Society

Friday

Janice Warman

An idea whose time has come

On my walk from Charing Cross station each morning I see Steven outside Boots, rain or shine, his outstretched arm holding the latest Big Issue at eye level for passing commuters. He’s part vendor, part performance artist. Many, like me, stop to buy; others look down and hurry on. Though passers-by might pretend he’s invisible, the company that helps to get him and other homeless people back on track by selling magazines is part of a quiet revolution whose impact is only just beginning to be felt. The social enterprise sector — run for social or environmental purposes (or both) rather than for shareholders’ profit — is a tiny part

David Young

Lessons for life from the Crash of ’73

David Young, who later served in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet and as chairman of Cable & Wireless, recalls his struggle for survival as an up-and-coming entrepreneur There are some days you just never forget. It was Monday morning, 12 November 1973, and I was in my office at Town & City Properties in Carlton Gardens. I was a main board director and a substantial shareholder, having sold my company, Eldonwall, to Town & City some three years before. Those years had brought about a remarkable property boom. We were already the second largest property company on the London stock exchange — but I think Barry East, the founder and chairman, wanted

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Tobacco Futures

Courtesy of the Daily Mash: SMOKERS BANNED FROM LOOKING AT CIGARETTES WHILE SMOKING SMOKERS will have to hold a large piece of card over their face so they cannot look at the cigarette they are smoking, ministers said last night. The ‘smoking mask’ will include a small mouth hole and a handle though later models may be fitted with elasticated straps… The mask will also carry a warning which reads: “Lighting a Cigarette While Wearing This Mask May Cause You to Set Fire to the Mask Instead of the Cigarette and Burn Your Face Off.” Health secretary, Alan Johnson, said: “If you can’t see nicotine, it can’t see you. And,

Peter Hoskin

Your questions for Theresa May

It’s been a few days now since we asked CoffeeHousers to put forward their questions for Theresa May.  We’ve since picked out the best, which have now been put to the shadow leader of the Commmons.  She’ll get back to us at the start of next week. Anyway, here are the questions: john miller “Why have Government ministers been able to spout the most outrageous lies over the last few months, effectively unopposed by the Conservatives? The Tories seem to lack a short succinct rebuttal that gives a voice to the feelings of the public.” Rajesh “There has been a lot of comment about the Damien Green case and how

Peter Hoskin

Petty or revealing?

Just how significant was Brown’s “Saved the world gaffe” in  PMQs yesterday?  Was it – as one respondent to Politics Home’s latest PHI100 Index puts it – “a tiny motif … that tells a bigger story” about Brown’s hubris?  Or is the whole thing childish and overblown, as the Spectator’s own Clive Davis argues?  These questions may seem trivial – and I guess, to some extent, they are – but the opposition parties will certainly want to know the answers.  With Campbell and Mandelson back on the scene, the war of words has become even more hard-fought, and Cameron and Clegg will be sorely tempted to remind the public of

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Spending increases vs tax cuts

Greg Mankiw, the Harvard economist who was chairmen of the of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers between 2003 and 2005, has an important post on his blog about the relative benefits of spending increases and tax cuts as forms of economic stimulus: “Bob Hall and Susan Woodward look at spending increases from World War II and the Korean War and conclude that the government spending multiplier is about one: A dollar of government spending raises GDP by about a dollar. Similarly, the results in Valerie Ramey’s research suggest a government spending multiplier of about 1.4… …By contrast, recent research by Christina Romer and David Romer looks at tax changes

Peter Hoskin

Cutting deals

The Telegraph’s Iain Martin quotes a “Labour man,” who offers the following take on the next general election: “Brown holds the election, fights on the economy and emerges at the head of the largest party. Vince Cable becomes leader of the Lib Dems, is made Chancellor in a coalition and demands a deal on Proportional Representation which Gordon gives him. PR means the Tories can never win again. Gordon stays as PM for a while and then walks off into the sunset having destroyed the Conservatives.” Now, this highlights two things in particular.  First, the growing confidence in Labour ranks that their man can actually defeat Cameron – a confidence that’s palpable ’round Westminster way.  And,

Daniel Korski

An open letter to General Petraeus

Last week I met with members of the 100-person team who are conducting a top-to-bottom assessment of Centcom’s area of responsibility on your behalf. I have to say I don’t envy them their task, or you your’s. The remit of your military operation, Central Command (Centcom) is expansive – ranging from Egypt to Pakistan – but the tools at your disposal seem fairly limited and traditional. And what must have started out as a repeat of your successful Iraq exercise will undoubtedly have been complicated by the many other on-going reviews, not to mention the need to await President Obama’s instructions, post-Inauguration. But as the Obama team knows very well,

Peter Hoskin

Brown bites back

Guido’s already highlighted Ed Balls’ repsonse to the German attack on our government’s “crass Keynesianism”, and now Brown’s weighed in on the matter.  Here’s what our PM said earlier: “I do not really want to get involved in what is clearly internal German politics they have a coalition in Germany of different political parties. The important thing is that every country around the world is doing what we are doing. Actually the German government is investing more and has just announced a fiscal expansion so they can invest in public works and help their banks,” It’s all part of Brown’s blunt approach that it permits no nuance.  Despite Peer Steinbrück’s

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

What will we be better off without?

Back in the 1960s an old Welsh steel magnate’s son, who in his youth in the 1930s had been immensely rich but had by now fallen far behind, was asked by my father what he thought about the likely result of the general election. “I don’t care who gets in”, he replied, “so long as they put an end to this damned prosperity.” Economic growth has its downsides as well as its benefits. In this week’s issue, Venetia Thompson and I list thirteen of them – the idiot trends and self-indulgent nonsense we won’t miss from the last fifteen years. What are yours?

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Is Mandelson an ideological Blairite?

Peter Mandelson is regarded as the ultimate Blairite. And certainly in terms of personal loyalty few match up to him. Despite Blair sacking him twice, Mandelson was still his most articulate defender in the various TV retrospectives on the Blair era. Mandelson even called Blair before accepting Gordon Brown’s offer of a seat in the Lords and a return to the cabinet. But John Rentoul in his Independent on Sunday column made the crucial point that “Mandelson is not a political philosopher; he is an operator.” The same instincts that led Mandelson to move Labour to the centre on economics now seem to be persuading him to move Labour to

Peter Hoskin

Eroding the message

So what emerges from Alan Sugar’s interview with Gordon Brown, a transcript of which is published by the Sun today?  Not a great deal, really.  The headline-grabbers are Brown’s sort-of-admission that the downturn has strengthened his position, and his “No, no, no,” when asked about joining the Euro.  The first of these is almost certainly true; the second may not be. Apart from that, the rest of the interview is largely a collection of the usual Brownite platitudes.  Sure, we’ve heard all the “Global crisis which started in America”-style lines before, but here they’re perhaps more brazen than ever.  Here’s how Brown sets up both America and British banks as

Wednesday

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

Things we’ll really all be better off without

Most journalists have spoken of the financial crisis as evidence of a failure of capitalism. But is it? Or is this kind of reversal in fact necessary if capitalism is to work at all? After all, a free-market economy doesn’t do a perfect job of rewarding success. It may pick better winners than, say, governments, but it is still largely arbitrary. Even relatively worthy successes such as Google’s or Microsoft’s may be as much the result of lucky timing as anything else. Instead, capitalism is at its indisputable best not when picking but when picking off. In unerringly killing off the bad: the inefficient, the redundant, the outdated or the

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Delaying Detroit’s Death

Now as it happens, American cars are, generally speaking, much better than they used to be. And Ford and GM have demonstrated that, in europe at least, they know how to build small cars capable of doing more than 20 miles to the gallon. Even in the United States, the Big Three have greatly improved reliability, build-quality and, at least in some of their plants, productivity. The best American cars really aren’t all that different, or poorer than their Japanese rivals. But though Detroit has responded to Japanese quality, carbuyers haven’t updated their perceptions. Hence this mock-ad: Harsh? Only partially. But this is a sentiment shared by millions of car-owners.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Tales from Modern Britain

When the spooks think matters have got out of hand then, you know, they’ve probably gotten out of hand. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) was passed in 2000 to regulate the way that public bodies such as the police and the security services carry out surveillance. Originally only a handful of authorities were able to use RIPA but its scope has been expanded enormously and now there are at least 792 organisations using it, including hundreds of local councils. This has generated dozens of complaints about anti-terrorism legislation being used to spy on, for example, a nursery suspected of selling pot plants unlawfully, a family suspected of lying

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Michael Gerson Cares More Than You Do

Michael Gerson, formerly George W Bush’s chief speechwriter, has been to the Congo. As you might imagine, it’s pretty grim there. So, naturally, Gerson has this to say: Security in eastern Congo is the prerequisite for political progress. Nkunda will continue to push until someone effectively pushes back. The Congolese army is incapable of defeating him. While the U.N. peacekeeping force is the reason that Goma was not taken, it does not have the political will and the capabilities to contain Nkunda. It lacks rapid-reaction forces and night-fighting capabilities. This leaves one alternative — a capable, hard-hitting European military force, supported by the United States, which would stabilize the situation,

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Got vs Gotten

I knew someone would call me out on this. And sure enough, commenting on this post, faithful reader Sam G writes: First paragraph: “gotten”? O tempora, O Mores indeed. To which I say: hooey. To begin with, there’s much to be said for the vigour of American English. Plus, as you know, gotten is merely an ancient form that, though out of fashion in the old country, was preserved in the new world. As is so often the case, we turn to the Sage of Baltimore for guidance. Here’s Mencken: Whatever the true cause of the substitution of the preterite for the perfect participle, it seems to be a tendency

Alex Massie Alex Massie

GOP Future Delayed? Maybe.

Bobby Jindal has fast become the GOP’s Great Brown Hope. He keeps demonstrating why. First he said he did not want to be considered as a potential running-mate for John McCain, now he says he won’t be running for President in 2012. Sensible laddie. 2016 is time enough. Apart from anything else, he has to be re-elected Governor of Louisiana in 2011 first. Sure, he might change his mind and, sure, Obama may be a very unlucky President, but smart people won’t be betting that way. At least, not yet.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Davis for defence?

Jane Merrick has a post over at The Independent speculating that David Davis could be made shadow defence secretary in the 2009 reshuffle. Certainly, back when Cameron was putting his first shadow cabinet together it was thought that Davis would get either the Home or Defence briefs. But I don’t think Davis will get defence for one of the reasons Jane Merrick thinks he might get it: Afghanistan. (I’d also be surprised if Cameron moved Fox). Jane Merrick notes that Davis “has been asking a lot of questions in parliament recently about troops in Afghanistan”. But I suspect Tory high command, which thinks about Afghanistan more than any other foreign