Society

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t…

Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online: The front page of the Washington Post (yes, I sometimes read paper newspapers) has the headline “Obama Fiercely Defends His Patriotism.” Isn’t there a problem when a candidate has to “fiercely defend” something so fundamental? Shouldn’t a candidate for president and his advisers and supporters exude such a thing? And perhaps there’s also a problem when conservatives declare  – or presume to assume – that they have a monopoly on patriotism, casting their opponents as un-American and demanding that Obama make a grand speech to prove that, you know, he is comfortable being an American citizen… Not that the GOP, alas, is the

Maurice Gerard

What will happen now?

Harare, Zimbabwe Post-election drama, Harare thrives once more. Market women back to selling vegetables on the street; businessmen in second-hand suits talking loudly into their mobile phones. Queues stretching round the block to use the cashpoint. The earnest business of survival begins for Zimbabweans once more. A Zanu-PF source informed me earlier today that Mugabe allies are negotiating informally with the opposition MDC over a unity government. The sticking point, as always, is Mugabe. “When will the Old Man go?” chorus the urban masses. The South Africans are pressing hard for official negotiations. But is hard to see the MDC agreeing until violence against their supporters stops. “It is about leverage,” said the source,

Peter Hoskin

The smoking ban: one year on

So, it’s one year since the ban on smoking in public indoor places was introduced across England. If the latest figures from Cancer Research UK are anything to go by, it’s certainly having the desired effect. Some 400,000 people have quit smoking at the start of the ban, and an estimated 40,000 lives will be saved over the coming decade. It’s particularly difficult to argue against the second of those statistics. And – as I’m still making my mind up about the ban, one year on – I’m not going to try. But this article in today’s Telegraph does a good job of outlining who’s lost out – over 50 pubs now close each month, whilst 60

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cherie speaks sense

Cherie Booth, aka Mrs Blair, was giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee this morning. One of the MPs asked her what she would do to combat knife crime if she was Home Secretary for the day, to which she replied: “I think this idea of taking the glamour out of crime and making a highly visible police presence and harrying criminals is a good approach.” Now, this isn’t a particularly innovative approach but it does show how far the debate has shifted that an Islington, human-rights lawyers is advocating something so robust. Reading about yet another knifing in London, it is clear current policing methods are just not

James Forsyth James Forsyth

We’ll go on getting bad results

Try as I might I can’t get overly excited about Wimbledon—I’m more of a football and cricket man. So Boris Johnson’s column this morning on why England under-achieve at football caught my eye. Here’s the nub of his argument: we should now launch a merciless Kulturkampf against every feature of modern Britain that is inimical to our competitive success. We should summon up our courage and tell our ballooning children to put down their beastly PlayStations and go and play outside. We should encourage them to walk or cycle to school. We should stop the sale of school playing fields. We should finally abandon the ethic of “all must have

Monday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Footballing Question of the Day

James Hamilton from the superb (if infuriatingly-often-on-hiatus) football blog More than Mind Games has a question that merits pondering: If you had to name one player who, in your opinion, epitomised the history of English football (not necessarily its ethos or its greatest moment or its values), who would that be? He doesn’t have to be English, but he does have to exemplify the way the game has developed in England. Good question! One that will take time to answer. In the same vein, then, using the same rules, which player could most reasonably be considered the epitomy of Scottish football? Or Italian?

Alex Massie Alex Massie

England, Their F***ing England

Amazing. Pupils are being rewarded for writing obscenities in their GCSE English examinations even when it has nothing to do with the question. One pupil who wrote “f*** off” was given marks for accurate spelling and conveying a meaning successfully. His paper was marked by Peter Buckroyd, a chief examiner who has instructed fellow examiners to mark in the same way. He told trainee examiners recently to adhere strictly to the mark scheme, to the extent that pupils who wrote only expletives on their papers should be awarded points. On the other hand… you might  say, given that I assume that plenty of the questions (in these shabby, fallen days!)

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The stars were bright, Fernando…

Memo to the Associated Press and the New York Times: describing Fernando Torres as a “slumping striker” and claiming that he had “been invisible in this tournament” makes you look like a bunch of chumps. Better, you know, to say nothing than expose yourselves in this fashion*. Anyway, having written this genially mean-spirited blast against the Germans, I’m obviously delighted that Spain triumphed. For once the best team won and now, of all the “major” european powers it’s England that have gone the longest without hauling in a significant trophy… *This sort of ignorance, of course, infuriates American soccer fans who do know their stuff, appreciating, like, that goals aren’t

Henrietta Bredin

Stop running

Running is not a part of my repertoire – nobody with a bosom of even a sliver above the average size would dream of subjecting it to such horrendously jolting treatment – and I am disposed to be suspicious of anyone over the age of 12 who considers it a good way of getting around except in a case of dire emergency. I am therefore a touch dubious about Martin Creed’s new work at Tate Britain, which involves runners sprinting through the Duveen Galleries – where such an activity is usually and thankfully prohibited – at 30-second intervals. All the same, it does sound slightly more sane than the activities

Peter Hoskin

The beginning of the end for eco-towns?

It’s hard not to applaud those who marched on Parliament today to protest the Government’s eco-town policy. Whatever their motivations, they’ve got quite a case. As I’ve blogged before, there are several reasons to think that these towns will be neither good for the environment nor helpful for first-time buyers. Which completely defeats their purpose. The protest could even mark the beginning of end for this risky – and expensive – social experiment. The Tories have today withdrawn their support from it – meaning eco-towns are unlikely to survive the next election. As it stands, Brown may not even have time to put the foundations in place.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A question of timing

Over at Three Line Whip, Rob Winnett points out that David Cameron really needs to decide what to do about Caroline Spellman before the Haltemprice & Howden by-election. If Spellman is forced out once David Davis has been returned to Parliament, it will be hard for Cameron not to take the opportunity to bring Davis back to the top table. If Cameron does decide that he needs to ask Spellman for her resignation, then there is a simple mini-reshuffle available to him: move Eric Pickles to party chairman and Paul Goodman up to shadow Hazel Blears.  Part of the appeal of this is that making Pickles, a folksy Yorshireman, party

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Al Qaeda’s base

The New York Times’ big splash today on the hunt for Osama bin Laden is well worth reading in full as it deals with the more important question of what Al Qaeda is capable of now.  Here are the two key paragraphs on this point: Just as it had on the day before 9/11, Al Qaeda now has a band of terrorist camps from which to plan and train for attacks against Western targets, including the United States. Officials say the new camps are smaller than the ones the group used prior to 2001. However, despite dozens of American missile strikes in Pakistan since 2002, one retired C.I.A. officer estimated that

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Has the endgame already started?

You won’t find many hacks better connected than Trevor Kavanagh so his column today is particularly noteworthy as it assumes that Gordon Brown being told to step down by some of those closest to him is inevitable: The party won’t have him humiliated by a Cabinet coup, a stalking horse challenge or a showdown with “men in suits”. But senior Labour figures want the issue sorted before the party conference in September. So . . . who? Both pals and plotters believe there are just two options. Either Gordon’s family — his wife, Sarah, or brother Andrew — will step in to save this proud man from further torture and

Maurice Gerard

Mugabe’s victory: the aftermath

Mugabe’s inauguration was a closed affair. Judges in colonial era wigs and robes sat patiently whilst he spoke, whilst advisors and military personnel, bedecked in medals, marched and saluted him. The rest of Harare was indoors. Shops and businesses shut, even the ubiquitous money changers – now offering Z$50 billion to the pound – seemed to have closed ranks. Harare’s central business district was empty, save for the occasional 4×4 and Mercedes off to see the Mugabe jamboree. The rumour mill was on turbo-mode too: Reports of Zanu-PF supporters looking to exact retribution on those who didn’t vote. Tales of hapless voters who spoilt their ballots being beaten in the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Ashley diagnoses Labour ministers with clinical depression

If you want to get a feeling for the pain that Labour is currently going through read Jackie Ashley’s column in The Guardian which sums up the situation brilliantly. “Talking to ministers over the past few weeks, I have been struck by how fatalistic they have become. They do not seem, in the main, to be rebellious, angry or even despairing. Despair is too energetic a word. They seem clinically depressed, tired and flat. There has been talk of a posse of 15 junior ministers going to Brown to tell him the game is up but the consensus is that it won’t happen – in effect because they cannot be

Peter Hoskin

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 30 June – 6 July

Welcome to the second CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who missed it first time around, CoffeeHousers’ Wall is a new feature on Spectator.co.uk.  Every Monday, we’ll put up a ‘wall’ post and – provided your writing isn’t libelous, 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 –

James Forsyth James Forsyth

You couldn’t make it up | 30 June 2008

Like Stephen, I couldn’t quite believe it when I read that children now receive marks in English GCSE for writing ‘F*** off’. The explanation from Peter Buckroyd, chief examiner of English for the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, that writing down this expletive ‘does show some very basic skills we are looking for’ does make one think that it must be April 1st. One imagines children up and down the land writing ‘F*** off’ on their homework and responding to any objection from their teachers with the line ‘you get a mark for it.’ PS For contrast, try answering some of the questions from the old 11-plus. The 11-plus might not have

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 30 June 2008

… hare are some posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Maurice Gerard reports on race relations from inside Zimbabwe. Fraser Nelson analyses the “meltdown” that Gordon Brown could face in Scotland, and claims that Wendy Alexander was not up to the job. Peter Hoskin marks Robert Mugabe’s disgraceful victory in Zimbabwe’s presidential election, and outlines where CoffeeHousers think it all went wrong for Brown. And Clive Davis gives his thoughts on gun legislation in the US.