Society Archives

Monday

2 Mar 2009

Debtspotting

There is a great deal of wisdom in Trainspotting (the book, much more so than the film) not least in its points about the dangers of leverage. When Renton comes to London he is deeply suspicious at the supposed wealth of those he meets. “Ah’ve known schemie-junkies in Edinburgh wi a healthier asset-tae-debt ratio then some two-waged, heavily-mortgaged couples doon here,” he observes. “It’ll hit the fan one day. There are a sack load ay repossession orders in the post.” And so it was to prove. There are now 1.2m people in negative equity, about 10 per cent of all mortgage holders according to modest estimates by Michael Saunders of

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 2 March – 8 March

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

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 2 March 2009

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson says that Gordon Brown’s global audience may ignore him. James Forsyth outlines what Brown can get from his meeting with Barack Obama, and wonders how long this can go on for. Peter Hoskin spots a failure of expectations management, and gives his take on reports that Brown has threatened to sack Harriet Harman. Martin Bright revisits Gordon Brown’s legacy. Clive Davis reveals his concert of the week. Alex Massie laments Harman’s Law. And Melanie Phillips observes the forked US tongue on ‘Durban 2’. And Americano highlights a speech by a precocious Republican.

Peter Hoskin

It’s the fundamentals, stupid

Nestled among all the coverage of Brown’s meeting with Obama, and of Harman’s denunciation of Fred Goodwin, is this story in the FT: “The government’s flagship £10bn business lending guarantee scheme, due to come into force on Monday, is weeks behind schedule. The delay will fuel business and union concerns about the pace of government measures to combat the recession. The £10bn scheme was the centrepiece of a package of measures, branded “real help for business”, unveiled by business secretary Lord Mandelson on January 14. The scheme is designed to support up to £20bn of existing short-term bank lending to medium-sized companies, freeing up capital for new corporate loans. “The

Sunday

1 Mar 2009

James Forsyth

Trouble looming on the Home Affairs front for the Tories

One of the features of the Tory party now is that there is no defining split. But there are plenty of areas of difference. One, as Baeghot notes in his write-up of yesterday’s Convention on Modern Liberty, is on where the balance on civil liberties should be struck. Bagehot reports that: “Mr Grieve was obliged to admit that he wasn’t absolutely sure what “fewer rights, more wrong”, a new slogan from Chris Grayling, the latest shadow home secretary, had meant.” Grieve must surely have realised that he was going to be asked about this new line from Grayling given the subject of the conference, so it is surprising that he

James Forsyth

How long will this go on?

The New York Times op-ed page features a string of short articles by various economic and financial figures on when the recession will end. The consensus view is that the American economy will come out of recession late this year. But Roubini and Niall Ferguson offer far more bearish takes. Roubini warns that “We now face a 1 in 3 chance that, if appropriate policies are not put in place, this ugly U-shaped recession may turn into a more virulent L-shaped near-depression or stag-deflation (a deadly combination of economic stagnation and price deflation) like the one Japan experienced in the 1990s after its real estate and equity bubbles burst.” While

Alex Massie

Harman’s Law: Laws Don’t Count

Peter may well be right to argue that it’s hard to see how Gordon Brown can sack Harriet Harman. But let’s just say that she’s not really helping the government these days. Take her performance this morning, for example: “Sir Fred Goodwin should not count on being £650,000 a year better off because it is not going to happen,” she told BBC One’s Andrew Marr show…And it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it is not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that is where the government steps in.” This is the sort of talk that only comes from a government in terminal

James Forsyth

Fighting words from Mandelson but is there a strategy behind them?

The Mandelson interview in today’s Observer is full of barbs at his internal opponents. Consider this exchange about the leaking of Cabinet discussions about the future of the Post Office: ‘”Unlike some of my colleagues, I don’t comment to the press on the internal discussions and workings of the cabinet and its committees.” So it was true. And then he was on the phone to Gordon Brown to have Harman put back in her box and everyone dragged into line? “I’m not commenting either way,” he twinkles. So that’s true as well.’ Mandelson appears absolutely determined not to back down regardless of how much of a split the proposals are causing

Peter Hoskin

Brown gets mad with Harman – but will he get even?

Last we heard, Brown wasn’t convinced that Harriet Harman was positioning herself to succeed him as Labour leader. But this Mail on Sunday story paints a different picture, claiming that he’s actually threatened to sack her for her “disloyalty”. Here’s a key snippet: “The Mail on Sunday understands that the Prime Minister’s anger boiled over at a private meeting in No10, with Mr Brown shouting: ‘Who the hell does that woman think she is?’ Sources say Mr Brown swore more than once during heated exchanges with aides on how to silence Labour Deputy Leader Miss Harman. At one point, he is also said to have discussed the possibility of demoting

Saturday

28 Feb 2009

Melissa Kite

Real Life | 28 February 2009

Like all self-obsessives, I hide behind the belief that people offend me constantly but that I never have any adverse impact on them. I rely for internal security on the fact that I am disturbed, I do not do the disturbing. It was profoundly shocking, therefore, to come home the other night and be pottering about my bedroom talking to the house rabbit when the upstairs neighbours pounded on the floor. Even BB, who is generally fearless, being the size of a King Charles spaniel, stopped chewing on a coathanger to stand on his back legs and sniff at the ceiling. What the hell was going on? I popped a

Jeremy Clarke

Low Life | 28 February 2009

My boy has stopped returning my calls and texts. The other day I called him 18 times in a row, from sheer frustration to begin with, then as a joke, to make him smile when he looked at his phone and saw that it said he has 18 missed calls. I’ve given up leaving messages. Is this what happens with your kids? You think you’re best friends, then crash! The shutters come down — and for no apparent reason. If I knew where my boy lived, I’d go round and knock on the door and ask him what’s happened, what’s gone wrong between us. But he’s taken infinite care not

Taki

High Life | 28 February 2009

Vassilis Paleokostas is the Arsène Lupin of the Olive Republic, aka Hellas or Greece. He is by profession a bank robber, known for his impeccable manners but unfortunate jowly, plebeian looks. He is 42 years of age, a ladies’ man, and Greece’s most wanted man. Three years ago, Vassilis managed a daring escape from the high-security Korydallos prison of Piraeus via helicopter. The chopper landed in the exercise yard, Vassilis hopped in and was flown off to freedom. All hell broke loose following his sudden departure. The newspapers accused the government of incompetence, the government blamed prison officials for watching porno films instead of the prisoners, but the buck stopped

Robin Oakley

The Turf | 28 February 2009

I like the sound of the restaurant that has apparently opened in a former bank with a banner urging ‘Put your mouth where your money was’. Actually, after Kempton on Saturday, there is a little more of it than there usually is. Money, that is. I cannot recall the last time I had five winners on a card which, since we all remember our winners better than our losers, probably means there wasn’t a last time. Sadly, since Mrs Oakley’s 20-year-old food mixer coughed itself to death last week, the winnings will probably be put to practical rather than celebratory use. Food mixers these days, I have learned, come at

Dot Wordsworth

Mind your language | 28 February 2009

Contemplating the sad fate of Jade Goody, the reality television celebrity, Mr Gordon Brown remarked: ‘I think everybody is sad about the tragedy that has befallen Jane Goody.’ Mr Brown is unlikely to watch Big Brother or read vulgar newspapers, apart from cuttings gleaned for him by servants, so there is no reason why he should have known that her name was Jade. Neither Jane nor Jade was among the top 100 names for baby girls in Scotland in 2008, according to the General Register for Scotland. Which names are ‘nice’ and which ‘nasty’ changes with fashion. Jade, one might think, would have been popular in the era of Rubies

The Spectator

Letters | 28 February 2009

Bonus issue Sir: Ross Clark (‘Big bonuses in the public sector’, 21 February) summed up the challenge we face. The Institute of Fiscal Studies figure Clark quotes of a 12 per cent premium on public compared to private sector pay should be drilled into all taxpayers’ heads the way Mrs Thatcher used to hit Neil Kinnock with figures. At a recent Conservative event, a member of the public suggested a riposte to Gordon Brown’s lame attempt to blame the current economic crisis all on the bankers: a blanket 30 per cent pay-cut for all public sector staff being paid over £150,000 and a 20 per cent cut for those on

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 28 February 2009

On Monday I read that Gordon Brown was about to launch a ‘£500 billion bank gamble’. By the time you read this, he may have done so, but it is quite possible that few will have noticed, or cared. These colossal expenditures or promises of expenditures or of possibilities of expenditure have become the same as most government initiatives under New Labour — designed for the headline, and then reannounced from time to time. They are like the victories in the permanent war between the super-powers constantly trumpeted in Nineteen Eighty-Four — apparently enormous, but semi-fictional. To understand what is happening, one must remember that, as in a real war,

Toby Young

Status Anxiety | 28 February 2009

I have taken to sleeping with my grandfather’s cavalry sword under the bed I caught a burglar last week. I was standing in my kitchen at 11 o’clock on Saturday morning when a young man suddenly appeared at the bottom of the garden. At first, I didn’t realise he was a burglar. I strolled outside in a spirit of genuine curiosity. What was he doing? ‘I was playing football and I kicked the ball over the fence,’ he said. ‘I thought it had gone in your garden, but it must have gone in the next-door one.’ At first, I believed him. He was young enough to be playing football —

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 28 February 2009

Q. I am at the mercy of a very over-the-top decorator provided by the management of our block of flats. He is like the worst sort of game-show host, cracking jokes all the time and bullying me and the young man working with him. I thought he was only here for four days but have just been told he will be here all next week as well, sometimes hanging out of my bedroom window strapped to a harness, a block of wood tied to his waist to stop him falling out — I am on the sixth floor. This morning I have literally had to walk the streets to keep

Peter Jones

Ancient & Modern | 28 February 2009

To general disapproval (and in direct contradiction to the Chancellor Alistair Darling), Lord Mandelson has suggested that the government should not be too hasty in removing bonuses from (presumably) ‘hard-working’ bankers. To general disapproval (and in direct contradiction to the Chancellor Alistair Darling), Lord Mandelson has suggested that the government should not be too hasty in removing bonuses from (presumably) ‘hard-working’ bankers. How very ‘New Roman’. There were far-reaching social and cultural changes in the Roman world from 100 bc to ad 120, during the collapse of the republic and growth of empire (beginning with the first Roman emperor Augustus, 27 bc–ad 14). As a result, the old Roman nobility

James Forsyth

Britain at its best

Matt in his Sunday Telegraph column sums up perfectly why it was right that PMQs was suspended following Ivan Cameron’s death: “This was our unwritten constitution at its very best, as the Commons responded with nimble common sense to a practical dilemma presented by a private tragedy. It would have been grotesque to proceed with Prime Minister’s Questions only a few hours after the death of young son of the Leader of the Opposition. The properly British solution was not to pore over Erskine May or to fret about setting a precedent, or sliding down a slippery slope. Does anyone seriously believe these extraordinary circumstances are likely to recur? As