics of her words have been]]>

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

Peter Hoskin — Fri, 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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The Baroness and the bore: right for the EU jobs

Daniel Korski — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:50:22 GMT

Among a batch of unpopular blogposts, this is the one that will get Coffee Housers to grab their pitchforks and hunt me down. Because I think the appointments of Belgium’s Herman Van Rompuy, as president of the European Council, and Britain’s Catherine Ashton, as EU “high representative” for foreign affairs, are not bad at all.

First, I have to eat my words. I thought Gordon Brown would fail to shoehorn a Briton into a top EU job. Credit goes to him and Britain’s diplomats, chiefly Kim Darroch, the UK’s Permanent Representative in Brussels.]]>

Photo of the Day

Alex Massie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:26:35 GMT

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

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Elected police commissioners are a test of whether the Tories are serious or not about their agenda

James Forsyth — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:50:14 GMT

Sir Hugh Orde, the head of the Association of Chief Police officers, has issued another broadside against Tory plans for locally elected police commissioner. Orde has warned that senior police officers will resign over the plans and that, “Even the perception that the police service of this country… is under any political influence, I think that suggests you cannot argue that you are a proper democratic society.” This is an absurd argument. The idea that you are not a proper democratic society because the police commissioner is accountable to the public via the]]>

The Eighth Wonder of the World

Peter Hoskin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:28:59 GMT

Brother, can you spare me £150,000? You see, I'm not normally too fussed about film memorabilia – but this is different. It's the one of the original models of King Kong, its fur and flesh long since worn away, which Willis O'Brien conjured into life for the 1933 film. And it goes on sale at Christie's today.

More seriously, I hope that, whoever the eventual buyer is, this Kong ends up in a museum. He is an immortal part of film history and deserves a kinder public stage than the one he]]>

Paul Clarke Update II

Alex Massie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:31:30 GMT

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)]]>

The problem with Brown's latest Big Idea

Peter Hoskin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:05:59 GMT

There's some very readable stuff in this week's Economist (including a leader which outlines what Brown's government should – but almost certainly won't – do with its "last months in power"). But if you read only one article from it, make sure it's the Bagehot column and its dissection of Brown's latest Big Idea: public service guarantees.

These are the pledges-turned-legal entitlements which popped up throughout the Queen's Speech – such as the "guarantee" that patients will have hospital treatment within 18 weeks of being referred by a GP. As Bagehot]]>

Cameron goes Blond

James Forsyth — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:45:45 GMT

In their party political broadcast last night, the Tories endorsed a community right to buy. The idea is that communities would be offered first refusal to take over and run local amenities that are faced with closure. For example, the community would be able to take over a Post Office rather than see it shut down. Community groups would also be able to bid to run publicly provided assets such as libraries. It is a policy that has doorstep appeal and also positions the Tories where they want to be. Thatcher offered individuals a]]>

Nothing’s changed

David Blackburn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:04:29 GMT

It’s a pity the Spectator has already run a political scandals supplement: the Telegraph’s latest scoop is a sordid classic. The Telegraph allege that Tory MP David Curry has claimed £28,078 on a second home from which his wife had banned from using after Curry used it as a rendezvous for assignations with a local school mistress. Curry is standing down at the next election and could make a packet if he sells the taxpayer funded property.

There is a further complication. Until last night, Curry was the chairman of the parliamentary standards]]>

A voice of decency protests

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:32:10 GMT

Robin Shepherd’s op-ed on that Dispatches in the Wall Street Journal is a cracker. Having dwelt upon the absurdity and sloppiness of its case, he concludes nevertheless:

Given the paucity of the arguments, it would be tempting to dismiss the whole thing as unimportant. Would that we could. The documentary has already provoked a torrent of abuse against British Jews... If this sort of language takes hold, a bad situation in Britain may be about to get a whole lot worse.

Jewish leadership organizations have long feared

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The Battle Against the Extremists in East London

Martin Bright — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:33:02 GMT

I have written about the battle against the neo-Nazis and radical Islam in this week's Jewish Chronicle. This is such an important issue that I am cross-posting the two pieces.

The JC's splash this week is the news that Barking and Dagenham Council could fall to the BNP next year. This follows the news that the party's leader will take on Margaret Hodge at the next general election.

I also wrote a comment piece arguing that there should be a new anti-fascist alliance in east London to tackle the twin threat of the Islamist extreme right and the BNP.

We already have Britain's]]>

The EU plumps for obscure and even more obscure as its first president and foreign minister

James Forsyth — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:05:47 GMT

You can say this for the European Union, it never misses a chance to disappoint. The first EU president is a Belgium Prime Minister who is obscure even by Belgium standards and its first foreign minister is a Brit who would be treated as a joke if they had been made Foreign Secretary.

From a British political point of view, Brown will be able to take credit for getting the foreign minister post]]>

Did Obama Steal the Election?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:52:47 GMT

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]]>

Letting his opinions be known

James Forsyth — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:14:33 GMT

Today’s Evening Standard features an interview with Bernice McCabe, co-director of the Prince’s Teaching Institute. McCabe tells the paper that:

“He [the Prince of Wales] is very passionate about the fact that children need a good grasp of literature and that all children need to understand the history of our country,” she said. “He is passionate that these subjects should remain there in the curriculum.”

I happen to agree with the Prince of Wales on this point, but it is completely unacceptable that someone is speaking for him on what is]]>

The day ends on a sour note for Labour

Peter Hoskin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:49:55 GMT

Two Labour figures, two bad news stories. The first is Tony Blair, and the news that he has given up on the role of EU President – leaving the path more or less clear for the Belgian PM, Herman Van Rompuy. The second is Harriet Harman, and the news that she faces prosecution for allegedly "driving without due care and attention and driving while using a mobile phone."

The Blair story is significant enough on its own – but throw in Harman, and it's doubly certain that Brown's legislative programme will be]]>

La Main du Match

Alex Massie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:21:13 GMT

Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

If there were a World Cup for Being Sanctimonious, Ireland would qualify every time. So, mind you, might Scotland. The aftermath of last night's match in Paris has been predictably entertaining. One refereeing blunder (though it's quite pssible the referee was unsighted and so did not, in fact, "bottle" the decision) has provided ample opportunity for cant and humbug. Thus, the Irish demand that the match be replayed. Good idea! Let's have another go at the 1966 World Cup Final while we're at it!

FAI President John Delaney

Congratulations, Michael Heath

Fraser Nelson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:20:11 GMT

Last night, Michael Heath, The Spectator’s brilliant cartoon editor, won a lifetime achievement award at the Cartoon Art Trust Awards – and what a lifetime. His first illustrations for The Spectator appeared in the mid-1950s, and have long since become a mainstay of the magazine. To mark this special talent, we've pasted a selection of his cartoons, from across the decades, below. So congratulations, Michael. And here's to the next 55 years.

1950s: 11 December, 1959

1960s: 24 April, 1974

1970s: 1 April, 1978

1980s: 3 April, 1982

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Dylan does Christmas, badly

David Blackburn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:59:38 GMT

I love Bob Dylan. He is, quite simply, the greatest lyricist of the 20th Century, and recent efforts such as Modern Times and the eighth instalment of his Bootleg Series prove that he’s still got it and remains committed to re-inventing himself musically.

Even a genius can over do re-invention and end up looking loopy rather than outré and edgy. Dylan’s latest offering, Christmas In The Heart, has received mixed to bad reviews. The snippet I heard on the Today programme didn’t exactly inspire confidence – grizzled crooning to Hark the Herald Angel Sing]]>

Trying KSM in NYC

Alex Massie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:36:16 GMT

On the whole I'm sympathetic to the Obama administration's desire to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court in New York City. That is, dealing with this kind of terrorism is a matter of law-enforcement as well as, in other respects, a military matter. And yet, despite all the talk about how putting KSM on trial is an affirmation of superior, civilised values and all the rest of it, I'm not sure that the trial will be quite the propaganda victory some think it may be.

Ruth Marcus happily spares one the job of dealing with a typically]]>

Good God! I was right about something

David Blackburn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:18:40 GMT

The Thick of It is more than just a comedy; it’s defining the political lexicon. In this afternoon’s Queen Speech debate (quite how our esteemed representatives can spend two days debating seven minutes worth of platitudes is beyond me), the Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, described the Tories’ shambolic health policies as an ‘omnishambles’ - very ‘hip’ phraseology stolen from an Armando Ianucci penned Malcolm Tucker rant.

Life imitating art? Or art imitating life? Neither. Back in August, I critiqued a Burnham op-ed in the Guardian, concluding that the content was so preposterous that]]>

Why my money is on Balkenende

James Forsyth — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:14:12 GMT

When it comes to the position of the first European President, the worst thing to be is the frontrunner as Tony Blair found out the other week. As soon as you emerge as the favourite, everyone concentrates on why you might not be suitable for the job. So, I suspect that Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian PM and current frontrunner, will not end up getting the job. It is hard to see how Britain could accept a candidate who is a federalist and aspires to EU-wide taxes. Also, as a friend who has his]]>

Err...Cultural violence?

Theo Hobson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:00:50 GMT

This new poster campaign has me worried.

If this point of view catches on, then maybe I’ll have to peel off the labels I’ve superglued to my children’s foreheads, which will be painful for everyone.

These people are immensely stupid, and arrogant. To suggest that one does cultural violence to one’s child by exposing him or her to religion is very close to nutty. My children are exposed to various cultural influences, from Black History Month at school to crass jokes on Childrens BBC. So what if a bit of God is in]]>

Fatal inexperience

Mark Bathgate — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:43:46 GMT

The Government debt mountain grew by a further £11.4billion in October. The UK now has one of the most expensive governments in the European Union – now materially above the Eurozone average and within touching distance of France and Sweden in spending above 50% of GDP. Blaming large Government per se for economic problems is overly simplistic – larger Government spending countries like Sweden and Finland have managed to build export market shares and provided stock market returns over the past couple of decades that put the UK to shame. Spain now has thousands]]>