Sunday, 17th April 2011

On not understanding Tories (2)

10:44am

Being the second in an occasional series. Part one is available here.

Let me see if I can get this straight. The British Conservative Party has not won a general election since 1992, in part because the voters did not trust it to run the NHS. Ever since David Cameron became leader, the Tories have made a mighty effort to stop health destroying their electoral hopes. Through no fault of his own, David Cameron could not rebut the suspicion that toffs with private insurance would leave the common man and woman...

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Saturday, 9th April 2011

How angry are Conservatives going to be?

5:30pm

I worry that Coffee House sometimes fails to enrage readers sufficiently, so let me run a scenario past you, suggested to me by Rafael Behr, the Observer’s brilliant leader writer.

The AV referendum is going to be the oddest vote. Turnout will be low, but how low will depend on where you live. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are having elections for their devolved assemblies. One would expect turnout to be reasonably high in all three countries, and the voters to state their preference in the AV referendum while they at the...

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Sunday, 3rd April 2011

Billy Bragg and the fate of the Lib Dems

11:58am

For as long as I can remember Billy Bragg has been arguing for tactical voting. He lives in some splendour in Dorset, and wants to drive the Tories out of the county by any means necessary. In 2005, although he was a Labour supporter, and on many issues was well to Left of Labour, he urged his comrades in West Dorset to back the only party with a chance of beating Oliver Letwin by voting Lib Dem. By the time of the 2010 election, the tactical vote had become ideological. Bragg Continue reading...

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Monday, 28th March 2011

The Tory Party’s Secret Weapon

12:37pm

Writing in today’s Guardian about the weekend protests, my colleague Jackie Ashley makes a half-true argument.

‘Miliband [cannot] be blamed for the embarrassing juxtaposition of his words at the Hyde Park rally and the actions of a group of anarchists in Oxford Street as they attacked the police. The Labour leader is no more responsible for the "black bloc" than David Cameron is for the BNP. It is absurd to argue that the democratically elected leader of the main opposition party should shy away from a huge public event

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Tuesday, 22nd March 2011

More like Veena, please

2:38pm

If we are going to avoid a clash of civilisations, we are going to need many more like the Pakistani actress Veena Malik. Watch her take on a mullah, who is trying to accuse her of immoral behaviour. This is no small accusation in Pakistan where Islamist death squads and their collaborators in the state intelligence service, operate at will. The talk show setting of the attempt at trial by media is commonplace too. The murder of Salman Taseer followed days of hacks whipping up “Muslim rage” against him.

Instead of being frightened, Malik turns on her accuser...

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Tuesday, 15th March 2011

A plea for help

9:31am

I am writing a book about threats to freedom of speech – real threats that is – and wonder if I should include a chapter on political correctness. I find it a hard question.

In many ways, political correctness has improved British manners. That people no longer screech about the niggers and the pakis and the yids, strikes me as all to the good. It is reasonable for a university, say, to suspend a lecturer who keeps making sexist jokes to women. His attitudes directly affect his ability to teach women students....

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