Society

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The laddie is for turning

In opposition, one of David Cameron’s strengths was the speed at which he dumped bad ideas. But, now, he is starting to acquire a habit for U-Turns – especially those called for by minor celebs. We’ve seen Scottish school milk, NHS Direct, BookStart, school sport – and soon, I suspect, forests, World Service cuts and (the biggie) NHS reform. A depressing pattern is emerging: anyone with a decent two-day campaign and a splattering of celebrities can probably force a concession out of the government. I make this case in my News of the World column (£) today. Here is a summary of my main argument. 1. Cameron seems to be

Saturday

Alan Judd

Motoring: Faithful servant

And so to my 72nd car (71st if you don’t count the horsebox). And so to my 72nd car (71st if you don’t count the horsebox). Oppressive financial responsibility has slowed the recent rate of change and I’ve had my 1999 old-shape Discovery 2 for an unprecedented eight-plus years, although one or two others were run in harness with it during that time. It has been a good and faithful servant. Purchased from main dealer Caffyns in 2002 for £17,000 (minus £3,000 for my trade-in Range Rover) at 37,000 miles, it needed expensive warranty work on the gearbox and ECUs (electronic black boxes) in the first year. Since then virtually

Robin Oakley

The turf: Top-heavy

Writing racing books you can turn an honest penny but you can’t expect to hit the bestseller lists. Writing racing books you can turn an honest penny but you can’t expect to hit the bestseller lists. ‘Why not try fiction?’ some friends ask, and Mrs Oakley chivvies. I haven’t yet for one reason: the odds against success, even if you do find a publisher. Out there are a magic dozen — the John le Carrés, Jeffrey Archers, and so on. Their next book is going to be a success because the last one was. Once you have had a bestseller the process is pretty well guaranteed because the supermarkets automatically

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 5 February 2011

I was invited to the local garage’s postponed Christmas party this year not just because I’d been a good customer. Perhaps more importantly I’d spent a good deal of time in the tiny office, leaning on the counter, chatting to Jim, the owner. It’s warm in Jim’s office if you keep the door shut, and his arthritic old lurcher, dozing fitfully in his basket, adds a homely touch. We’ve been talking books, Jim and I. Jim has read only one book in his life, he says: Michael Schumacher’s head mechanic’s biography. Recently, he’s embarked on a second, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. He ordered it after seeing it at the

Melissa Kite

Real life | 5 February 2011

My local minicab firm has installed an automated booking system. This means ordering a taxi now generates so much bureaucracy that I have to factor in an extra ten minutes to my morning routine so I can process all the red tape. It is no longer a case of simply ringing up and speaking to a bored-sounding bloke with a crackling headset. Now, a snazzy recorded message by a movie-trailer voiceover man set to elevator musak greets you with a series of suggestions about where a cab might take you and gives you a lengthy mission statement explaining that the aim of this minicab firm is to deliver you to

Taki

High life | 5 February 2011

In 1940, Leo Amery, speaking in the House of Commons, rebuked Neville Chamberlain and his colleagues with the Oliver Cromwell quote, ‘In the name of God, go!’ This was after the fall of France with England on the brink. Those asking for Mubarak to go are on the street, not in parliament, which doesn’t exist in the way we know it.  Mind you, I was in Damascus back in 1970 when a Hearst correspondent, John Harris, burst into my room and announced Nasser’s death from a heart attack. We drove to the airport, got into a prop Electra laid on compliments of the Syrian regime, and landed in Cairo in

The Spectator

Letters | 5 February 2011

The route to Westminster Sir: Andrew Neil is admirably fair in his article on the over-representation of Oxbridge types and the privately educated in both the Labour and Conservative parties (‘The fall of the meritocracy’, 29 January). In my view, this even-handedness is a missed opportunity, as it is surely more to the discredit of the Labour party, which allegedly represents the common man. Yet the evidence suggests that for a state-educated person from a humble background, it would be very difficult to make a career as a Labour politician, whereas it would be by no means impossible in the Conservative party. While most of the ‘People’s Party’ may not

Peter Jones

Ancient and modern: The emperor of Egypt

Romans would have regarded Hosni Mubarak as effectively the emperor of Egypt. But they would not have thought he had played a very intelligent hand. The Roman emperor held supreme authority. As head of state (princeps), he ruled the Treasury, controlled all the top political appointments, passed all laws, was final arbiter in all legal cases and selected provincial governors. As pontifex maximus, he led all the major state rituals in honour of the gods. As commander-in-chief (imperator), he ruled over the armed forces, chose all generals and determined military policy, often leading the army himself. To help him he had a circle of hand-picked, trusted advisers and a remarkably

Dot Wordsworth

Mind your language | 5 February 2011

The Egyptian people, David Cameron said last week, have ‘legitimate grievances’. I can imagine a future historian of language examining the speeches of politicians to gauge the linguistic habits of the ruling class. Nothing could be more misleading. The Egyptian people, David Cameron said last week, have ‘legitimate grievances’. I can imagine a future historian of language examining the speeches of politicians to gauge the linguistic habits of the ruling class. Nothing could be more misleading. Samuel Johnson would sit in Edmund Cave’s office above that strange medieval survival, St John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, making up parliamentary speeches for the Gentleman’s Magazine from notes brought to him by men who’d heard

Alastair Campbell

Diary – 5 February 2011

Alastair Campbell opens his Diary You may remember Ruth Turner, the Blair aide woken at dawn as ‘Yates of the Yard’ pursued allegations from the SNP about so-called cash for honours. How very different from YotY’s handling of phone-hacking. The News of the World hack Paul McMullan told me he was asked three times to visit the police to be interviewed under caution. Three times he refused. So the police ‘eliminated me from their inquiries’. Speaking to London Assembly members, YotY said the police could not be expected to chase every piece of gossip, rumour and innuendo  — er, what was ‘cash for honours’? The police have launched a new

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 5 February 2011

Home The Health and Social Care Bill, which changes the organisation of the National Health Service, passed its second reading by 321 votes to 235. Lawyers opined that the European Court of Human Rights required the government to give prisoners in Scotland and Wales the right to vote in May’s elections or risk claims for compensation; the government had already faced a demand to give prisoners votes in Westminster and European parliamentary elections. BP announced a loss of £3.1 billion for 2010, its first annual loss since 1992, because of the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, but said it would restore dividends for shareholders. The Mexican ambassador to London

The Spectator

Prisoners of Strasbourg

Does it matter if prisoners are allowed to vote or not? Save for in the odd council ward in Brixton or on Dartmoor, some 84,000 prisoners — among an electorate of 46 million — are unlikely to have a material effect on the outcome of British elections. Does it matter if prisoners are allowed to vote or not? Save for in the odd council ward in Brixton or on Dartmoor, some 84,000 prisoners — among an electorate of 46 million — are unlikely to have a material effect on the outcome of British elections. But there is a good reason why David Cameron this week did not even attempt to

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 5 February 2011

Q. At a drinks party I was introduced to a senior politician and found myself lost for words. I was not overawed, Mary, the problem was that although I admire the man, every gambit which went through my head seemed to be intrusive, patronising, critical, grovelling or stalker-like. I would like to be better prepared should the situation recur. — M.W., Wilts A. You could have taken a tip from the Queen and posed the anodyne query ‘Have you come far?’ You might even have used ‘Have you had a busy day?’ Such gambits give a politician scope to reflect on those areas of his life he can discuss without

Toby Young Toby Young

Status Anxiety: The shame of not being hacked

Like many of my colleagues in the media, I’m shocked by the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. As the list of those targeted by the newspaper grows longer and longer, my sense of outrage deepens. What were the papers’ executives thinking? Did it not even occur to them to tap my phone? OK, OK, I’m not an A-lister. I’m not even on the B-list. My ­status ­hovers somewhere between C-list and D-list (on a good day). But if you look at the people queuing up to sue the paper, some of them are below even me in the celebrity pecking order. George Galloway I can understand. He was the leader

Quentin Letts

Talk like an Egyptian | 5 February 2011

As Fraser promised, here is Quentin Letts’ article from the latest Spectator, for CoffeeHousers’ delectation: Few of us understand what is going on at the dusty end of the Med. There may be a few chinstrokers who cup, in their wizened palms, a concise comprehension of the Cairo crisis — see pages 14 to 18 — but the rest of us struggle for something to say. Vivid reporting has been sparse. The Today programme produced an English-speaking dentist in Cairo but he let the side down by saying, before Thought for the Day, how ‘pissed off’ the protesters were. Use some of your mouthwash, mister! The Times resorted to a

Martin Bright

A bad week for the Big Society?

We all know that journalists hunt in packs and now they are circling around the Big Society. Lord Wei’s decision to restrict his volunteering to two days a week and the announcement that Liverpool City Council has withdrawn from a “Big Society” pilot have been used to suggest that the idea is dead before it has been fully articulated. This would be a shame. The emergence of the Big Society has coincided with a revival of interest in the co-operative movement and mutualism. And thoughtful figures on the left, such as Jon Cruddas and Hazel Blears, have already begun to work on a Labour Party response. But there is already

Roger Alton Roger Alton

Spectator Sport: Empire of the bouncer

The cricketer Chris Cowdrey tells a charming and self-deprecating story about his one match as captain of England. It was at Headingley in 1988 in the fourth Test against the all-conquering West Indies. They had won ten of their last 11 Tests, and had not lost a series since 1980. They wouldn’t lose a series until 1995: it was probably the most powerful and successful team in any sport. Ever. The cricketer Chris Cowdrey tells a charming and self-deprecating story about his one match as captain of England. It was at Headingley in 1988 in the fourth Test against the all-conquering West Indies. They had won ten of their last

John R. Bradley

Aims of the brotherhood

Make no mistake: the Muslim Brothers’ vision for Egypt is a frightening one Hosni Mubarak should be given credit for at least one achievement in his three decades in power: his deft exploitation of Washington’s fears about the Muslim Brotherhood. There is, in fact, no evidence that the Brotherhood has ever been able to count on the support of more than a small minority. For its part, the Brotherhood has used Mubarak’s persecution of its rank-and-file membership with equal cleverness to elevate its status within Egypt and, perhaps more importantly, among the champions of ‘moderate Islam’ in the West. The Brotherhood was formed as a fundamentalist group in 1928 with

Anthony Sattin

The dominoes rally

First Tunisia, then Egypt. Whatever next? The laws of the Arab world are supposed to prohibit any domino effect: the military is supposed to be too strong, the governments too unresponsive. But these laws no longer hold now that two of North Africa’s most deeply entrenched leaders have been unsettled by popular protests. The ‘Arab street’ has suddenly become aware of the power it can wield. When President Ben Ali fled Tunisia with his wife (and perhaps some of the country’s gold reserves) alarm bells rang in palaces across the region. All over the Arab world reform is being nervously pledged. Even in Yemen, the president has promised to stand