Society

Saturday

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Theatrical wizardry

The Late Middle Classes Donmar, until 17 July Lilies of the Land Arts, until 17 July Plotless plays are usually the work of beginners or nutcases. Very occasionally they’re produced by seasoned theatrical wizards. Simon Gray belongs to the third type. The Late Middle Classes is an absorbing and often hilarious portrait of the buttoned-up English bourgeoisie of the 1950s. Celia and her pathologist husband Charles have pitched up in Hayling Island but they can’t wait to swap its provincial torpor for the glamour of London. Their big move is dependent on their son Holly’s ability to get a full scholarship to a public school. His musical talent is being

William Waldegrave

Almost a great man

Of those prime ministers whom the old grammar schools escalator propelled from the bottom to the top of British society since the second world war, Ted Heath and Margaret Thatcher were in many ways the most alike. Wilson, that classic greasy-pole climber, tactically brilliant, strategically trivial; Major, decent, straightforward, a good man lifted to power on the shoulders of his many friends as a healer who could unite: both these are types, the one less admirable than the other, but familiar to history. Heath and Thatcher are much odder, more dangerous and more remarkable. It is an extraordinary tribute to the modern Conservative Party that both chose it as the

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Touareg 0 Toerags 0

I’m not going to intrude into private grief. But, as mentioned before, there’s a considerable disconnect between the England fans (many of them anyway) and the tabloids. As this wince-inducing Sun frontpage from the day after the draw was announced makes clear… So, readers, what do you think England should do next?

James Forsyth James Forsyth

BP move gaffe-prone Hayward away from day to day management of the oil spill

The day after Tony Hayward’s pretty disastrous appearance before Congress, BP have announced that Bob Dudley, the managing director of BP, will take over day to day control of trying to deal with the oil spill. BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told Sky that “It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people.” “This has now turned into a reputation matter, financial and political, and that is why you will now see more of me”. This choice of words hardly suggests much confidence in Hayward. 

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The right message and the right messengers

The Coalition’s plan to let teachers, parents and voluntary groups set up their own state-funded free schools has had a particularly good run in the media. The package on the Six o’clock news was one of the most positive pieces I can remember being done on Coalition policy. The free schools idea is a good one and has been well thought-through. That’s definitely part of the reason it has come across well today. But it has also been boosted by the fact that the most prominent advocates for it today have not been politicians but the parents and teachers who want to set up their own schools. On the Today

David Blackburn

May calls for culture change towards LGB&T groups

Theresa May has called for ‘culture change’ in wider society to ease the equality and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender minorities. Abstractions are the executive’s favoured metier these days. I’ve read and re-read May’s article in Pink News and nowhere does she define ‘culture change’. The end product of a culture change towards LGB&T groups might be envisaged, but how is it initiated? The government cannot answer that question, beyond suggesting that supporting pride marches is positive. True, but society is more than a pride march. It exists in the daily confusion caused by ill-defined laws, such as who B&B owners let into their homes/businesses. Or whether it

Alex Massie Alex Massie

When Buzz Lightyear Met Jimmy McNulty

It’s  beautiful Friday afternoon, the World Cup is on and, frankly, it’s no time to be working. So, here’s a good thing for you: a brilliant mash-up of The Wire and Toy Story. Trust me, you’ll like this: [Hat-tip: Ezra Klein]

David Blackburn

The audacity of hope

70 years ago today, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle delivered two of the most important speeches of the 20th Century. Against the odds and common sense, both urged their respective nations to fight on against the tyranny of Nazi Germany. Today is a reminder that France is one of Britain’s oldest and closest allies, a point that the Times expresses this morning. Their words merit revisiting. Here is Churchill’s timeless address: ‘However matters may go in France or with the French Government or with another French Government, we in this island and in the British Empire will never lose our sense of comradeship with the French people. If we

Peter Hoskin

The schools revolution is under way

There’s an historic tinge to proceedings this morning, as Michael Gove prepares to release an application form by which parents, charities and other groups can establish free schools.  In effect, this is zero hour for the policy that The Spectator described as “reason enough to vote Conservative” a couple of months ago. The coalition is hoping that the first of the new breed of schools will appear in September next year. Much of it will come down to take-up: how many schools are set up, and when. So it’s encouraging that people and organisations are already expressing heavy interest in the government’s plans.  As Michael Gove revealed in an excellent

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Oh No! English People Support England! Racists! Think of the Children!

Sunder Katwala has already done a terrific job dismantling this fatuous piece of New Statesman guff by James Macintyre. But that doesn’t mean other people can’t play the game too. Macintyre, you see, wants to see a United British football team. Not, mind you, because he thinks it might be better than England’s but because this is needed “for the sake of the Union”. Yes, really. Macintyre’s piece is remarkable, not least because I’m not persuaded it contains even a single sensible sentence while every one of its assumptions is wrong and each of its dubious interpretations is as hopeless as anything ever produced by a Russian linesman. It’s so

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Congress boils with oily rage at BP’s Hayward

The BP chief executive Tony Hayward was always going to be given the roughest of rides by Congress. He has become the bumbling face of BP, the man who personifies its failure to stop this oil spill getting worse by the day. But he turned up today with an apology and precious little else. He had no answers to predictable questions and still appeared not to get it. A ham-fisted intervention by Representative Joe Barton—apologising to BP for the way the incident had become politicised—has taken some of the heat off Hayward. But Hayward really does not look cut out for the job of being CEO of a company involved in this

Thursday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Big Society reincarnated

The Big Society is a great idea. But its problem has always been that it lacks definition; voters and even some Tory MPs aren’t quite sure what it means. But an idea being floated today gives you a sense of its practical and political potential. It is being suggested that the community right to buy, the idea that the community should have first refusal on any asset being sold off, should be applied to the port of Dover. The last government wanted to privatise the port but the new MP for Dover, a Tory called Charlie Elphicke has proposed that a community trust be allowed to buy the port and

David Blackburn

Worrying developments

Paul Waugh has news that the Treasury asked a broadcaster to sign a written legal agreement that they would not ask any questions about the OBR’s announcement. Well, some of the figures embarrassed Osborne but surely it wasn’t that bad? As Paul notes, this may be a case of the Civil Service taking advantage of ministers’ inexperience but even so. Equally, the government has adopted the practice of its predecessor and issued statements to the press before stating them to the House. Carry on like this and we’ll join the axis of evil. New politics please. UPDATE: Turns out not to have been so worrying.

David Blackburn

The coalition is edging the public spending debate

Danny Alexander acquitted himself effectively this morning. The restructuring of government spending has gone beyond bland clichés about ‘efficiencies’; with care, the government is dismantling Labour’s unfunded spending projects. £8.5bn in unfunded projects signed-off since 1 January 2010 are on a stay of execution until the autumn; £1bn of unfunded projects signed-off before 1 January 2010 are also on their way to the block. £2bn will be saved almost immediately with the cancellation of the 2 year jobseekers’ guarantee, the young person’s guarantee, CLG regional leader board, the local authority business growth incentive and the county sports partnerships. Controversially, the government has also cancelled the Sheffield Forgemasters’ fund and the

Peter Craven

Diary – 17 June 2010

Sydney was at the edge of winter, with that crisp thin sunlight that can make the harbour city idyllic, when my friend Colin Oehring and I were there for the first Bill Henson opening since the one Kevin Rudd found ‘disgusting’ and which was closed down by the police despite getting a G rating from Donald McDonald’s Commonwealth censors. It all went without horrific drama. Barry Humphries could be seen in the midst of a capacity crowd which had seemed at the outset to consist of Miranda Devine and a couple of teenage girls. I’m told Devine was apologetic about the bushfire cum auto-da-fé she inadvertently started back in 2008.

Wednesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Annals of Dismal Punditry: World Cup Edition

One of the stranger aspects of watching World Cup coverage in the United States is ESPN’s choice of colour commentator and studio analyst. Who knew that what this tournament really needs is Robbie Mustoe’s analysis? Then there’s Steve McManaman and Ally McCoist and Efan Ekoku all of whom are working for the Americans for, frankly, mysterious reasons. Not all of it works. Then again, the quality of analysis on the BBC and ITV has been abysmal and actually, I think, worse than what ESPN offers. Tom English has a splendid, righteous, column in the Scotsman today that sets about Shearer and Hansen and Chiles and the rest of them in

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Of Pigs and Cucumbers

Pleased to be back in Blighty and pleased too to see that the Economist has launched Johnson, a blog about language and politics. From the most recent entry: Germany has a cranky coalition government and garrulous politicians, and so conditions are good for political insults. In one intramural fight a health ministry official from the liberal FDP likened the CSU—Bavarian conservatives—to a Wildsau, or wild pig, for its rough handling of the liberals’ health-reform ideas. But the better insult was the riposte by the CSU man, who called the liberals a Gurkentruppe, literally a troop of cucumbers. Anglophone journalists have been puzzling over how to turn this into recognisable English.

David Blackburn

Darling pulls a fast one

Alistair Darling has just forced George Osborne to the dispatch box to explain the regulatory measures that he will announce at Mansion House later today. Osborne confirms that some powers will return to the Bank of England and that an independent commission, under Sir John Vickers, will take into account competing views on capital, leverage and liquidity requirements. Retail and investment banking will be split under the new arrangements. This is effectively the end of the tri-partite system. Alistair Darling defends the tri-partite system in its entirety, arguing that no one will understand from ‘this dog’s breakfast’ who now regulates the banks – talk about undermining confidence, which the opposition

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why the Bloody Sunday soldiers must not be brought to trial

In The Times today, Danny Finkelstein eloquently sums up why it would be so wrong for any of the soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday to be prosecuted given all that has happened in the peace process: “To stop the killing, we sacrificed principles that should stand above everything. We sacrificed the rule of law and the principle of one law for everybody. We sacrificed justice and accountability to the courts. We bought peace but there is a bill to pay. And today we must pay it.” I must admit to sometimes wondering if the price we have paid for peace in Northern Ireland is too high: that too many victims

Patrick Nolan

Spending cuts must start with welfare

The new and independent Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that interest payments on public debt are set to rise to £67 billion a year by 2014-15. The hole in the public finances is so deep that every cut in spending that can be made should be made. Few commentators have grasped that tinkering around the edges, such as with “efficiency gains,” will not be enough. The only way to eliminate the deficit and to begin the task of repaying public debt is through making deep cuts in spending and for people to take more responsibility for themselves.   Cuts must start with welfare. The UK government spends more on welfare