Society Archives

Tuesday

31 Mar 2009

Brown delivers his G20 sermon

The symbolism was blatant. Here was Gordon Brown in St Paul’s Cathedral, delivering a speech on the moral dimensions of the credit crunch. It’s stuffed with words like “faith” and “virtue”, making it all quite unnerving. Then again, I think the country needs effective politicians. Not a new god. You can see what Brown’s trying to do. Until now, his pronouncements ahead of the G20 summit have been more or less bogged down in technical lingo about regulation and tax havens. This was an attempt to do something different; to put a fresh, more human, spin on the rhetoric of the Crunch. On that front, I’m not quite sure it worked. While Brown had some

Peter Hoskin

Expenses investigation to be brought forward

Sky are reporting that the investigation into MPs’ expenses by the Committee on Standards in Public Life is to be brought forward. It was originally going to publish its findings after the next election, but now they’ll come out before the end of the year. Of course, to some extent, any effort to deal with the situation should be welcomed. But, just as with Gordon Brown’s suggestions yesterday, there’s still plenty of room for doubt and cynicism. Will the committee’s findings change all that much? Will polticians cooperate with it? Should things be happening quicker? Given Nick Clegg’s claim that he, Gordon Brown and David Cameron could just “sit down tomorrow” and “agree a new

James Forsyth

There are good expenses as well as bad expenses

Reading the coverage of MP’s expenses in the papers today there is a tendency to view those MPs who are the cheapest as the best value. But think this isn’t necessarily true. Take the MP’s staffing allowance: I’d wager that those MPs who spend close to the full amount and don’t employ family members are actually better MPs both in terms of serving their constituents and holding the executive to account than those who don’t claim as much. Now, there are obviously expense claims which are being made that abuse the public’s trust. For instance, even if MPs should have a second home there is no justification for them being

Peter Hoskin

Fourth choice Smith

In light of the speculation surrounding Jacqui Smith’s future, this passage from Steve Richards’ column today is worth pulling out: “I am told [Jacqui Smith] was not Brown’s first choice [for Home Secretary] and not even his second. Indeed, one government insider tells me three others were approached but had no desire to go near the unpredictable nightmare of the Home Office. Smith’s narrative also highlights the fickle nature of politics. Within a year she could have lost her cabinet job and her seat.” It does suggest that Brown would have few qualms about replacing Smith; especially given her recent troubles. But it also makes you wonder whether anyone will really

Peter Hoskin

Desperate times call for desperate measures?

Could Alistair Darling be replaced after all? I tend to think he won’t be. The way the downturn has played out seems to have strengthened his hand, and it won’t do much for the Government’s economic message to start swapping Chancellors at this stage in the game. But a snippet in Rachel Sylvester’s column this morning reveals that the “Balls for Chancellor” talk is reappearing nonetheless: “Downing Street insiders have again started to speculate that Mr Darling might be replaced by Ed Balls in a reshuffle this year. ‘Gordon wants someone in there who thinks the way he does,’ one Brown aide told me. How can the Prime Minister

Alex Massie

If I am corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district…

Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images There are those who say that John Murtha’s mastery of the federal budget process has made the slab-faced Pennsylvania Democrat the posterboy for the need to overhaul the earmark process that delivers federal money to Congressional districts across the country and goes some way towards ensuring that, absent the proverbial presence of a dead girl or a live boy, it’s exceedingly difficult to defeat a sitting member. Murtha has brought billions of dollars of bacon back to his Johnstown constituency and become a hate-figure for reform-minded good-government types. Not that the Congressman gives a damn: “If I’m corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district”

Alex Massie

Department of Crime

How to commit what would seem to be close to a “perfect” crime? Step a) Make Sure you’re in Germany. Step b) Make sure you have an identical twin. From Spiegel Online: German police say at least one of the identical twin brothers Hassan and Abbas O. may have perpetrated a recent multimillion euro jewelry heist in Berlin. But because of their indistinguishable DNA, neither can be individually linked to the crime. Both were set free on Wednesday. When police found traces of DNA on a glove left at the scene of the crime, it seemed that the criminals responsible for Germany’s most spectacular heist in years would be caught.

Monday

30 Mar 2009

James Forsyth

Hillary’s party of hawks inside the administration

On the Chris Matthews Show, David Ignatius set out the internal debate in the administration about Af-Pak policy: “Vice President Biden and the deputy secretary of state Jim Steinberg argued for this narrow focus on al-Qaeda, a kind of minimal definition of the US role. Richard Holbrooke, our new emissary to that part of the world, Hillary Clinton argued with General Petraeus for a broader nation-building effort. And as near as I can tell–we’ll have to sort this out over the next week–the president came–leaned on the side of the Biden narrower definition, because I think he’s nervous about getting in too deep, the very question you raised at the

James Forsyth

Out of control | 30 March 2009

New York Magazine has a great piece this week by the man who wrote the software that so many bankers used to turn mortgages into bonds. It’s a gripping read and best summed up by his mentor telling him that the process was like putting “chicken into the grinder and out comes sirloin”. This exchange with someone who parcelled up auto sub-prime loan illustrates how the banks hoped to make money out of sub-prime: “Who’s paying 16 percent for a car loan?” I asked. The current loan rate was then around 8 percent. “Oh, people who have defaulted on loans in the past. That’s why they’re called subprime,” he informed

Alex Massie

New American Leadership, Same American Leadership Style: Do As You Are Told.

Times change, of course. It wasn’t so long ago that the American left wondered why Democrats in Congress couldn’t “stand up” to the Bush administration in the way that, say, France and Germany opposed the American-led War in Iraq. Now that the worm has turned in Washington, of course, everything is different. Why won’t those annoying europeans do as they’re told? This time it is the failure of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, among others, to endorse the Americans’ “solution” to the financial crisis that is irritating pundits in Washington and New York. Hence, Michael Tomasky*: “confidence has never been especially great here in the states that, even with Obama’s

Alex Massie

Forgetting the Armenians, 2009 Edition

At the New Republic Mike Crowley picks up where this post left off and lays-out the familiar arguments on US recognition of the Armenian genocide. It’s tough for the Armenians: all they have on their side is principle (and Obama’s campaign promises) while, as Crowley points out, the Turks have realpolitik and a well-oiled lobbying machine (that currently employs the combined efforts of Dick Gephardt and Denny Hastert) that takes opposing any formal, President-endorsed recognition of the genocide very seriously indeed. As Mike reports: Obama can be forgiven for dodging the explosive subject of genocide while he is a guest in Ankara next week. But, when the Armenians’ annual day

Peter Hoskin

Pay day for MPs

Now, how’s this for timing? With the Jacqui Smith row rumbling on, Parliament has released expenses details for every MP from April 2007 to March 2008 – you can access them here and here. There are no receipts yet, so we can’t see the devils that surely reside in the detail. But, in the meantime, we know that Gordon Brown claimed £124,454 in total, while David Cameron claimed £148,829. ConservativeHome have pulled out some more figures here. In other pay-related news, it’s been announced that MPs will receive a 2.33 percent pay rise as of April, with Sky revealing that Brown is “ordering” his ministers to take a pay freeze. Although Brown’s demand is heading in the right

Daniel Korski

Leaving behind an uncertain Afghanistan

I am now leaving Afghanistan, heading towards the glitzy skyline of Dubai where many Afghan warlords have built holiday homes alongside their narcotecture in Kabul. I finished my trip with a visit to Afghan Defence Minister Wardak and US General Richard P. Formica, who heads something called CSTC-A, the US operation charged with building the Afghan security forces. (I visited President Karzai’s spokesman too, his cousin as well as his de facto campaign manager, but I’ll spare you the spin he served up). I asked Wardak, who used to be a Mujahedeen and worked with Jalaluddin Haqqani, one of the most ferocious insurgent commanders today, how the conflict would end.

James Forsyth

If Smith wants to get on with the job, she’ll have to face the press first

There are certain positions in government in which you can be hidden away, protected by your colleagues. Home Secretary isn’t one of them. Jacqui Smith has to work out how she is going to handle her return to public life. I’m sure there will be those advising her to carry on as if nothing had happened, to make an announcement on a serious subject and dare the press to question her about her husband’s viewing habits. But this would be a mistake. The press are going to ask her about this scandal pretty much regardless and for her to be questioned about porn movies after an announcement on anti-terrorism would

Peter Hoskin

Brown washes his hands of the Jacqui Smith situation

Is it just me, or is Gordon Brown’s take on the Jacqui Smith situation especially dispiriting? Speaking at a Downing Street presser, he said that it’s a “personal matter” that “must not detract from the great job Jacqui Smith is doing”. That’s it. Nothing more. Sure, that Smith’s husband chooses to watch porn films in the privacy of his own home is a personal matter. But the moment when the taxpayer is expected to pick up the tab is the moment it becomes a public matter. It remains a public matter even after Smith has apologised and paid the money back, as taxpayers need to know that this kind of

Alex Massie

Better Speechwriters Please

I’d been thinking that there’s no need to pile on further and that at some point the proper criticism the Prime Minister is receiving – wherever in the world he travels – starts to look mean-spirited and ends up being not much more than a pretty brutal case of schoolyard bullying. Happily – since scorn, like wrath, must be nursed to keep it warm – the Prime Minister keeps encouraging one to think the worst of him. Take, for instance, his speech to the European parliament during which, as Matthew Parris relates, Mr Brown said this: “So I stand here today proud to be British and proud to be European:

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 30 March – 5 April

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 – provided 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

Fraser Nelson

Questions for the climate change brigade to answer

Why are so many intelligent people taken in by the climate change argument? I have long (and genuinely) suspected I’m missing something. So I tuned in to Start The Week to hear Sir Nicholas Stern back with a new book on climate change – which (surprise, surprise) he says has grown far worse since he came out with his review in Oct 06. Andrew Marr asked him why he, with a “flip of the wrist,” dismisses the argument of those who do not believe it is man-made. (There is a “yearning,” Marr says, to believe that it’s not really our fault). Stern (who has zero scientific expertise) replied that the

Peter Hoskin

Obama’s call for unity is a concession to the G20 refuseniks

Uh-oh. Reading the FT’s Big Interview with Barack Obama (text here, audio here), it sounds as though the US president has given up on a meaningful “global grand bargain” being reached at the London Summit. Sure, he doesn’t quite say it in those words. In fact, he bandies about terms like “significant progress,” and calls for a “strong message of unity,” as politicians are wont to do. But the signs are still there, particularly when he talks about a “fiscal stimulus”: “What I have consistently argued is that what is needed is a ‘both and approach’. We need stimulus and we need regulation. We need to deal with the problems

Sunday

29 Mar 2009

Daniel Korski

The tragedy of Afghanistan is that the Taliban has a better co-ordinated political and military strategy than we do

Two words that are repeated everywhere you go in Afghanistan are “comprehensive” and “integrated”. The thinking is that the international community must act in a comprehensive and integrated manner, ensuring that military and civilian activity work together. From the NATO commander’s intent down to every visitor’s presentation, these words are repeated ad nauseam. Even President Obama stuck them into his speech outlining his new strategy. But as with most things, they are easier said than done. Around Kabul where the French patrol, they talk about working with civilians, but the general in charge does not even have a development adviser on his staff. In the north, coordination between the military