Society

Wednesday

Ross Clark Ross Clark

A boom market in economic nonsense

The government recently proposed that schoolchildren be given lessons in personal finance. Can I ask that, alongside the Lower Fourth, room be made in the classes for the AA spokesman who recently said this: ‘People wanting to get high-aspiration vehicles at an affordable price will have been hit by the crash in [the cars’] value.’ Yes, this remark really is as stupid as it seems, but first a little context. He was talking about a form of hire purchase called ‘Personal Contract Purchase’, whereby a motorist pays a deposit, followed by two years of monthly payments. At the end of this period, the buyer has two options: he can either

Matthew Lynn

City death: why so many moneymen kill themselves

Among the many overused clichés that have been dusted off to describe the chaos in financial markets over the past few months is the observation that this is ‘a crisis like no other’. Yet in one rather dark respect, it is following convention to the letter. As losses pile up and billions evaporate, an increasing number of financiers have decided to take their own lives rather than face up to the scale of the catastrophe. In Germany, the billionaire Adolf Merckle threw himself under a train as one of Europe’s greatest family fortunes unravelled. In this country, Kirk Stephenson took the same way out after his private equity firm ran

David Tang

Heed the Chinese ghosts of Morecambe Bay

‘Since Dad went to work in England, Mum and I have been missing him all the time. Dad isn’t young anymore and he’s alone in a foreign country. It’s all because of me. What an unworthy daughter I am! Dad wants me to go to university and have a good life. He’s making money for me. We haven’t been in a photo together for five years. That’s how long he’s been gone. When the families have reunited over the New Year, we have only sorrow, and worries for Dad.’ This was written by a 17-year-old girl in China at the last Chinese New Year. A year later, nothing has changed.

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Savers are Britain’s new underclass

While my remaining bank shares were plummeting last week I bought a copy of Socialist Worker to try to cheer myself up. At least somebody must be enjoying themselves, I reasoned, as I sat down to enjoy what I thought would be red-blooded demands for insurrection and the public execution of Sir Fred Goodwin. I cannot say how disappointed I was. I might just quote this less than revolutionary sentence from a leader: At the very least, the government could insist on an end to the threat of repossession and debt collectors. Doing so would mean we would get something in return for billions of pounds of our money. Could

Justin Cartwright

My memories of the American Dostoevsky

Justin Cartwright recalls his conversations over the years with John Updike, who died this week, and the master’s contention that the only excuse for reading is to steal I love John Updike immoderately. I am profoundly shocked that he has gone, because he was for me the greatest American writer of the second half of the 20th century. He was also a gracious, charming and witty man. But above all he had a very rare quality in writing — absolute integrity. He never jumped on bandwagons, he never wrote down or pretentiously, he never pulled his punches, he never renounced his patriotism or his religious faith, as he applied himself

Joan Collins

Obama Notebook

As Obama-mania engulfs America, I feel that I’m living in the middle of a historical bubble. As Obama-mania engulfs America, I feel that I’m living in the middle of a historical bubble. The palpable excitement that began two months ago, when Obama was elected president, has grown into a great thumping worldwide lovefest. I have never seen such immense pride in a new president. His every move and those of his wife and kids is chronicled, yet amazingly he hasn’t (yet) apparently put a foot wrong, even when snapped chomping on a chilli-dog in a diner. Obama is awe-inspiring. On his train trip from Chicago to Washington, he descended at

Michael Tanner

Leave well alone | 28 January 2009

The Beggar’s Opera Linbury Studio The Magic Flute Coliseum Is there any good reason for reviving The Beggar’s Opera now? None of the mercifully few productions I have seen has given any reason for answering yes (I don’t count The Threepenny Opera). The new production at the Royal Opera’s Linbury Studio emphatically doesn’t. Originally to have been conducted by Richard Hickox, the City of London Sinfonia was in the hands of Christian Curnyn, and on the musical side things went smoothly. It was done in Britten’s realisation, which has points in its favour, but several against, too. While his touch as an arranger was always sure, though more so in

Kate Chisholm

Sound and vision

A tale of two dramas, both from the city and of our time but very different in execution. Déjà vu is the first bilingual radio play on the BBC, written in French and English, and produced in a new collaborative project between Radio Four and Arté, the internet-only TV and radio station. It goes out on air in the traditional way next Wednesday in the Afternoon Play slot on Radio Four, but the following day it will go ‘live’ on the internet on artéradio.com, where you will be able to listen to it whenever you like, and as often as you like, over the next five years. It’s a totally

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Will Obama’s Middle Eastern public diplomacy work?

One of the big questions of the Obama presidency is can he actually use his popularity to go over rulers’ heads and straight to their people. Obama’s interview with Al Arbiya, a 24 hour Middle Eastern news channel, was an attempt to do just that. Obama emphasised his willingness to listen and repeatedly talked about ensuring about a better future for the children. He struck a far more doveish tone than he did either in his inaugural address or on the campaign trail; it was clear quite his comments were not aimed at a domestic audience. We’ll have to wait and see if this approach works. My concern is that

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Terminator Tweets!

If you go here you can follow Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Twitter feed. Granted, it’s mostly just eco-friendly Californian politics at the moment, but once you sign up to the Governor’s feed he’ll be gracious enough to return the favour and begin following you too. This must be worth precisely nothing but it’s still oddly cool. Or something. My Twitter feed is here, if you feel you need to know that.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Freedom of the High Seas

I’m a sucker for Seasteading. That is, I can’t resist articles about what’s called “homesteading on the high seas” – tiny floating communities based in international waters and thus, happily free from government interference. This is not just a kind of hippyish utopia, there are serious public policy issues at play too! Wired has a fun piece – “Live Free or Drown” – on Patri Friedman’s (grandson of Milton) vision for the future: Anyone can build a game-changing social-network platform or a virtual community or a set of open APIs. But the people here want to start a nonmetaphorical revolution by creating their own independent nations. In the middle of

James Forsyth James Forsyth

It won’t be leadership speculation that hurts Brown but leadership positioning

One poll already puts Labour below 30 percent but there’s almost no chance that Labour will replace Brown as leader. Collectively the party seems to know that it made its decision when it chose during conference to stick with Brown. But what will undermine Brown, as James Kirkup argues, is ministers jostling for the best position post-defeat: One minister sighs that there are “at least four of my Cabinet colleagues who think about nothing else but how they are positioned to succeed Gordon” after Labour loses the next election.   Their names are no surprise, but some MPs say that Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband are doing the best job of wooing

James Forsyth James Forsyth

How China’s currency manipulation caused the crisis

One of the most important political and ideological battles of the next few years will be to determine who—and what—gets the blame for the current financial crisis. The public, and public policy, will react heavily against whoever and whatever is perceived to be at fault. All of which makes Sebastian Mallaby’s comments in the Washington Post so important: “Geithner [Obama’s Treasury Secretary] is correct that China manipulates its currency. What’s more, this manipulation is arguably the most important cause of the financial crisis. Starting around the middle of this decade, China’s cheap currency led it to run a massive trade surplus. The earnings from that surplus poured into the United

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The neglected war

Anyone with vaguest interest in the war we’re fighting in Helmand should tune in next Sunday to Ross Kemp’s Return to Afghanistan. I went to a preview on Friday, and was most impressed. We’re told more about the war in Gaza than the one in Afghanistan, and what we do hear from Helmand is normally a staggered narrative of casualties. Kemp’s documentary has something different: it offers a vivid and utterly compelling journey into the lives of the soldiers fighting a fanatical enemy in an environment where the heat can be as deadly as bullets. And Sky has spent the time and money to tell the soldiers’ story. The power

Peter Hoskin

Now Straw’s name comes up in the Lords-for-hire scandal

Just how far-reaching could the Lords-for-hire scandal turn out to be?  Pretty far, if the latest reports are anything to go by.  This morning’s Mail revealed that 1-in-5 Lords act as consultants or advisers to “outside interests”.  And now the Standard discloses that Jack Straw has received money from one of the peers at the centre of the row – in one case, as a “personal gift”.  Of course, we should reserve judgement until after any proper inquiry, but the Straw connection will almost certainly cause a few headaches on Downing Street.  Given Labour’s faltering poll position, they’ll be worried by any indication – however slight or tangential – that the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The problem with the DEC appeal

As someone who thought Israel’s actions in Gaza were justified and that the BBC did not do nearly enough to explain the Israeli position during the conflict, I was fairly cynical about the BBC’s motives in not showing the DEC appeal last night. But having watched it a couple of times, I find myself in increasing sympathy with the BBC and Sky’s position. The appeal emphasises the destruction in Gaza. (The charitable explanation for this is that this is the best way to persuade people to donate, an uncharitable one is that these charities have an anti-Israeli agenda.) This emphasis, and the footage used, carries with it an implicit message

Peter Hoskin

Is the Bank’s independence under threat?

Over at his blog, Robert Peston sees the independence of the Bank of England being eroded as the recession progresses.  Basically, the worry is that once the Bank embarks on quantitative easing the Treasury will have to steer monetary policy in order to safeguard taxpayers’ cash.  Here’s a sizeable excerpt from Peston’s rather more detailed explanation: “Perhaps the important point is that Mervyn King and the chancellor have both made clear that it won’t be long before the Bank of England starts to use money, rather then Treasury bills, to buy corporate debt and other financial assets. At that point, even the governor would call that monetary policy. It would be

Peter Hoskin

Labour starts accepting the “headless chicken” charge

A passage in Rachel Sylvester’s column today quotes two Labour figures – one a Downing St adviser and the other a “normally loyal minister” – effectively accepting the “headless chicken” charge that the Tories aim at Brown & Co: “The long succession of announcements may have diminishing returns,” a Downing Street adviser admits. “We’re burning up money, which can’t go on, and the frenetic activity makes us look like headless chickens.” A normally loyal minister is even franker: “Gordon is behaving like the Leader of the Opposition rather than the Prime Minister. It’s all tactics rather than strategy. He makes an announcement, gets the headline then moves on when what

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Every pollster now has the Tories on course for an overall majority

Today started with a good poll for the Tories and it ends with another. The latest ICM poll for The Guardian has the Tories on 44 percent, up six points on last month. Labour are on 32, down one, and the Lib Dems on 16, down 3. Year on year, the Tories are up seven, Labour down three and the Lib Dems down four. Worryingly for Brown the public have lost confidence in his economic activism. Confidence in Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling has dropped 18 points in two months. Only 31 percent of voters think the Prime Minister’s actions will actually achieve anything positive while David Cameron and George