Society

Wednesday

Julian Morris

How bad government caused the food crisis

On the road to Agra, travelling to see the Taj Mahal, we found ourselves passing a seemingly endless convoy of trucks. Well, not so much a convoy as a convention, since the trucks were stationary. Miles and miles of motionless juggernauts, their drivers smoking biddies or drinking chai on the roadside. I turned to my colleagues and said, facetiously, ‘Sustainable transport.’ We had intended to see one of the Great Wonders of the World that day, but had stumbled across another. Our driver explained that the trucks were queuing to pay a toll levied by the Delhi government. The queue can last up to four days, though some drivers expedite

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Webb-mania revisited

Kathy G, guest-blogging for Matt Yglesias, lays out a lengthy case for why Barack Obama should not pick Jim Webb as his Vice-President here. I suspect that the points she makes will prove persuasive and that Obama won’t choose Webb, not least because of concerns over his attitude towards women and gender issues generally. It’s true that Webb’s most controversial statements on women in the military were made more than a generation ago, but thats not the point. As Kathy says, women are a vital Democratic constituency and, with so many women disappointed by Clinton’s favour, there’s no need to rub salt in their wounds by picking a Veep such

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Webb 3.0

Ezra Klein leaps into the great Jim Webb discussion to make the important point that we’ve little idea what a Webb presidency would actually be like. True enough and that’s another useful caveat. It’s also the case that Obama’s Veep may end up being a candidate for the Presidency themselves, either in 2012 or 2016. Do Democrats want to see Webb in that position? Can they envisage such an outcome? Ezra also observes that Webb has only, officially, been a Democrat for half an hour. That’s a matter of some concern to some Democrats. But for those of us who ain’t much concerned with the health of the party, that’s

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Photograph of the Day

 If you asked me where this photograph – which has not been tinkered with to any significant degree – was taken, I suspect I’d have plumped for Texas or New Mexico. But in fact it’s a peat bog and moss on the Solway plain in Cumbria that I visited when calling upon my sister last weekend.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Obama’s running mate, McCain’s Iraq gambit

Over on Americano, thoughts on the VP candidate who might tip the scales in Obama’s favour and an explanation of what McCain is up to with his suggestion that he and Obama go on a trip to Iraq together. Plus, a link to some video of a more relaxed Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail—she’s having a beer and a dance in Puerto Rico.

Matthew Dancona

Reports: Osama bin Laden has been ‘located’

The Dubai-based satellite TV channel Al Arabiya is reporting that Osama Bin Laden has been “located” by US intelligence in the Kararakoram – a mountain range that spans the borders of Pakistan, the Kashmir and China (K2 is one of its peaks). There was a high-level meeting last week in Doha including General Petraeus, the recently-nominated Commander of US Central Command, and it is reasonable to speculate that – if there is truth to the report – it flows from this piece of intelligence. Whether the latest rumours about the tracking down of OBL have foundation will quickly become apparent. If they do have substance, Al Arabiya will have scored

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Grand Central Guignol

At the risk of drawing a sneering response from the Rail Minister Tom Harris, I’d like to have a little moan about my train journey yesterday. I spent the Bank Holiday weekend up in the Lake District and seeing as it takes an absolute age to get down the West Coast line on a Sunday or a Bank Holiday, we decided to go for a walk in the Dales and then have me catch the train from Northallerton to London. The 18:36 from there was meant to get me into London at 21.10. When I arrived at the station, though, I was told that the train on which I was

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Tackling knife crime

Stephen has a good piece in today’s Times arguing that the way to deal with the current wave of knife crime is not to pass yet more laws but to enforce fully the ones that are already on the books. As Stephen notes, In 2006, only nine of the 6,314 people convicted of carrying a knife were handed down a maximum sentence. Most were given a caution.  One of the great failings of this government has been the belief that legislation can cut crime. In reality, the many criminal justice bills passed are only the worth the paper they’re written on if they are properly enforced.

Sunday

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 24 May 2008

Thatcher’s champion Sir: The Spectator may have been Margaret Thatcher’s first press champion as Fraser Nelson notes (‘Labour’s best hope’, 17 May), but its support was not unwavering. At the end of 1974 it was unduly impressed by the efforts of Heath’s allies to brand her a food-hoarder when she sensibly encouraged pensioners to stock up with tinned food at a time of rising inflation. On 7 December 1974 it opined: ‘for the milk-snatcher to become the food-hoarder shows precisely the same political ineptitude as Sir Keith Joseph and it is likely to have the same political consequence’. Her defiance of the Tory critics swiftly silenced the editor’s doubts. ‘I

Alan Judd

On the buses | 24 May 2008

Boris would have approved. He might have been envious. He might even have remembered the lunch he owes me. But I’d have let him off that just to have seen his face when he saw me at the wheel of a Routemaster bus. Since it is a vintage vehicle, an ordinary car licence suffices provided there are no more than eight passengers and no charge is made, and the drive is easier and yet more enjoyable than you’d think. With luck and the new mayor, we might see them on London’s streets again: Autocar has already reviewed an improved design that more than meets modern requirements. Built in London for

Ursula Buchan

Unwelcome news

In 1811, Jane Austen wrote to her sister, Cassandra, in response, no doubt, to an anxious enquiry: ‘I will not say that your mulberry trees are dead, but I am afraid they are not alive.’ I know something of how the Blessed Jane felt, for my advice about the health and welfare of mulberry trees is also sometimes sought at this time of year. The reason is simple. The black mulberry (Morus nigra) is one of the last trees to come into leaf in spring. While horse chestnut, sycamore and hazel have fully expanded their leaves, the mulberry is still in tight, discouraging bud. This year, in late April, I

Melissa Kite

Civic torment

‘Do you mind if I just put a bag of garden waste next to yours if you’re having it collected?’ said the friendly lady who lives next door. I was piling up my regulation green canvas bags for ‘heavy garden waste’ and white bags for ‘light garden waste to be composted’ when she popped the question as she opened the door to her house. A harmless enough request in days gone by. But in the current climate? Reader, I panicked. I froze to the spot. I had already informed Lambeth council of the amount of waste, almost to the nearest ounce, to be collected. I had counted the bags three

Jeremy Clarke

Walking disaster

Jeremy Clarke on his Low Life I was looking at trail running shoes in a specialist running shoe shop, intending to buy. The young woman who sprang forward to assist was fit, lean and agile. She exuded tiptop mental and physical health. Helena she was called. She was Czech. I, on the other hand, was crapulous and reeked strongly — even to myself — of the odours of the tavern. ‘How far do you think you will be going?’ she said. ‘Between 50 and 100 miles,’ I said. ‘Running?’ she said, impressed. ‘Walking,’ I said. ‘Along long-distance footpaths in the south of England with a rucksack.’ She looked disappointed. Obviously

Taki

The write stuff | 24 May 2008

Is the opening sentence of a book, especially a novel, the most consequential, or is it just dressing for the feast to come? I’d say the former judging from A Tale of Two Cities, Moby-Dick, Pride and Prejudice, and my favourite, The Death of Manolete, by Barnaby Conrad. ‘In August, 1947, in Linares, Spain, a multimillionaire and a bull killed each other and plunged a nation into mourning.’ But here’s one that’s bound to be the greatest of them all, Tan Lines, to be published by St Martin’s Press on 8 July: ‘There are 8,000 nerve endings in the clitoris, and this son of a bitch couldn’t find any of

Peter Oborne

Diary – 24 May 2008

The day after my arrival in Harare I attended Evensong at St Mary Magdalene’s Anglican church. The congregation was in a state of shock. Almost every church in Harare had been raided by riot police that morning. In some cases the police blocked worshippers from entering as they arrived, beating up those who tried to object. In other cases the police only made their appearance once the service had already begun. At St Francis Waterfalls the police charged into the church and dragged people from the communion rail as they took the Eucharist, reportedly beating at least one woman senseless. Robert Mugabe accuses the churches of consorting with the opposition

Toby Young Toby Young

Status Anxiety | 24 May 2008

I never thought I’d claim I was quoted ‘out of context’ — until I went to Cannes ‘Memo to writers and others,’ wrote Kingsley Amis. ‘Never make a joke against yourself that some little bastard can turn into a piece of shit and send your way.’ I should have borne this in mind when I was in Cannes last week to promote How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, the forthcoming film of my book. I was at a press conference on the Croisette when a journalist asked how I felt about being played by Simon Pegg. For those of you who don’t know, Simon is a gifted comic actor

Dot Wordsworth

Mind Your Language | 24 May 2008

Dot Wordsworth gives it her best shot I hardly wish to interpose my body between Anthony Horowitz and Simon Hoggart, even though the former invoked me. He declared (Letters, 10 May) that he is puzzled by Mr Hoggart’s remark in his television column that ‘in 1945 nobody ever said, “I’ll give it my best shot”,’ as someone was made to in Foyle’s War. This is not just a matter of finding the two words best and shot next to each other. In Treasure Island, the answer to the question ‘Who’s the best shot?’ is Squire Trelawney. No, the shot we’re talking about is neither the discharge from a firearm nor the

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 24 May 2008

Q. I treated four friends to a trip to the Far East. On the way back there was a cock-up at the airport with an overbooked plane and our party had to be put up for the night in a (magnificent) hotel. As a stickler for standards I wrote to the airline to complain and was quite satisfied to receive flight vouchers for £500 in compensation. I was amazed when one of my guests boasted to me later that he had followed my lead and that he too had received £500 in flight vouchers. Do you agree, Mary, that it was incumbent on my guest to pass these vouchers on

Roger Alton Roger Alton

Spectator Sport | 24 May 2008

Tim Henman famously spent a lot of his time trying to convince us he wasn’t as nice as all that. So when Henman called Andy Murray a ‘miserable git’ at a charity do the other day, we ought to listen. Though, bless him, when Murray was asked about this he did say, ‘Well I suppose I am a miserable git really.’ But it’s the heart of the clay court season next week, with the start of the French Open, and isn’t it about time this prodigiously talented young Scot started to deliver? Sure he has beaten Roger Federer twice, but in tennis terms the Swiss World No. 1 is almost