Society

Saturday

Roger Alton Roger Alton

Spectator Sport: Tweaking the Formula

The annual Ferrari junket to Madonna di Campiglio in the Italian Alps last week is, understandably, regarded by motor-racing journalists as the king of freebies. Expect a whole slew of sports stories about the new Formula One season, which roars off in a few weeks in Bahrain. But, in truth, 2011 has a fair bit to live up to. There was an excellent narrative last year as the championship battle went to the wire in Abu Dhabi with four drivers still in the hunt. The season might have been a thriller but it was still very apparent that modern grand prix racing cars aren’t very good at their core purpose:

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 21 January 2011

Here is a selection of posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson warns against under-estimating the two Eds, and watches the inflation crisis deepen. James Forsyth says that appointing Balls as Shadow Chancellor is a gamble on Miliband’s part, and reflects on a bad morning for the government. Peter Hoskin asks if it is worth paying children to remain in secondary education. David Blackburn analyses where Warsi is right and wrong, and is intrigued by David Davis and Jack Straw’s sudden alliance. Nick Cohen explains what he understands by the term ‘Islamophobia’. Rod Liddle has had a problem with an acclaimed book. Alex Massie wonders if Andy

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

How do you snare a spin doctor?

So, who’s next after Andy Coulson? This question is oddly important, and will certainly influence the direction of his government. It shouldn’t, but you have to understand the way the Cameron operation works – and of how life looked before George Osborne persuaded Coulson to come on board (hoodie hugging, husky-riding, etc). Coulson was an advocate of fundamental conservative values (crime, tax cuts, Europe) and emphasised their mass appeal. Tim Montgomerie has a list of possibles for this job. But how to persuade them? Whoever does it can kiss goodbye to their life (and family) for the duration. No.10 is a pressure oven, and there’s a horribly large chance that

Thursday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Renaissance Balls

Balls is back. The author of Gordon Brown’s economic policies for 15 years. The man who bears more responsibility for anyone else – other than Brown – for the asset bubble and the consequent crash. But I suspect that, right now, Theresa May is doing cartwheels and George Osborne cursing. Balls, for all his many drawbacks, is the most ferocious attack dog there is. His brilliance (and I hate using that word) at using numbers as weapons far surprassed anything the Tories could manage in Opposition. His policies are reckless: to borrow, and to hell with the consequences. His modus operandi is to launch around-the-clock attacks. He has powerful media

James Forsyth James Forsyth

EXCLUSIVE: Warsi did not clear speech with No. 10 <br />

Sources inside Number 10 tell me that while there was a ‘general awareness’ that Baroness Warsi was to give a speech on faith, they did not know the specifics of what she was going to say. They say that no text was cleared by Downing Street. They claim that the first they knew of the controversial lines in the speech was when they were informed that Warsi’s team had briefed them out to the Telegraph.             

David Blackburn

Where Warsi is right and wrong

As ever, the headlines are more sensational than the speech, but marginally so in this case. Baroness Warsi has asserted that Islamophobia is rife and socially acceptable in Britain. It is a peculiarly crass statement for an ordinary politician to have made, but, then again, the gabbing Baroness is a very ordinary politician. Some of her speech is sensible, even unanswerable. She attacks the media and the arts for ‘the patronising, superficial way faith is discussed in certain quarters.’ Questioning faith is the natural and welcome adjunct of a free society, but specific criticism is morphing into general hostility. Elements of the Jewish community walk in fear of rising anti-Semitism;

Wednesday

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Why I didn’t follow in Rigsby’s footsteps

One of the reasons I don’t run a bed and breakfast establishment is that I cannot imagine approving of any of the sort of people who would stay in it. I would sit downstairs in the kitchen seething knowing that upstairs fundamentalist Christians, or homosexuals, or cabinet ministers and their secretaries, estate agents or people from Manchester, were besmirching my pink bri-nylon sheets with their rank and ghostly effusions. I can see absolutely that this disqualifies me from offering a bed and breakfast service to the public, even if I don’t dignify my distaste for other people with the title “religious faith”. We are surely past the point when B&Bs

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

There is a lot more to immigration than simply totting up the net migration figures

The good news is that most people in Britain think that people in their local area mix pretty well  regardless of differences in race, religion and the rest of it. According to the latest Citizenship Survey from the Department for Communities and Local Government for April-September last year, about 85 percent of people think that their neighbourhood is cohesive, community-speak for the absence of overt ethnic and religious tension. But when it comes to attitudes to immigration a slightly different view emerges. About 78 percent of Brits would like to see immigration reduced; well over half, or 54 percent, want to see it reduced a lot. That’s roughly the same

Peter Hoskin

Is it worth paying young people to stay on at school?

Today’s political news is brought to you by the letters E, M and A. Eeeema. While the political establishment debates the abolition of EMA – the Educational Maintenance Allowance – inside Parliament, campaigners will be protesting against it on the streets outside. The police, who are used to these things by now, have already set up the barricades. Behind all the fuss and froth, the argument is really this: is EMA good value? The coalition claim that paying 16-18 year-olds up to £30 a week to stay on at school is not only expensive, but also wasteful. Labour – who introduced this allowance in the first place – claim that

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Rome is Even More Rotten than Dublin

As you know, I’m not much of a Fianna Fail fan. But if there’s any Irish institution that outperforms the ghastliness of the Soldiers of Destiny it’s the Catholic Church. Here’s the latest reminder of that: A letter to Ireland’s Roman Catholic bishops has been revealed by the broadcaster RTE that contradicts the Vatican’s frequent claim it has never instructed clergy to withhold evidence or suspicion of child abuse from police. The 1997 letter documents rejection of a 1996 Irish church initiative to help police identify paedophile priests. Signed by the late Archbishop Luciano Storero, Pope John Paul II’s envoy to Ireland, it instructs bishops that their new policy of

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The inflation crisis deepens

How big does inflation have to get before our politicians admit that it’s a problem? Once again, it has “surprised” on the upside – the CPI index stood at 3.7 percent for December, against a supposed target of 2.0 percent. And the RPI index, which the nation called “inflation” until Gordon Brown asked the media to use CPI instead, is running at 4.8 percent – almost twice its former target of 2.5 percent. That is the painfully high figure to which George Osborne has just added a juicy VAT increase, which is bound to take CPI above 4 percent. Inflation has been above target for three of the last four

David Blackburn

MPs turn on PFI

There is nothing like being wise after the event. The Public Accounts Committee has turned on the private finance initiative, saying there is ‘no clear evidence’ that PFI delivers more value for money and no evidence that taxpayers have shared the profits. The committee reported: ‘There were instances where PFI may have been used where there was no evidence that it was the best procurement route. Local authorities and health trusts used PFI because there was no realistic alternative, not because it represented best value for money. The use of PFI and its alternatives should now be robustly evaluated. Looking back at PFI procurements, the government should also do more to

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

To combat binge drinking among the young, make it easier for people to drink under-age in pubs

Mary Ann Sieghart has a great piece in the Independent today about how, inadvertently, we have designed a system that almost encourages young people to drink irresponsibly. As she argues, a lot of problems have come, oddly, from making it harder for people to drink under age in pubs.  As Sieghart puts it, ‘And because we were under 18, we knew we had to remain inconspicuous. The landlord would tolerate our presence as long as we didn’t embarrass ourselves or him. We didn’t dare get smashed or he wouldn’t allow us back. And because we tended to meet the same group of friends in the same pub, being banned was

David Blackburn

Let’s hope the paternity revolution stalls

Nick Clegg’s announcement on the extension of paternity leave has been drowned by the cacophony surrounding NHS reform. The government is keen to describe itself as family friendly – with the exception of Vulgaria in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, all government’s do. Clegg hopes to bring flexibility to the workplace and relieve young mothers who would like to return to work. It’s an admirable aim, but there is only so far socially manipulative legislation can go before it becomes grossly counter-productive. David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, has made a strong case against further law. “Last week we saw changes to the default retirement age, in

Eve Atkins

A radical step forward in the health of the nation

The coalition is facing more protests today over its plans to abolish Primary Care Trusts. But PCTs are ripe for abolition. Their bureaucracy and management costs have ballooned in recent years and they have been wildly unpopular in some parts of the country for their role in pushing for hospital closures. They have failed to make the NHS more efficient and innovative and they have been responsible for many of the heart-wrenching cases of patients failing to get drugs for conditions like cancer.   In contrast, GPs are one of the most trusted groups in the NHS. Yes, there are examples of poor practice, but generally patients have high respect

David Blackburn

Dorrell: I have reservations about the Health Reforms

Stephen Dorrell, the former Health Secretary and current Chairman of the Health Select Committee, and Chuka Umanna appeared on the Daily Politics to debate Lansley’s latest reforms. Judging by this interview, Dorrell’s reservations seem to be of the constitutional rather than institutional variety. And Umanna avoided the question about whether these reforms have their genesis in the Blair/Milburn era, which suggests that Ed Miliband will denounce yet more of Blair’s record in the quest to detoxify his party’s brand.

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 17 January – 23 January

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which – providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there’s no need to stay ‘on topic’ – which means you’ll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There’s also no constraint on the length of what you write – so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything’s fair game – from political stories in your local

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 17 January 2011

…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Fraser Nelson explains how it is going right for Ed Miliband. James Forsyth watches Ed Miliband deliver a speech to the Fabian society. Peter Hoskin argues that Ed Miliband is still dodgy on the public finances. David Blackburn doubts that a Tory-Lib pact is workable. Daniel Korski unearths the constitutional IEDs left by Labour. James Plunkett and Gavin Kelly examine forthcoming tax changes. Matthew Hancock reckons that Miliband is in denial. Nick Cohen believes the American right has a problem. Rod Liddle calls the Oldham by-election. And Alex Massie says that time is up for Biffo. 

David Blackburn

Too far, too fast?

It is hubristic of David Cameron to talk of his ‘legacy’ at this stage in his premiership, not least because he invites criticism that the government’s public service reforms are going too far, too fast. The leaders of six health unions have reacted to the imminent publication of the Health and Social Care Bill with a concerned letter to the Times (£); they argue that price competition is divisive and that the reforms promote cost above quality. Dissent has spread far beyond the usual union suspects. Dr Sarah Wollaston, the Tory MP for Totnes, has expressed her misgivings and there have been numerous accounts of GPs’ reluctance to embrace commissioning reforms