Society

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Have we heard it all before?

We haven’t seen the details yet of Brown’s internet announcement but the Tories are already pointing out how it is not new. Indeed, it should already have happened by now, given what Labour promised back in 2004. “Our country and its people prospering in the knowledge economy. Increasing by £1 billion the investment in science, boosting support to small businesses and ending the digital divide by bringing broadband technology to every home in Britain that wants it by 2008.” P.S. The Coffee House team will be live-blogging Brown’s speech later.  Tune in from just after 2pm.

Monday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Outrage of the Week

Kudos to Outskirts Bar and Grill in Canton, Illinois for making possible the best headline of this troubled week: Liquor license suspended after topless ‘midget wrestling’. [Via Best of the Web]

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A Friday reshuffle could be fatal to Brown

A report on Politics Home has sparked off speculation here in Manchester that Brown will reshuffle his Cabinet before the end of this week. It is easy to see why this might appeal to the Brownites; the rebels are still not sure what to do next, David Miliband can’t decide whether to go for it or not and Brown’s authority is getting a temporary boost from conference. But this option is fraught with risk. First, there is the danger that a Minister might simply refuse to move—one has let it be known that he would walk rather relinquish his current job. Second, for any reshuffle to actually do anything for

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The voters – not Miliband – will have to do for Brown

As I wrote earlier, Miliband did fine today. But, as Nick Robinson says, the speech did not have the electricity to inspire Labour to dump Gordon. Of course, they might well still end up doing so. But – on today’s evidence – it won’t be because they’re particularly enthused by the idea of Prime Minister David Miliband. I suspect that Brown’s address tomorrow will not be as decisive as people are expecting. Brown’s conference speeches are never great but they are always adequate. Adequate tomorrow will buy Brown some time but it won’t end the leadership speculation. As soon as the date is named for the Glenrothes by-election, all the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Miliband’s performance  

David Miliband’s speech was neither a triumph nor a disaster. It was, as a fellow scribbler put it to me afterwards, a seven out of ten speech. I doubt that many people who weren’t for Miliband before it thought he was the man Labour needs after it. But equally Miliband’s supporters will have been relieved that he didn’t bomb liked he did last year. Miliband confidently walked the leadership speculation tightrope. Early in the speech, he turned to Brown and praised him for his role in increasing international development funding. Praise for the leader but on an issue that everyone knows won’t decide the election. Then, at the end Miliband

Jon Cruddas

Jon Cruddas’s conference diary: part 3

Monday lunchtime.  Forget Sarah Palin, Boo Weekley is the guy. As anticipated, Poulter won.  But no one else did. A bad golf night. Personally I saw very little- but my staff excelled themselves in their hole-by-hole commentary provided through the Blackberry. The highlight of a long night was a teenager taking a swing at me in the gents at the Radisson. At least I think that was what he was doing as he bounced off the walls talking about ‘no return to old labour’, ‘cannot go back to the 70s’ ‘I’m nuts for Hazel’ etc, etc. Poor bloke reminded me of the guys who used to sell Militant; I bet

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Darling’s Speech

Darling’s speech suggests that Labour will not tack that left during this financial crisis. The Chancellor did attack the bonus culture. But all he said was that the government would “look at the culture of huge bonuses that have distorted the way decisions are made” which is not the kind of language that suggests he is actually planning on doing anything. Generally, there was little meat in the speech. Darling did admit that inflation was too high. He, understandably, pointed out that his comments about the toughest economic times for sixty years now look rather prescient. And there were some pro-forma attacks on The Tories and praise for Gordon Brown.

Peter Hoskin

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 22 September – 28 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

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 22 September 2008

COFFEE HOUSE CHALLENGE WINNER: A few weeks ago, we asked CoffeeHousers to “sell” a Cabinet. The winning entry is the post by ‘Ian’. Congratulations to Ian – to claim the prize of a bottle of champagne please send an email to phoskin @ spectator.co.uk. And here are some of the posts made over the weekend at spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson tallies up the latest Brownies, and reports on his run-in with John Prescott. James Forsyth describes how Alan Johnson is ruling himself out of a leadership bid, but reminds us that Miliband and Purnell are both very much in the running. Jon Cruddas treats us to the first two instalments of his conference

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Ed Balls is still fighting the war against Blair

The illusion of unity is just about holding up in Manchester. Both Alan Milburn and Peter Mandelson stayed away—much to the disappointment of us hacks—from the Progress rally last night despite being listed as speakers, and most attacks on Brown have been in code. All of this makes Ed Balls’ attack on Tony Blair at the Fabian Society Question Time all the more bizarre. The events had gone much as expected. The final question to the stellar panel—including Fraser Nelson of this parish, Jon Cruddas, Sunder Katwala and Zoe Williams, and superbly chaired by Gaby Hinsliff of The Observer—was about the role of the party in making policy, fairly innocuous

Sunday

Matthew Sinclair

The Sunday Essay: How cutting corporate tax rates raises revenue

Many thanks to Matthew Sinclair, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, for the Sunday Essay below.  We accept Sunday Essay submissions from any of our readers – be they MPs, policy wonks or nothing to do with politics at all.  For more information on how to submit an essay, please click here – Pete Hoskin With the public finances deep in the red many are arguing that there simply isn’t the money for tax cuts.  Britain has one of the largest deficits in the developed world and, as the economic slowdown leads to greater unemployment, borrowing could easily spiral out of control.  However, maintaining Britain’s high tax rates is not the way

Jon Cruddas

Jon Cruddas’s conference diary: part 2

Sunday 4.30.  Conference is split into three groups. The first are still attending the main event in the Hall listening to contributions from, among others, the Home Secretary and Jim Purnell. The second are enjoying the early autumn sunshine on the steps and coffee houses circling the main hall. The final group are those nervously waiting for the Ryder Cup singles to start- including most of the Press. Politically things are warming up. Early morning Marr and Boulton saw both Brown and Harman on good form. By lunchtime Prescott and Charles Clarke were going toe to toe on the BBC; a big points win for John. He then moved on

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Miliband makes progress

David Miliband just spoke at a Progress rally here in Manchester, and the Kremlinologists are going to have a field-day with his speech. Provocatively, when Miliband listed what made him proud of New Labour, he did not mention the economy or anything else Brown is associated with. At the end of the speech, the room erupted in applause, with Tessa Jowell clapping with the intensity of a campaign manager. Miliband walked out of the room with the air of a man whose confidence had been bolstered.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Purnell’s third way

James Purnell made a fascinating speech this afternoon. It was in some ways a very Blairite speech. He challenged the party to go further, faster. He was cutting about Labour’s self indulgent streak and unapologetic about modernisation: “we changed. because we were tired of being the conscience of a Conservative country”. But at the same time, Purnell went out of his way to explain policy in left wing language, something some Blairites forget—or are reluctant—to do. Defending his welfare reform proposals which are not popular with party activists, Purnell said that they were based on “a founding value of our party,. emblazoned in the name of our party. The right

Jon Cruddas

Jon Cruddas’s conference diary | 21 September 2008

Day one of the Labour party conference was a surprisingly enjoyable, even comradely, experience. The fringe packed; the bars friendly and the Manchester Conference Centre working well. Great speeches, in a super venue, made to warm, receptive groups of delegates. The weather: perfect. On show, the Labour party at its best- a respectful, modern pluralist party. To cap it all, at five past midnight I saw Tom Watson MP embrace Barry Gardner MP, Joan Ryan MP and Shioghan McDonagh MP. Tom was, allegedly, the leader of the 2006 ‘Curry Coup’ against Tony Blair, his colleagues, allegedly, leaders of the 2008 ‘Progress Putsch’.  Does this signal the end of the attacks

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A temporary lull before the storm

The mood here in Manchester is odd. No one expects a move against Brown this week but most people expect that this will be Brown’s last conference as leader. Talking to folk on the left, it seems that the one thing that could save him with the Labour party is him tacking hard to the left in the coming days. At the same time, no one is quite sure who will succeed him; it really is all to play for. David Miliband doesn’t seem prime ministerial yet. Last night he was at the excellent New Statesman party–he could be seen in a corner briefing some of the most influential commentators

Saturday

Alex James

Slow Life | 20 September 2008

Are you the driver?’ I asked. ‘No, I’m the owner,’ he replied, and I liked him immediately. It’s a lovely hotel, The Torre Maizza in Puglia, a walled Italian farm converted into a five-star gastro-spa, growing its own food and inhabiting its own time-zone. ‘Vitorrio,’ he said, shaking my hand and asking if I wanted to have dinner with him, and I liked him even more. There were so many things that I’d planned to do, that had nothing to do with being in Italy. I’d bought lots of stuff I had to catch up with, a guitar, coloured pencils, everything. I had plans. I always fail to foresee that

Jeremy Clarke

Low Life | 20 September 2008

I can feel a tremendous draught of change affecting me,’ said Dave, waggling his fingers at us as if playing a chest-high piano. ‘It’s the strongest, most noticeable draught I’ve felt for 20 years. You can feel the draught, can’t you?’ The meeting, last Friday night, was entitled ‘The Saturn-Uranus Oppositions of 2008–9 and the Eclipses of 2008’. We’d met in Dave’s study. Listening to Dave describe the planetary draughts he was experiencing, besides myself, were three women called Mara, Hara and Zhiva. Somewhere upstairs in his big old house, teenagers were galumphing about and shouting. I’d seen the meeting advertised on a café noticeboard. Not knowing much about astrology,

Taki

High Life | 20 September 2008

Gstaad Walking up mountains is not only healthy, it gives a man time to think. In fact, climbing in solitude offers one marvellous inner adventures, with epiphanies being the order of the day. There are no boulders where I climb, just a lot of green, steep hills separated by gorges, with lots of cows to keep me company. About 15 years ago I tried climbing up steep mountains tied to a rope, but it wasn’t for me. I suffer from vertigo and the way down was hell. But I did manage to conquer the steepest overhang of Videmanette, the highest mountain in the region. Never again. The fact that the