‘Do not judge a book by its cover’ is not a dictum that applies in the present case. Towards the Light: The Story of the Struggle for Liberty and Rights that Made the Modern West by Mr A. C. Grayling, Printed in the year 2007, sets us up for a rollicking defence of Freedom and
Maurice Baring is one of those writers of whom it is periodically said that he is unjustly forgotten and ripe for reappraisal. In his own lifetime, he was a prolific and popular author: a uniform edition of his work published by Heinemann in 1925 lists over 50 works — novels, plays, anthologies, poetry, memoirs and
A couple of weeks ago I was at the Wigtown Book festival where I had been invited to give the first Magnus Magnusson Memorial Lecture. Magnus had been a great supporter of this festival — and no wonder, for it is quite charming — ever since it began when Wigtown was chosen as Scotland’s official
The dream scenario for the Gore supporters who’ve kept the faith was that Al would pick up the Nobel, return to national acclaim and a draft Gore movement and then—like a modern day Cincinnatus—reluctantly return to public life for the good of the Republic. I’ve always been rather sceptical about this scenario. Gore still has
A few weeks ago I was reliably informed by an adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger that the Governator, as a consummate “image man”, had cancelled his trip to the Tory Party conference partly because there is nothing worse than being photographed with a loser. Well, Arnie seems suddenly to have overcome his reservations. Whatever made him
The drama of the last week in politics defies analogy – but one celluloid parallel has stuck in my mind. As it is Friday, I thought I’d share. This clip from the Wizard of Oz encapsulates for me the psychological change in the Tory party. The pilgrims (Tories), having reached the Emerald City (the election), are
Twenty years ago when I worked at Our Price Records the thing we shop assistants dreaded most were customers who would march up to the counter and announce that they’d heard this song on the radio by [insert artist’s name] before launching into a toe-curling rendition which we were expected to identify. Today’s Virgin Megastore
Most of the media seemed determined to turn Doris Lessing into a sweet old lady who had won the Nobel Prize for Literature, as it were, in a fit of absence of mind. Almost all of them said, on no evidence at all, that she’d been “shopping” at the time of the announcement. She has
If I were Barroso, I would pick a huge, fake fight with Gordon Brown before the EU constitution, sorry, treaty is signed. His plea today that Britain should not be “closed to Europe” is what the PM needs. The two have to pretend to be at loggerheads, let the press write up a split, then
I think I am right that Al Gore and George Bernard Shaw are the only two people ever to have won both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar. Can Coffee Housers confirm this?
When it looked like there was going to be an autumn election, Ming Campbell’s position was safe for the simple reason that there wasn’t time to replace him. But now with no election likely until 2009, the Lib Dems have time to pick a new leadership team and bed them in before the next election. The
So, yes, the bloody New York Yankees came a cropper. Smirk all you like. They remain my American League peeps. It is, as I explain, all Dubya’s fault. Give me death before you give me more Boston gloating…
Video of yesterday’s assault on Gordon Brown. A friend emails: By god, Cameron destroyed Brown. Michael Howard on the Newnight panel astutely pointed out that Blair would have made a self-deprecating remark that would have admitted the charge, but defused the pressure. It is so true. Remember Blair’s remark about Cherie and the allegation that
I’d been quietly, if feebly, sympathetic towards some of the realpolitik concerns about the forthcoming Congressional vote on recognising the Armenian genocide. Then the Washington Post came out fighting. Apparently the resolution is “Worse than Irrelevant” The Post chuntered that Congressman Adam Schiff, the driving force behind the resolution thanks to the vociferous lobbying of
A friend emails me some more George W Bush-New York Yankee parallels: Blowing 3-0 lead [in the 2004 ALDS] = Squandering of good will after 9/11 Signings of Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright = Nominations of Bernie Kerik and Harriet Miers A-Rod in October = “Heckuva Job Brownie” during Katrina Mike Mussina degrading from 6
Toby set tongues wagging with his post about whether David Cameron was Muhammed Ali to Gordon Brown’s George Foreman. (Do see Clive’s post on why Gordon is really Sonny Liston) So, here–at Toby’s suggestion–is yesterday’s encounter between Cameron and Brown and the combination of punches from the Rumble in the Jungle that Toby thought that
Anyone who missed Sky News’ Adam Boulton giving Jacqui Smith a kicking over the election last Sunday can now see it again on their excellent revamped website Boulton & Co. I can also recommend the Harman head shake – brilliant.
Do read Mark Mardell’s piece on Gordon Brown’s meeting with Jose Manuel Barroso. Particularly interesting, is his account of Brown’s European vision. “I’m told he argues that there are three phases in the European Union project to create stability on the continent. The first was establishing democracy and prosperity after the war. The second was
One of the many things that undermined John Major’s authority was the idea, first put about by Alastair Campbell, that the PM tucked his shirt into his underpants. Now, it looks like the same is being done to Ming Campbell. Here’s Kevin Maguire in this week’s New Statesman: “Does Ming the Merciless wear sock garters?
I was too harsh on the Treasury. I derided their inheritance tax con, saying it may fool TV news but would be shredded by the press. This was not the case. Most newspapers, having two hours to digest the whole budget, jumped the wrong way on IHT, reporting that the threshold was doubled to £600,000.