The Day Today lives

It's amazing how often The Day Today comes to mind when watching TV news. I've just been watching Kay Burley interview John Reid on the elections. It was one of those wonderfully Day Today  moments when someone uses a ridiculous analogy and the other person feels they have to carry on using it, however convoluted and stupid it is.

The interview went like this (not exact quotes but near enough), after John Reid had said it was a reasonable performance by Labour given the circumstances and dire predictions:

 

KB: If my son came home from school with a report card that said 'doing reasonably well' I wouldn't be happy.

JR: Well, not if your son came home with a report which said: 'doing reasonably well and you won the examination three times out of the last three exams, and you can win it a fourth time'.

KB: Yes but I'd tell him he must try harder.

JR: Try harder, indeed, but you always need to work hard.

 

Here's one of my favourite Day Today clips:  

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It works because it works

If you haven't already come across it, I do recommend Tim Worstall's site for a daily refresher in economics good sense. I liked this today:

Martin Jacques:

"It is no surprise that neoliberal economic thinking still predominates. New Labour enthusiastically embraced the central tenets of Thatcherism and has presided over an extremely long boom."

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We know today what we knew yesterday

I tried something different for the elections this year: sleep. For the first time I can remember (going back to 1979) I didn't stay up and watch the results as they came in. I went to bed and woke up as normal this morning. And here's my (not so startling) revelation: nothing is gained by staying up. The results are the same. Indeed, better still, one gets a fresher take, not being swayed by the misleadling ebbs and flows of the results coming in piecemeal through the night.

It seems to me that the correct analysis (I'm concentrating on England) is that of Matthew d'Ancona at the Coffee House:

Hovering around 41 per cent, with patchy gains in the North West, the Tories had a respectable night in the English local elections. But, at this point, Labour seems to have improved slightly upon its 2006 showing of 26 per cent: nothing to be proud of, naturally, but not the meltdown for the governing party that would have triggered a serious leadership challenge to Gordon Brown if there had been a serious leadership challenger left to mount it. David Cameron had a perfectly satisfying night. But he will be concerned that the reviving Tory Party - and it is reviving - could not make greater gains outside its southern heartlands or increase its share of the national vote. There is no 'sea change' of the sort identified by Jim Callaghan as he fell to Margaret Thatcher in 1979 - or indeed the 'new dawn' hailed by Tony Blair on May 2, 1997.

...But at 6:09, looking at the great political chessboard, one is drawn to that resonant phrase of local elections: 'No Overall Control'.

And, er, that's about it. Brown will be the next Prime Minister. Cameron has done a good job as Conservative leader but needs to do a lot better. This morning we know  exactly what we knew yesterday morning.

That's what Daniel Finkelstein pointed out yesterday when he wrote:

The local elections will inform you that national opinion is roughly where the national opinion polls say that it is. Of course. If anyone suggests different tomorrow then you will know that they are misinterpreting the results.

There's nowt more to say, really. Not that that will stop me or any other of the massed ranks of pundits from saying it.

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Comments please

Apologies if you tried to comment earlier and couldn't.. The comments should now be fixed, so do get started.

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TURN THAT RACKET DOWN!!!

Navy Patents Sound Weapon

OK, this is where I reveal myself as what is technically known as an old fart. I was once - this is infamous amongst my friends - taken by a friend for her birthday with a group to hear Macy Gray at the Empire Shepherds Bush. Until that night I had never heard of Macy Gray and had never been to the Empire (in fact the only pop concert I had ever been to was Tom Robinson at the Edinburgh Festival).

Lord, how I wish I could still say that. Every moment of the experience was foul, from the sweaty bodies in the hall through to the racket coming off the stage. But what drove me insane was the sheer noise level. I could not believe that people could actually choose to subject themselves to such painful noise.

I lasted about 20 minutes before having to leave.

I suggest that the US Navy gets itself down to the nearest pop concert and records it. The army did something similar when it surrounded General Noriega's encampment in Panama and blasted him out with rock music.

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Blessed are the cheesemakers

I have nothing to add to this post from Daniel Finkelstein:

My favourite fact of the last 12 months appeared in The Times this morning.

Apparently 52 per cent of senior figures in the dairy industry believe that this Government "is actively anticheese".

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Respect from Nasrallah

If I were to write of the current Israeli shenanigans, with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni calling for PM Ehud Olmert to resign, that, far from using the Winograd Commission as a stick with which to beat Israel, it shows how self-critical and real Israeli democracy is, I would not be alone in such a thought.

It's shared by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah :

It is worthy of respect that an investigative commission appointed by Olmert condemns him...When the enemy entity acts honestly and sincerely, you cannot but respect it.

(via Tom Gross)
  

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No early retirement for me

Last summer I saw a horse win at The Curragh and thought: that's something special. I backed him there and then for the 2000 Guineas at 16/1 and the Derby at 25/1, each way for both and in a double. I had a - for me - huge bet on him. He went on to be unbeaten in 5 runs and was the champion two year old. And I have been sitting pretty and smug all winter. He wintered as almost odds-on favourite for the 2000 Guineas and clear favourite for the Derby. I've been salivating for months. If he won just one of those races I'd tidy a hefty sum; if he went and won both, as the bookies - and I - thought he would, I'd have won a fortune. 

The horse's name is Teofilo, and this happened today:

That's the story of antepost betting. For six months he had a perfect preparation. Last week he had a setback from which he seemed to have receovered and then today - two days before the race - it's all over. As are my dreams of an early retirement.

That's racing, as they say.

(Mind you, I still have him at a good price for the Derby. And I have a sizeable bet on his stable companion, Finsceal Beo, at 6/1 for Sunday's 1000 Guineas, and I really can't see what is going to beat her.) 

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Sarkozy - wrong and right

For all that Sarkozy is clearly the only sensible candidate, there's much on which he is worryingly wrong. My CNE colleague Jacob Arfwedson had a fascinating piece in the Wall Street Journal Europe on the real Sarkozy. Here's an extract:

French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy is often portrayed in the foreign press as a maverick who advocates market reforms and pro-American positions. Yet a month before the first round of elections, his rhetoric smacks ominously of traditional Gaullist and statist ideology.

His campaign speeches have become diatribes against capitalism and global free trade, and his constant calls for interventionism bode ill for France should he reach the ultimate pinnacle. In a March 6 speech in the Parisian suburb of Cormeilles, for instance, he used the word "state" more than 70 times and the verb "protect" more than 40 times in outlining his economic program. When he did talk about issues such as capitalism, innovation or entrepreneurship, it was only in dismissive or disparaging terms.

But there's also a lot on which he is refreshingly right, especially for a French politico. This piece in yesterday's Jerusalem Post is fascinating, and heartening:

Officials close to Sarkozy stressed that Israel's security is of utmost importance, preceding the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"When there are Kassams and Katyushas being fired into Israel, where is the problem in defending yourself?" one official said. "Israel cannot compromise its security, otherwise it will be the civilian population that will suffer."

The official argued that Israel's West Bank barrier, even when it cuts through Palestinian territory, falls under the jurisdiction of security. "When there is peace, the route will be reworked," he said. "For now, it is disputed territory. First, let Israel and the Palestinians reach a peace agreement, and then, once there is a deliberate step toward peace by the Palestinians, the details can be worked out."

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Everything is bloggable

Not that I am obsessed with blogging... 

(From Daily INK) 

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