Has David Cameron rope-a-doped Gordon Brown? “Rope-a-dope” was the phrase coined by Muhammad Ali to describe the strategy he used to achieve his famous victory over George Foreman in the 1974 World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. In essence, it involved lying back against the ropes during the first six rounds of the fight and allowing Foreman
Stephen Fry has a blog? Ye gods, whatever next? That said, he may not have quite mastered either the brevity or the frequency elements of the gig. Still, absorbing stuff. Or something. Certainly it ain’t your average celeb-blog. What may be the world’s longest post on Smartphones ever written by a Cambridge Footlight, concludes: As
The House of Commons returned today with the first Prime Minister’s Questions since the party conference season. And, as expected, it was a corker. Sometimes the Punch and Judy show remains great entertainment – and provides a telling snapshot of the respective health of the major combatants. This was one of those occasions. The first
Tyler Cowen takes a look at Paul Krugman’s book and says Krugman isn’t prepared to think broadly on the question of why conservatism triumphed in the 1980s: Conservatism rose in the 1980s in large part because the mid to late 1970s were such an economic mess and because American had lost so much relative status
After being pummelled at PMQs today, the last thing Gordon Brown wants is an escalation of the row over the so-called EU Reform Treaty, what used to be called the constitution, and Labour’s broken promise to hold a referendum on it. But that’s what he is going to get. During an appearance in front of
Cameron is at his derisive, aggressive best. Everything Brown says is being greeted with hoots of derision. Brown’s “I will take no lectures” was weak to the point of being helpless. It looks, feels and sounds like he is taking a spanking. Labour faces are ashen, as Brown attempts to defend himself by reeling off
Real first-day-back-at-school atmosphere in the Commons, in a good way. Andy Coulson has taken a perch in the press gallery, Alex Salmond is making a rare appearance but there is only one Brown aide here. The Tories are already making far more noise. Great “bottle bank” opening gag, suspect there will be more to come.
This speech by Dan Bartlett, who was formerly a key Bush adviser, is well worth watching. Most of it is devoted to ranking the Republican contenders to succeed his old boss–of which more in a second, but before that he talks about Vladimir Putin for a few minutes. Although the tone is light-hearted as he
Columns by two of Britain’s most astute political commentators will not improve Gordon Brown’s mood this morning. In The Guardian, Jonathan Freedland bemoans how Brown doesn’t get the vision thing. He starts by saying, “For those who held high hopes for the premiership of Gordon Brown, who endured the long wait through the Blair years nurturing
I’m not quite so pessimistic as Kurt Anderson here, but he does get to the guts of why politics in America can be so wearying these days: Almost any argument about race, gender, Israel, or the war is now apt to be infected by a spirit of self-righteous grievance and demonization. Passionate disagreement isn’t sufficient;
Via NHS, I see Henry Porter is doing good work. You could hardly make this stuff up. It makes Anthony Blair look like a beacon of modesty, transparency and honesty. Yes, it’s not just our Labour masters but all the “authorities” that are to blame – but at every available opportunity Labour has enabled and
Nonetheless, have a gander and tell me if Mitt Romney looks presidential in this clip? It’s not just the rather unfortunate – from Romney’s point of view that is, since it makes him seem a heartless jackass – encounter with a medical marijuana activist (who is, it should be said, commendably restrained and temperate), it’s
Ages ago – light years in blog terms in fact – Megan noticed The Economist pointing out that the euro has lessened the pressure that Belgian politicians might otherwise face to settle their differences and observes: Now that the European Union has taken over the currency, as well as many of the trade and customs
Time’s Jay Carney previews this afternoon’s GOP debate from Michigan. Most people will, quite naturally, be most concerned with judging Fred Thompson’s debut performance. But Ron Paul has quite a bit at stake here too. Carney says: Finally, there’s Ron Paul, whose anti-Iraq War, libertarian message has made him this campaign cycle’s surprise phenom. He
DT Max had an entertaining piece in the New York Times Magazine this Sunday, exploring the Great British Squirrel Wars. Short story: its the worst sort of Squirrel Imperialism. American greys are driving out the smaller, but cuter, British red. Sadly the pair cannot coexist and it is always the red that succumbs – often
By Fraser Nelson Pennies are dropping in the city about the inheritance tax con. Here is Nigel May at MacIntyre Hudson: “The Chancellor has done some wonderful arithmetic here by adding together two allowances that already exist, and passing it off as doubling the allowance. Any married couple receiving advice about reducing their inheritance tax
This morning’s Guardian hailed the fresh brilliance of the new Unilever Turbine Hall project at Tate Modern by Doris Salcedo. It shows: “a laudable unwillingness to compromise, wanting to make a work about absolute indifference, and to address desolation and destitution…Shibboleth begins with a hairline crack in the concrete floor by the entrance. As insignificant
This morning’s Guardian hailed the fresh brilliance of the new Unilever Turbine Hall project at Tate Modern by Doris Salcedo. It shows “a laudable unwillingness to compromise, wanting to make a work about absolute indifference, and to address desolation and destitution…Shibboleth begins with a hairline crack in the concrete floor by the entrance. As insignificant
By Fraser Nelson Here’s the weasel. The Inheritance Tax “reduction” is a canard. Anyone with financial acumen (or a lawyer) will not benefit at all. KPMG have just been on the phone explaining it all to me and explain it here. “This change, although likely to grab headlines, is in practice only giving to most
By Fraser Nelson • Buy-to-let bonanza: Previously, if you sold a buy-to-let house you’d pay between 24% and 40% on the capital gains. Now it’s 18%. Great news, which may help housing market liquidity. • Welfare: Might Brown be aping Cameron on welfare reform as well? The CSR balances by assuming a fairly heroic 5% annual reduction