Society

Wednesday

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Reasons to be cheerful amid financial apocalypse

On Monday afternoon I rang a Wall Street friend who used to work at Lehman Brothers. ‘What’s the mood?’ I asked him. ‘Do you think this is the turning point?’ ‘Hold on a moment,’ he replied. ‘Let me just climb back in off the window ledge.’ There was a pause, then a nervous chuckle. For the half-second of that pause, I actually wondered whether he was serious. And that was just Monday: since then, things have got really frightening. The former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan says the current financial crisis is ‘a once-in-a-half-century, probably once-in-a-century type of event’, but he’s wrong. There has never been a situation like this:

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The great debt deceit: how Gordon Brown cooked the nation’s books

  A few months before the general election which brought New Labour to power, Geoffrey Robinson had David Davis to dinner in his flat overlooking Hyde Park. The flat had been the scene of much recent political activity, used as a den by Gordon Brown who would invite his allies around and plot his personal strategy, pausing only to watch the football and eat pizzas. But that night the Labour guests had cleared off, and the then Tory Europe Minister was treated to the disorientating experience of being served supper by the butler of a Labour MP. As the conversation turned to the inevitable Labour victory, Mr Robinson said how

Alan Powers

Give a dog a bad name

Alan Powers on Parliament Square Does nobody love Parliament Square? Days before the Mayoral election, Tristram Hunt called it a ‘terrible place: inaccessible, ugly, polluted and grotty’ in the Guardian. When the Mayor of London cancelled the scheme for pedestrianising at least two of the roads around the square within days of his election, there was dismay that the still-unpublished plans for its improvement should be abandoned. If the proceedings within the Palace of Westminster are sometimes absurd, this parallel drama on the street outside was equal in sound and fury. Could commentators distinguish between the square itself and the traffic that circulates around it? Hunt failed to look beyond

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Hoots Mon, there’s a Moose Loose… No, not that Moose

Today’s episode of the Sarah Palin chronicles comes via Matt Yglesias who asks: I continue to be baffled as to how moose hunting, which surely almost nobody in the United States does given what a small portion of the country is within moose range, has been construed as an all-American hobby. I assume Matt is being arch here, since really this is not something that should baffle him or anyone else. Hint: the moose is not the heart of the matter. It’s the hunting that counts and, of course, the unapologetic, natural way Palin talks about hunting and outdoor life. It’s not a ploy or a fatuous attempt to curry

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Brown: The Labour party and the government should put on a show of unity

Gordon Brown’s reply to David Cairns’s resignation letter ends as follows: I will always respect the views of others both in the party and the government but believe that both function best when we show unity. Gordon Brown This strikes me as a revealing choice of words. Brown doesn’t say the party and the government work best when they are united but when they show unity, a subtle but important difference. Maybe I’ve been staring at this for too long but it does seem that Brown is accepting that the party and the government are divided about his leadership but arguing that it is best not to talk about it

James Forsyth James Forsyth

More clever positioning from the plotters

One of the striking things about this uprising is how the plotters keep framing their positions perfectly—evidently some people in the Labour party haven’t forgotten what the party learned from Blair, Campbell and Mandelson. On Saturday, Joan Ryan presented her request for nomination papers as a matter of party democracy. Today, David Cairns’s resignation letter contains an argument that is going to resonate with an awful lot of the PLP. Cairns says that he wasn’t in favour of people requesting nomination papers in the first place, but now that the leadership issue is out in the open the Labour party cannot go on pretending it doesn’t exist. Ultimately what might

Brian Cullen

Cabinet support?

The one thing – apparently – saving Brown’s skin since the start of the “rebellion” last Friday is the fact that he has the backing of the entire Cabinet. But how far have they really backed him? Here’s a list of comments (or – tellingly in some cases – lack thereof) made by all Cabinet members since this all started. I’ll let CoffeeHousers decide how many of them are ringing endorsements of the PM… Unequivocal support: Ed Balls: “Everyone in the Labour Party knows that if you don’t stick together and you’re not unified, then you can’t succeed. I don’t think there’s anyone in Cabinet who disagrees with that…No one on the doorstep is

James Forsyth James Forsyth

It is his former friends that Brown should be nervous of

I have a sneaking feeling that the cabinet ministers Gordon Brown should be most worried about are Douglas Alexander and Des Browne. Both are former Brown loyalists who have been shabbily treated by their boss. If either of them turned on the PM, it would prove that this is not a Blairite plot or a Southern rebellion but a movement of those who have come to realise that Brown is simply not up to the job.  Douglas Alexander has been frozen out by Brown, made to carry the can for the election that never was. Those who stayed up watching the BBC’s coverage of Glasgow East will remember how close he

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Three tests for those who want to replace Brown

Steve Richards declares that the “Labour Party is in the worst of all possible worlds” in his column this morning. It is hard to disagree with him. The actions of the rebels have brought the leadership question into the open and made it the dominant topic in political discourse yet there aren’t enough of them to bring down the PM. But, equally, Brown is too weak to reassert his authority. So, the leadership speculation will run and run. It is the prism through which everything Labour does will be seen. But, as Steve argues, those who want to bring down the Prime Minister should want to put something in his

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Purnell takes an apparent swipe at Brown on child poverty and says Labour’s backbench rebels are “entitled to do anything they want to”

There was a fascinating debate tonight, sponsored by the Evening Standard, about whether or not New Labour is doomed for defeat. James Purnell had drawn the short straw of being the Labour politician on the panel and in the circumstances he turned in a fine performance. But there were a couple of moments that caused the Kremlinologists in the room to draw breath. First he announced that the reason child poverty is not about to being eliminated is not, as the Tories argue, because big state solutions don’t work but because the money earmarked in recent Budgets for the task has been insufficient. Now, when you consider who has been

Brian Cullen

Downing Street desperate to look tough  

Two bits of news have emerged this afternoon that indicate Number 10 really wants to strike a strong pose on the Labour ‘rebellion’ – but appears to be making a ham of it. 1) Firing someone who’s already quit. News emerged this morning that Brown had ‘fired’ forestry envoy Barry Gardiner MP for adding his voice to the rebels. Unfortunately for the PM, Guido has now broken the news that Gardiner had in fact resigned a couple days before Brown removed him. 2) Getting support – from the wrong people.  Margaret Beckett has told potential rebel MPs to fall in line or the electorate would not forgive Labour. Unfortunately some of Brown’s cabinet

James Forsyth James Forsyth

In other news, the Lib Dem conference

Spare a thought for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. Their conference, one of the best chances for them to get some proper coverage, is being over-shadowed by the banking crisis and the Labour leadership plotting. This is a pity as the Lib Dems seem to be trying to reposition themselves on the political spectrum. First, they have committed to cutting taxes and public spending. This is going to change the tone of the debate about this subject in a way that favours proponents of a smaller state. Second, they have de-emphasised their pro-Europeanism —an indication, as Andrew Neil notes, that they really are worried about losing their seats in

Peter Hoskin

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 15 September – 21 September

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

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Will Glenrothes be the end for Brown?

The financial crisis has pushed the Labour leadership down the headlines, but there does seem to be a new consensus emerging that, although Brown will not be forced out now, the last few days have made his departure in the near-future far more likely. It has certainly put more pressure on his conference speech and his much-hyped autumn fight-back. The Glenrothes by-election is the next electoral test facing Labour and if Brown fails that, it could be the end. Jackie Ashley writes that: “If Labour loses the coming Glenrothes byelection, key figures will go to him and say it’s all over. If he tried to hang on, I’m told, there

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Nightmare on Wall Street

With Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy, Merill Lynch being sold to Bank of America for less than $30 a share and AIG seeking a bridging loan from the Federal Reserve it was a bloody Sunday for Wall Street. It remains to be seen if bloody Sunday will be followed by a black Monday but there is considerable fear about what might happen next. As the Washington Post puts it this morning, “The titans of Wall Street have, over the past 72 hours, been forced to reckon with the reality that the financial sector they built is, in its current form, too big, uses too much borrowed money and creates too

Sunday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

McCain’s Second Life

What was John McCain to do? By that, I mean: what sort of campaign was he supposed to run? Steve Benen says it’s “chilling” that Sarah Palin could be a heartbeat from the Presidency. Matt Yglesias notes the “crassly political” nature of her selection and asks what federal agency or cabinet department she might be qualified to run if she hadn’t been picked as McCain’s running-mate. Andrew Sullivan, in his characteristically restrained style, fears for the future if “this dangerous, vindictive, Christianist cipher” is “foisted” upon the United States. And yes, today’s New York Times story on her record – and style of governing – in Alaska is, to put

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Tales from the Nanny State

Good grief. A TEAM of NHS nurses is patrolling Scotland’s streets to target pot-bellied members of the public and tell them how to lose weight. Armed with measuring tapes to check waists and equipment to test blood pressure, the “Street Nurses” are policing busy shopping centres, supermarkets and community centres. Any man with a paunch, or woman with an “apple-shaped” body whose waist measurement is higher than recommended limits is given diet and lifestyle advice or referred to local slimming classes. Under the scheme the nurses, wearing high-visibility waistcoats, set up portable tables and chairs in town centres to monitor passers-by. If they spot someone who looks overweight they will

Theo Hobson Theo Hobson

A matter of faith | 14 September 2008

Theo Hobson is writing a regular column for Coffee House on religion. This week he tackles the legacy of Cardinal Newman and the Alpha Movement’s new ad campaign. Frankly I don’t care whether or not Cardinal Newman’s remains are dug up and buried somewhere more saintly; the phrase ‘let the dead bury their own dead’ springs to mind. But it slightly amuses me that Peter Tatchell defends Newman’s right to be left where he is, next to the man whom he loved, Ambrose St John. On Newsnight,Tatchell was coy about what sort of love he thought was involved. He laughably described the friendship as a ‘same-sex’ relationship: it’s quite hard

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A well-led, hungry Labour party would have made the Tories suffer today 

Watching David Miliband surrender all he gained over the summer, Labour rebels wound but not oust Brown and the Lib Dems having their conference overshadowed by Labour’s troubles it would be understandable if the Tories felt things were going just fine. But a close reading of today’s papers should jolt the Tories out of any sense of complacency and encourage those Labour MPs who are sitting on the fence to join in the rebellion. There are three stories in today’s paper that the Labour attack machine would have used to hammer the Tories back in the day. First, and most seriously, there is The Sunday Times’ investigation into Lord Ashcroft’s