Europe’s Fiscal Crisis Explained
Via Samizdata, a succinct analysis of the european fiscal crisis from Clarke & Dawe, Australia’s version of Bird & Fortune:
World
Thursday
Wednesday
Israel has harmed its standing in the world
Is there anything Israel could do which would discomfort my colleague, Melanie Phillips (I mean other than behave peaceably towards Palestinians)? She has been defending, without giving so much as an inch, Israel’s attack upon the, uh, “peace flotilla”; all perfectly justifiable, the convoy was actually an Islamist terrorist attack, and so on and so on. I am not absolutely sure that she commends her case to us all by continually insisting that Gaza City is a lovely, comfortably equipped mini-metropolis, overflowing with delicious fresh produce – a little like Sevenoaks on market day, people queuing up to get into Café Rouge and Loch Fyne. Nor that Israel has not
The Department for Fragile States?
The Department for International Development (DFID) should forsake peaceful but poor countries and instead turn into “a world leader in tackling the problems of fragile states.” That’s what a new Chatham House report by Alex Evans, who used to be an adviser to Hilary Benn, and his colleague, David Steven, argue: ‘If the UK wants to deepen its commitment to backing the challenges posed by fragile states, it needs to remodel DFID extensively, with the department concentrating on developing a coherent preventive agenda for fragile states. The Secretary of State for International Development should make it clear that where a poor country’s main need is financial, the UK will not
Tuesday
Trans-Atlantic powwow
I’m in Washington DC at a high-level seminar on trans-Atlantic relations with the “who is who” of Europe and the US, talking about issues of common concern. The Germans are here in force, as are the French, with high-ranking officials speaking about topics like Russia and Iran. Interestingly, the Brits are notable in their absence. It is probably a sign that the British government is still in transition mode, unable to explain any new policies, unready to stake out new positions. Or they may not be bothered with unofficial events such as these given the privileged access they have. But it is worth noticing nonetheless. The event is both off
A PR disaster for Israel
Prematurely, the world’s press has condemned Israel. As I wrote yesterday, the facts have to be established before Israel can be adjudged to have acted disproportionately. At the moment, the facts seem to support Israel. Video footage shows commandoes descending into a maelstrom of baseball bats and knives, armed with items that resemble paintball guns. The latest pictures released show a hoard of improvised explosives, machetes, bats, crowbars etc. Those sources’ veracity should be scrutinised, but there is nothing else to go on at the moment. Iain Martin has debunked Jon Snow’s absurd genuflection that this is our fault. Being British I apologise for everything, but not this time. Israel
Sunday
The French ambassador has not contradicted Straw’s evidence to Chilcot
The drowsy Hay festival has been shaken by two bespectacled academics igniting a rather too intricate political bomb. Under the guise of a literary interview, Philippe Sands QC and the French ambassador to London, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, have connived to attack Jack Straw’s evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry. Straw was adamant that President Chirac was ‘unambiguous, whatever the circumstances’ in his refusal to back a second UN resolution. The Guardian reports that Gourdault-Montagne told the Hay festival: ‘Chirac had made it clear that he meant France could not have supported a new UN resolution at that time since it would have triggered an invasion despite the lack of evidence that
Saturday
The revolution starts now
Why would a parent want to set up their own school? Aren’t exhausted parents busy enough without doing the job of the state as well? This has become the latest line of attack on the Conservatives’ radical proposals for school reform, launched this week. Why would a parent want to set up their own school? Aren’t exhausted parents busy enough without doing the job of the state as well? This has become the latest line of attack on the Conservatives’ radical proposals for school reform, launched this week. The media seems obsessed with this canard — perhaps after decades of central control, the concept of liberalisation is hard for them
Not so slick, Mr President
Philip Delves Broughton says that Barack Obama has not dealt well with the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico — and his party will pay at the congressional elections in November I suppose £260 million isn’t all that much in the scheme of things. Not when you are used to dealing in billions and trillions. Yet at the very moment when the entire Western world is hitching in its belt, slashing public spending and preaching austerity, work is to begin on the most extensive renovations at the White House in 60 years. New heating, cooling, electrical and fire alarm systems will be installed over four years. For £260 million, there
Thursday
A new Afghanistan strategy
In opposition, the Conservatives pursued an AfPak policy that can best be described as loyal criticism – while they supported the mission they criticised the means and methods employed to achieve it. It was an effective line of attack. But now that they have the internal documents and can call for further intelligence assessments, they should instead undertake a zero-based review of the current strategy focusing on: 1) the viability of the current US approach; 2) the likely timing and manner of a US shift; and 3) the best role for the UK in the next six months, in the next 2 years and in the next five years. In
Wednesday
Sarah Palin: Poet
I’m indebted to Stephen Pollard, late of this very parish, for alerting me to these poetic renditions of the Blessed Sarah’s public pronouncements. They have a certain zany – zen? – charm to them. For instance: “Prayer Before Debating Joe Biden” I. I said, “Piper, ‘kay, I’m going out onstage. I’m debatin’ this guy, it’s going to be kind of tough,” I said. “SO PRAY!” II. I said, “Piper, just pray that I win, ’cause you know, why not, just pray that I do well—and, oh!, Man, try and keep it easy,” I said. “JUST PRAY!” —speech in Hamilton, Ontario, April 15, 2010 There are many more.
Devastating Attack on Amnesty International
Gita Sahgal has launched a very powerful attack on Amnesty International on the Open Democracy website on the occasion of the publication of AI’s Annual Report. Here is the nub if her argument, which is devastating to Amnesty’s reputation: “In his reports to the International Executive Committee circulated for ‘transparency’, the Interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone, has airbrushed out any mention of the concerns that I forced Amnesty International to face when I went public with my complaint that the organisation has sanitized the reputation of Moazzam Begg, a former Guanatamo detainee. They have treated him as a human rights advocate, although he champions Anwar al Awlaki and al Timmimi. “Like all
Tuesday
Bannockburn Should Be Celebrated
The usually estimable David Maddox has a very strange post up at the Scotsman’s politics blog complaining that Alex Salmond wants to exploit the 700th anniversary of Bannockburn. Apparently: While Bannockburn is a battle which Scots should take historic pride in, seeing off an invading English army which had numerical superiority, it nevertheless is symbolic of anti-English feeling which are rife with the SNP and nationalist movement as a whole. So much for the “positive nationalism” which Mr Salmond claims to espouse. It is difficult to escape the feeling that this will be a year long “hate the English” festival in the run-up to a double election in 2015. This
Monday
The spending battle begins
Mark the date, dear CoffeeHouser – for this the day when the spending cuts began. George Osborne is set to give details on his £6.2 billion cuts package later today, but we already know the broad outlines of it all: £900 million from the business department budget, £500 million from chopping down some quangos, £150 million from cutting Whitehall recruitment, and so on. One encouraging fact is that only £500 million of these cuts will be “recycled” back into the public sector. The rest will go towards getting the government’s annual overspend down. But let’s not pretend that this is anything other than a start. With the deficit at £160
Friday
Rand Paul and the Civil Rights Act
Going out on a limb here, I’m guessing that Rand Paul’s admission that he would have opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act is not going to help him become the next Republican Senator representing the great state of Kentucky. Of course he’s walking back from his comments now but going from “I wouldn’t have voted for it” to “Of course I would have voted for it” is flippier than your usual flip-flop. Paul, like his father Ron, is no white supremacist and his opposition to federal encroachment is principled and reasonably consistent. The Civil Rights Act was indeed a terrible infringement upon States’ Rights. But the problem with the Paulite
Is Lance Armstrong a Cheat?
This is a question of faith and those who believe won’t let anything change their mind, while those who can’t believe in the Miracle of Lance won’t be satisfied until the poor man does something impossible and proves a negative. I’m divided: I think the believers deluded and the sceptics dangerously monomaniacal but I also have much more sympathy for the latter than the former and not just because I think Lance Armstrong a creep. Nevertheless… He cannot ever demonstrate that he has never doped – but that doesn’t mean one has to believe everything Armstrong says. As readers who are cycling fans and who possess long memories may recall,
Monday
The Latest Insidious Threat to the American Republic
Beautiful muslim women. Verily. According to the increasingly-ridiculous Daniel Pipes, Rima Fakih’s triumph in this year’s Miss USA beauty pageant is yet another dismal example of affirmative action. This is what that “affirmative action” looks like: Terrible, you’ll agree. Not that Pipes is alone in complaining about this. Someone called Debbie Schlussel says “Hizbollah is laughing at us” and puts Donald Trump – the absurdity whose organisation runs the contest – on the ever-lengthening list of “Dhimmi” fools aiding and abetting the destruction of the United States and the western world. For reals. As for Pipes and his claim that muslim women are all the rage in beauty contests, well
Saturday
A man of many parts
‘Heroin?’ I say to Simon Russell Beale. ‘Sorry?’ he says. ‘To relax after a show. To come down off the high. You take heroin?’ ‘Oh yes, yes,’ he says. ‘Yes… if only. Well, as you can probably tell from my shape I like my beer. I can’t imagine a performance without a pint or two afterwards.’ ‘Which brand?’ ‘Oh cheap stuff. Stella or Export, yes, cheap as chips, cooking lager.’ The man widely regarded as the finest theatrical talent of his generation has surprisingly simple tastes. Before we met I’d expected an imposing physical presence and some hint of the fierce energies he can unleash on stage, but Simon Russell
Thursday
Tonight…
Well, 26 minutes in to the BBC broadcast and, unsurprisingly, no-one has learnt anything useful. I don’t believe this exit poll that would, apparently, leave the Lib Dems with fewer seats is at all accurate. In fact I’d say it is bonkers. The fact that the broadcasters won’t give us percentages is itself absurd and I also suspect they’re applying a meaningless uniform swing to it too. So, worse than bonkers it’s also probably useless. I’m not going to live-blog the whole shenanigans but I shall be tweeting and you can find my feed here. That said, there’ll be some posts popping up here from time to time. As time
Saturday
The Asbo swan of Cambridge: a fable for our time
A swan won’t take your eye out, says Rod Liddle. So why the health and safety paranoia? Never mind hung parliaments and the ending of the two-party dominance of British politics (a notion I seem to remember being mooted in about 1982) — here’s the important question of the week: was the BBC right to provoke that swan? It’s a story you may have missed while worrying yourself stupid over who to vote for, or the fact that the Greeks are skint again, or Icelandic ash sending planes spiralling to earth like sycamore keys in an autumn gale. On a programme called The One Show, which neither you nor I
Thursday
Watch the Third Debate Here
International readers – and Britishers without televisions – can watch the third and final Prime Ministerial Debate here: