Society

Sunday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The balance sheet is deepest red

Today’s Observer has an update on the state of the Labour party’s finances, as Peter Oborne reported back at the end of May there is a real chance that the Labour party might actually go bankrupt. Gaby Hinsliff reports that this worst case scenario appears to have been avoided thanks to a substantial donation from Sir Ronnie Cohen and Lord Sainsbury agreeing to guarantee the salaries of various future staffers. However, the party remains heavily in debt. Ray Collins, the new general secretary, has said that Labour cannot afford to recruit many new staff before the next set of European and local elections in 2009 or the general election. This is going

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The MDC pulls out of Zimbabwe poll, leaving Mugabe to run unopposed

The BBC is reporting that Morgan Tsvangirai will announce this afternoon that he is pulling out of the presidential run-off on Friday.  His decision is in response to the mounting violence against his supporters and systematic efforts to prevent him from campaigning. However, it will allow Mugabe to claim victory. The next few days will be a major test for Africa. European nations are committed to the idea that African nations must take the lead on Zimbabwe. Now that there will not be a contested election on Friday, African countries are going to have to decide what they will do to remove Mugabe from power and stop him spilling more

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Not much of an anniversary present

The BPIX poll in The Mail on Sunday is unremittingly bad for Brown. Not only do the Tories lead 49 to 26 but the public return a brutal verdict on Brown personally. 44 percent, a plurality, say he should quit now. 47 percent, again a plurality, believe Labour would have a better chance at the next election if they got rid of Brown. 85 percent think Brown has performed worst than expected since becoming Prime Minister and 53 percent wish Tony Blair was still PM. BPIX, who as Political Betting notes are not registered with the British polling council, also asked a series of quirky questions. These find that Cameron has

Saturday

Alan Judd

Excited but drained

The first lap of Le Mans last weekend passed in a daze. The thought of performing on that hallowed 14km (8–9 mile) circuit in front of thousands was bad enough, even for one who would have been content with the record for the slowest lap, but the thought was as nothing compared with the fact. I’ve no idea what people imagined as they watched the only tweeded figure on the circuit pressed into the cockpit. But no time to worry because without a by-your-leave we found ourselves out of the paddock and on to the track in unfamiliar left-hand-drive cars, there to be enveloped in a fog of noise, heat,

Ursula Buchan

Traditional virtues

You have probably forgotten about this year’s Chelsea Flower Show by now, it having segued into all the other Chelseas you have ever seen. I, however, am still, if not haunted, then certainly preoccupied by it. It wasn’t, strangely, the show gardens, nor yet the plants, so much as the people who have stayed with me this year. The financial world may be crumbling around our ears, children may no longer require fathers, civil liberties may be under threat, but the old-fashioned, traditional virtues of disinterested endeavour, selflessness and hard work were still very evident at Chelsea. I am thinking, in particular, of the many show exhibitors who toiled and

Melissa Kite

Bad manners

God must have an extremely thick skin. I do hope so anyway. I just had a shocking insight into the sort of thing He probably has to put up with all the time. The incident in question took place at a Neil Diamond concert in Birmingham. I had not gone to the National Indoor Arena prepared for an epiphanic moment of spiritual revelation. Which just goes to show that life’s mysteries are revealed to us when we least expect them. Sometimes while singing along to ‘Sweet Caroline’ and ‘Forever in Blue Jeans’. To say the crowd that night was enthusiastic would be an understatement. Before it began, we Mexican waved

Jeremy Clarke

Run, rabbit run

As I came around the corner from the gents’ lavatory, head down, concentrating on rebuttoning my flies, a manual skill I’ve yet to master completely, I accidentally barged into a man with a hawk perched on his arm. He was a calm, friendly man of about my age. His hawk was magnificently liveried in brown and black. It was a male Harris hawk. The man stroked the bird and spoke kindly to it to reassure it. Did he hunt with it? I asked. Well, he was only two years old, he said, and he’d been ill for a long time. But he was thinking of trying it on rabbits. I’d

Taki

Conquering heroes

Just 555 short years ago last month, troops led by Mehmed II broke through the walls of the ancient Christian capital of Constantinople, ending a gallant defence by Constantine Paleologos, the last king of Byzantium. Just five even shorter days ago, a portly barrister and a ten-year-old almost pulled off the greatest cricket upset ever, but like Byzantium it was not to be. Ironically, I contributed to both gallant but losing causes: in spirit only in Constantinople; by fielding my arse off at the cricket. More about the portly barrister and the ten-year-old later. As barbarians tend to do, Mehmed rode triumphantly into the city on a white horse. Soon,

Raffaella Barker

Diary – 21 June 2008

The summer solstice is upon us. Time to get out the woad, ramp up the chanting and perform some ancient pagan rituals involving fire, water, air and earth. It might be very cheering to get blue and naked in the countryside, and it would certainly take our minds off the current doom and gloom that is our daily news. So why not? ‘Because it’s idiotic,’ was my 19-year-old son’s response. My suggestion that he might like to celebrate the longest night with a bonfire and marshmallows on the wild heathland overlooking the sea in Norfolk was met with a withering look. ‘It’s probably illegal,’ he said. ‘And how old do

Tamzin Lightwater

Diary of a Notting Hill Nobody | 21 June 2008

Monday Dave opened the nine o’clock by paying tribute to a great former shadow home secretary whose place in history, and on the back benches, was now assured. ‘We will give him all the space he needs to fulfil his brave quest of being re-elected to his own constituency.’ Then we proceeded to Options For Handling/Briefing Plans. One — Personal crisis. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time etc. Two — This is all part of a cunning plan to damage ourselves enough to Shore Up Gordon, and Stop Miliband. Three — It is part of a plan for all Tory MPs to resign and put themselves

The Spectator

Letters | 21 June 2008

A child’s purpose Sir: Rachel Johnson (‘When did you last see your children?’, 14 June) paints a thoroughly depressing picture of modern parenting. I urge anyone contemplating breeding to bear in mind these few simple truths. First, having a child is the biggest responsibility you ever undertake and should be the most rewarding one. Second, the most precious thing you can give your child is time: time doing simple things like baking, gardening, walking in the park, playing cards, doing jigsaws, where conversation flows naturally, provided, of course, you have turned off all the intrusive gadgets reminding you of the other pressures in your life. Third, parents have a huge

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 21 June 2008

Q. I am in despair because I am growing fatter and fatter with every week that passes. I seem to have developed the most enormous appetite and now want roughly double what I used to eat. I have had all the relevant medical checks done privately and there is nothing wrong with me other than what my doctor calls ‘straightforward greed’. I have been to three clinics/spas already this year but each time I come out I start gorging again. One of the problems is that I work at home. The other is that I know for a fact that Weight Watchers is the only method which has worked for

Toby Young Toby Young

Status Anxiety | 21 June 2008

If I try to take Manhattan again, I’ll fail completely. Perfect! Well, my wife had the baby. I am now a father of four and, as such, have been doing some thinking about how I am going to support them all in the years to come. My problem is, I do not really have a profession. Or, rather, my chronic inability to shimmy up the greasy pole has become a kind of career in itself. I make my money from being a loser. The trouble with being a professional failure is that my livelihood is dependent on not being able to earn a living. The moment I am perceived to

Dot Wordsworth

Mind your language | 21 June 2008

How funny to find the apostrophe described as a ‘notoriously difficult punctuation mark’ in last week’s Letters. It’s simple. So, the simple reason that St Thomas’s Hospital should be spelt with the final s is that it is pronounced by everybody as tom-ass-is, and the spelling must reflect that. I agree that Earl’s Court is, as the Underground philosopher Anne Wotana Kaye suggests (Letters, 14 June), a deeper problem, for historical reasons. The station bears an apostrophe, whereas Barons Court does not. (Perhaps Dublin should build an Underground so that it could have a station called Finnegans Wake, like Joyce’s novel, but unlike the fully apostrophed name of the song.)

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What’s next in Iraq?

I’d thoroughly recommend these articles from The New York Times and The Washington Post about Iraq. The Times piece looks at the progress made in Iraq since the surge started and the remaining obstacles to success. The Post examines the turnaround in Basra and what it says about the effectiveness of the Iraqi forces. From a British point of view, the criticisms made of the role that British troops played—or did not play—in the city are particularly noteworthy. 

Peter Hoskin

Burnham’s letter defuses the Chakrabarti row

As Paul Waugh’s reporting over at his essential blog, it seems like the row between Shami Chakrabarti and Andy Burnham is at an end – and all because of a smartly-worded letter that the culture minister sent yesterday. In it, he expresses some regret for his previous statement, and outlines his actions in terms of civil liberty and freedom of speech: “I do not accept that I have in any way ‘debased my office of state’. Indeed, I think it is in the interests of democracy to preserve the liberty of politicians to speak about current issues and public figures in expressive language that is all part of the cut

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The European Commission’s dodgy numbers

Open Europe has caught the European Commission out in some outrageous spinning. Before the recent summit, the Commission circulated a briefing note to journalists that stated that 40 percent of No voters in Ireland voted no because they didn’t understand or were not familiar with the Lisbon Treaty. However, the Commission’s Eurobarometer poll published yesterday shows that this isn’t true. It reports that only 22 percent of No voters said that they voted no for these reasons. This raises the question of where did the Commission’s 40 percent figure come from? As Open Europe says, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Commission were stretching the numbers in

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A clunking disaster

Friday marks the end of Gordon Brown’s first year as Prime Minister. Labour won’t be marking the occasion, but the Tories will which rather tells you what you need to know about how it has gone. The Times reports that Brown is planning an autumn reshuffle and hopes that unveiling an economic plan will help him regain the initiative. But it is hard to imagine this turning thing round as the voters seem to have made their minds up about Brown.  As Peter Riddell writes this morning: But the two key turning points are linked with mistakes by Mr Brown himself: the botched election decision and the 10p tax fiasco.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Tax the rich (more) – Intelligence Squared debate report

James Forsyth on the latest Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate There was a particular buzz of anticipation before the latest Spectator / Intelligence2  debate – perhaps because the motion would materially affect the audience. Judging by appearances, I’d wager that almost all of them paid the top rate of tax and that north of 90 percent of them earned £100,000 a year, putting them in the sights of all those who think that the rich should pay more. If nothing else, the evening was going to settle whether or not Turkeys ever do vote for Christmas. Evan Davis, the BBC’s former economics editor and now a presenter on the Today

Roger Alton Roger Alton

Spectator Sport | 21 June 2008

I used to play squash with a distinguished veteran film critic, currently plying his trade on the London Evening Standard. I would force the ball to his backhand but the diminutive master of cinema would simply flick his racket from his right hand to his left and smash it back past me as a forehand drive. He was a keen cricketer too, but I don’t think he ever tried to do what Kevin Pietersen did to a bemused Scott Styris up in Durham on Sunday. The hoo-hah about Pietersen’s astounding switch-hit has been wondrous. Is it within the laws? (Yes, for now.) Is it within the spirit of the game?