Society

Wednesday

Martin Bright

Can the Artists Transform Our High Streets?

It can’t have escaped people’s notice that shops in our high streets are being boarded up at quite an alarming rate. I’ve noticed it in central London, but also in north Wales last week and in Sussex and Surrey this week. Lewes was looking particularly down-at-heel as I passed through: like it was bracing itself for something even more awful. I felt mixed emotions at the Guardian’s piece on the re-use of shops by artists. For all sorts of reasons, I am cheered by the fact that creative people are thinking their way out of the recession. But at the same time this really does confirm just how bad things have become.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

America rules the skies

Mark Bowden’s piece in The Atlantic on American air superiority and the danger of it waning is well worth reading. It is quite remarkable that no American solider has been killed by an enemy air attack since 1953. But the statistic that really grabbed my attention was this one: “The F‑15, the backbone of America’s air power for more than a quarter century, may just be the most successful weapon in history. It is certainly the most successful fighter jet. In combat, its kill ratio over more than 30 years is 107 to zero. Zero. In three decades of flying, no F‑15 has ever been shot down by an enemy plane—and

Daniel Korski

Obama’s “mini surge”

President Obama’s decision to deploy 12,000 more combat forces and 5,000 support personnel to the Afghan mission has drawn huge attention. USA Today’s front-page headline blares “Obama’s war: Deploying 17,000, the president raises the stakes in Afghanistan.” But the US soldiers were already planned to rotate into the theatre and, though the White House is keen to portray this as a Commander in Chief moment and the President making good on his campaign promises, it does not represent a new US Afghan policy. That policy is still being drawn up by Bruce Riedel, the former CIA analyst and Iran expert. In the end, more troops will be needed. But they

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Watford can’t live up to these expectations

One of the key parts of political spin is expectations’ management. But Labour seems to have completely forgotten this when it comes to the G20 summit. The way Labour is talking it up, it if it doesn’t end with Obama chairing Gordon Brown on his shoulders through the streets London while proclaiming that Brown has saved the world it will be a bit of an anti-climax. In reality, the summit probably will give Brown a bit of a boost. It will allow him to play the statesman on the world stage and associating with Obama can’t hurt. (Although the idea of a joint Brown-Obama Wembley rally, which reportedly made it

Peter Hoskin

Brown’s press conference: live blog | 18 February 2009

Stay tuned for live coverage of Brown’s press conference from 1200 onwards.  You can watch proceedings here. 1209: Brown’s taking his time.  Still no sign… 1213: Here’s Brown now, striding to the lecturn. Expect much ado about bonuses. 1213: He’s just come from meeting the heads of the IMF and World Bank.  Leads off saying that the government’s priority is “looking after hard working families”. 1214: Roll call of world leaders he’s meeting: “I thinking we’re fashioning a global solution”. 1215: This may not be PMQs, but it sounds quite similar so far.  Plenty of talk about the government’s “real action”.  No bashing of the “do nothing” Tories, though… 1215:

Lisa Hilton

Italy’s apathetic attitude towards corruption

Another day, another Berlusconi outrage. Writing on the “embarrassment” Silvio Berlusconi must have felt at having received the news of David Mills’s conviction for bribery whilst in conference with Nancy Pelosi, the British press have rather touchingly missed the point. The news is not that Mills has been found guilty, nor that due to Italy’s statute of limitations law he will be unlikely to serve a single day of his sentence, nor that Berlusconi’s government have exempted their leader from trial, nor yet that the “Alfano lodo” is likely to be further manipulated to prevent the judicial conclusion in the Mills case from being permitted as evidence in any future

Peter Hoskin

Redrawing Labour’s rhetoric

On the day the FT reveals that Mandelson is to “redraw [Labour’s] recession rhetoric”, the Times have this breaking story: Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, has attacked the chairman and chief executive of Starbucks, the American coffee giant, in a foul-mouthed tirade for talking down the British economy. Howard Schultz, who built the coffee chain which is now struggling in America, said in a television interview last night: “The concern for us is Western Europe and specifically the UK. The UK is in a spiral.” Lord Mandelson later said, within earshot of journalists: “Why should I have that guy running down the country? Who the **** is he?”

Peter Hoskin

Brown: still nothing to do with me, guv

Ok, so I’m not directly quoting Brown in the headline above, but it does capture the general tone of the PM’s article on bonuses in the Times today. Basically, bankers are portrayed as evil, and all government action as wise and benevolent. Here’s a chunk of it: “Everywhere I go in Britain, I sense and share the anger and dismay of millions of hard-working people who have watched in disbelief during a year in which irresponsible practices in global banks have brought the world’s financial system close to collapse. Because this has had an impact on every high street and in every home in Britain, anger alone is not enough –

Peter Hoskin

“Positioning over action”

CoffeeHousers sometimes chide us for getting a bit over-excited when we describe articles as “a must read”, “essential” or “important”.  But the opinion piece by Philip Collins, Tony Blair’s former speechwriter, in today’s Times, really is all of those things.  Collins’ central point – that the Brown administration has elevated “political positioning over action” – is not a new one, but he expands from there to summarise the entire span of the New Labour years, and throws in plenty of healthy references to Sigmund Freud too.  Here’s a key passage: “When Mr Brown commends [Anthony] Crosland’s idea of equality, he does so on the grounds that it provides the Labour

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Want a big bonus? Get yourself a public sector job

Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling rail against bankers’ bonuses. But, says Ross Clark, the really appetising salaries, perks, expense packages and pensions are to be found in the public sector. A terrible reckoning lies ahead for the last fat cats Imagine for a moment that you are a banker in one of the bailed-out banks. You have seen a few of your colleagues disappear into the lift with a bin bag and every time you wander past a pub you have had to endure the thought that there may be drinkers inside demanding you be sentenced to cruel and more unusual punishments. Yet, for all the angst of the past

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

We must stand up for free markets

As today’s the first anniversary of the Northern Rock nationalisation, I thought I’d re-read Matthew Parris’s stunning defence of free markets in this week’s magazine.  I recommend CoffeeHousers read the whole thing, if they haven’t already, but here’s a key passage: “So amid all the doom-mongering and recanting, I have an assertion to make. The market has not failed. The present collapse is evidence that the market is working. Confidence bubbles are an inherent feature of a free market system. Panics — confidence vacuums — are an inherent feature too. The test of the theory of market capitalism is whether the system provides from within itself the means to prick

Martin Bright

Mills sent down – Lampl turns up

Two stories with no connection really, apart from their capacity to raise an eyebrow. I wondered if David Mills, the estranged husband of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell would ever be convicted but that day has finally come. I remember having lunch with Jowell just after she split from Mills (at the Savoy Grill, naturally) and it was obvious to me that she still had feelings for the controversial lawyer. She explained to me that he was a great man, much misunderstood. I would understand if I got to know him, she said. There were tears in her eyes. I once accused Jowell of helping Italianise British politics, but I wouldn’t

Peter Hoskin

Darling sets a limit

So, Alistair Darling’s announced that the Government is setting a limit on the bonuses that RBS pays out to its staff.  Here’s a section from the Beeb report: Mr Darling said bonuses at RBS would be cut from the £2.5bn paid last year to £340m. There will be “no reward for people who have failed,” he added. And bonuses will no longer be paid in cash, but in shares. The bank will pay “the minimum it can with regard to its legal obligations,” the chancellor said, referring to the fact that some employees are contractually obliged to receive bonuses. The idea of a bonus limit is sound enough to my mind,

Peter Hoskin

Slurring his way to resignation

I think it’s safe to say that Shoichi Nakagawa’s resignation today is the first time a government minister’s resigned for what are – officially – cough-syrup related reasons.  Although, watching the video below, it’s easy to see why people are saying alcohol, not medicine, may have been behind it all:

Peter Hoskin

A 20-point lead for the Tories

Here at the headline numbers from the latest Ipsos-MORI poll: Conservatives — 48 percent (up 4 percentage points) Labour — 28 percent (down 2) Lib Dems — 17 percent (no change) Aside from the hefty Tory lead, the unchanged Lib Dem position is worth noting – especially in view of the astonishing gains they’ve been making in other recent polls.  I haven’t seen any below-headline findings yet, but will report back if there’s anything interesting. P.S. The last time the Tories had a 20-point lead (or above) was back in September.

Peter Hoskin

Is Field gearing up for a Budget-time rebellion?

Saying the things that practically no other Labour MP will say, Frank Field writes an incisive article in today’s Independent.  Number 10 will not be amused by his claim that there’s a “very serious possibility of a sterling crisis'”, but I figure it’s this passage that should worry them most: “…tax increases are unavoidable even in the short run, and the Government should seize that necessity to help make our tax system more progressive. In times of economic decline it is more, not less important, to protect the poorest by developing initiatives that shift any increase in the tax burden onto those with the widest shoulders… …increasing taxes on some,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Brown misses out on first Oval Office visit

Hillary Clinton, on her tour of Asia, has announced that the Japanese PM will be the first foreign leader to be received by President Obama at the White House. Prime Minister Aso will visit Washington next week. This still leaves the race to be the first European leader to visit Obama open. But Gordon is not favoured to win that one either. PS Prime Minister Aso is, in some ways, in an even worse state than Gordon Brown. His approval rating is below 10 percent and his finance minister has had to resign after appearing tired and emotional at the G7 Finance Ministers in Rome.  

Peter Hoskin

Deflation averted…<br />

…for now.  The RPI measure of inflation (which includes mortgage repayment costs) dropped from 0.9 percent in December to 0.1 percent in January.  The targeted measure, CPI, remains well above zero – dropping from 3.1 percent to 3.0 percent – although some forecasters think it will go negative this year.  Expect further rate cuts from the Bank to stave off a period of prolonged deflation.

Peter Hoskin

At each other’s throats

Watch out.  The fur’s flying in Cabinet, and there may well be blood.  The latest claim, revealed by Ben Brogan in the Mail, is that Harriet Harman’s being blamed by her colleagues for floating that ‘lifeboat for Brown’ story yesterday: “Last night, Harriet Harman was at the centre of a blame game over claims that Mr Brown is Germany’s favourite for a new job as a global financial watchdog. Downing Street poured scorn on reports that the Prime Minister is being lined up for an international role that would force him to quit No 10. Labour sources claimed instead that Mr Brown was the victim of a botched spin operation