Society

Wednesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

What Hillary couldn’t quite bring herself to say…

Hillary Clinton is, on the whole, enjoying rave reviews for her speech at the Democratic convention last night. Well, it wasn’t terrible, I suppose. But she wasn’t exactly fulsome in her praise either. I mean, she could have said something like: You know, as I look at all of you here tonight, and I think of all the people watching at home, I don’t see Clinton supporters or Obama supporters, I see Democrats. I see a party that recognises the importance of this election, that appreciates that this country faces a choice between the change we need and four more years of the same old Republican policies that have done

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Don’s Final Century

On to more important matters than the Democratic convention. Today marks the centenary the birth of Sir Donald Bradman, perhaps the greatest sportsman who ever lived and a man whose brilliance becomes more, not less, mysterious as the years pass and no fresh pretender emerges to challenge his claim to the crown. The numbers peak for themselves: Bradman’s test average of 99.94 runs per innings is a summit beyond reach. No-one before, or since, has come close to his record of scoring a century every 2.75 innings. His closest comeptitor – of those who have played a serious amount of top-class cricket – is George Headley and even the great

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Culture can be turned up to 11…

I’ve a wee piece at the new webzine Culture11, which launches today, looking at sports that might profitably be brought back into the Olympic fold in times for London 2012. Also well worth checking out: Rod Dreher’s article on keeping chickens in Dallas…

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Farewell, Mushtaq Ahmed

Alas, Mushtaq Ahmed is retiring. Injuries and the grind of the county circuit have taken their toll on the amiable Pakistani spinner, leaving him just 93 wickets short of the magic number of 1,500. Though overshadowed by Shane Warne and (to some extent) Anil Kumble, Mushtaq’s role in the revitalisation of wrist-spin should not be overlooked. And he had a better googly than either of his more illustrious contempories. More importantly, he played the game with a joyous enthusiasm that did him great credit. I prefer to remember his Somerset days, even if they were less successful than the six splendid seasons he’s enjoyed at Sussex. Still, even accepting that

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Waiting for the boy from hope

Bill Clinton’s speech is going to be the dramatic focal point of the night. Whether it is an emotional rapprochement with Obama, a lukewarm endorsement or a reflection on the prosperity of the Clinton years it will be news. The nervousness among Democrats here in Denver about the speech will only have been increased by the news that Bill told a group of donors that “Last night after she spoke, anyone who helped her were glad they did. And some were sad they didn’t.” If Bill’s evident regret that the Democrats didn’t pick his wife seeps into his speech tonight then the press will have a field day and another

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Clintons dominate in Denver  

Another day in Denver, another day of Clinton stories. The extent to which the Clintons are dominating this convention really is quite remarkable. This morning, the news shows have three new angles to keep them busy. First, Bill Clinton is not attending Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday—a snub and a half. Second, The New York Times have a couple of Clinton aides talking anonymously about her plan to run in 2012 if Obama loses. And last but not least, the dispute over Bill Clinton’s speech is still rumbling on with all the news shows running with a quote from a Clinton confidant that ‘no one tells Bill Clinton what to say.’

Peter Hoskin

Are we heading towards the point of no return?

The Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has a comment piece in today’s FT in which he defends his decision to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by drawing parallels with the West’s recognition of an independent Kosovo.  But whatever the rights and wrongs on that front, it’s hard to read Russia’s defiance of the West on this as little more than an act of agression.  Accordingly, then, there’s a growing sense that the jaw-jaw just isn’t working.  The rhetoric has already stepped up a notch, with Medvedev claiming that “We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new cold war”.  And accusations have already started flying around that the Americans are trying to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Hillary praised Obama but the damage has not been undone

Hillary Clinton did what her duty compelled to do in terms of supporting Obama and attacking McCain in her speech. But it didn’t inflict lasting damage on McCain; she attacked him on the issues you would expect a Democrat to and praised Obama on the issues you would expect her to. The 3am genie she let out the bottle has not yet been put back in. There is now talk that Bill Clinton will try and do this tomorrow night but given his recent behaviour that’s hardly reassuring news if you are an Obama supporter. The Democrats have not yet worked out how to attack McCain. The barbs aimed at

Susan Jacoby

Reading on the web is not really reading

One of Senator Barack Obama’s persistent themes, since the drawn-out US presidential campaign began in the snows of 2007, has been the need for parents to turn off the television, put away video games, and spend more time reading to and talking with their children. Although no candidate would be dumb enough to call potential voters dumb, Obama is in fact referring to the dumbing down of American culture over the past three decades — a phenomenon that can be measured by everything from a sharp decline in book and newspaper reading to the mediocre performance of American students on international assessments of proficiency in science and mathematics. Obama’s approach

Oar Pali

Confessions of a travelling non-dom

O’ar Pali says it isn’t easy being on planes next to strangers all the time — and you quickly find there are a series of character types, dying to tell you about themselves Perhaps it goes with the territory: if you have decided to live your life between two countries you must accept the consequences. And no, I am not talking about Darling’s taxation treat. I am referring to what most non-doms endure on a monthly if not weekly basis. While the average UK citizen may undergo the travel dilemma a few times a year, usually during the summer and winter holidays, entitling them to complain about Heathrow’s Terminal 5,

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Our obsession with paedophilia is more dangerous than Gary Glitter’s return

Hello, hello, he’s back again. Although not necessarily — as the words of his 1972 hit had it — ‘on the right track’. Nobody, these past few weeks, has accused Gary Glitter of being on the right track. The lady in my local post office wants him strung up by his gonads and, from the various websites I’ve been trawling through, this a fairly popular denouement. Glitter was convicted of downloading pornographic images of children in Britain and, after he completed his briefish sentence, of sexually abusing two young girls in Vietnam, to which country he had fled. He served a longer sentence there and is now back in the

Boris Johnson

Beijing Notebook

We only had a few seconds left to get ready. There were 91,000 people in the stadium and (allegedly) about 1.5 billion watching apathetically at home. I advanced to the little plastic sign on the red carpet saying ‘Mayor of London’, and as we waited to be called to the centre of the arena I decided I had better spruce myself up. Now the crowd were roaring and waving their red light sabres, and hastily I got out my wallet, mobile, keys, and all the other clobber that might impair my flag-waving performance, and handed them to a chap on my left. I rolled my shoulders like Rocky, and rehearsed

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Did you know McCain was once a POW?

Is John McCain pretending to be a) Rudy Giuliani or b) John Kerry? Either way, this irrelevant invocation of his POW status threatens, if it continues to be used in this fashion, to make him appear ridiculous. It’s as bad as Giuliani’s “9/11 will produce a better postal service/farm bill/trade agreement/” or Kerry’s grim gawd-help-us “I’m a klutz and I’m reporting for duty” schtick. From his latest appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno: LENO: Welcome back, Sen. McCain, for one million dollars, how many houses do you have? (Jay laughs, McCain squirms and chuckles) MCCAIN: You know, could I just mention to you, Jay, and a moment of seriousness.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

From Gin Lane to Faliraki

Ah, Sarah Lyall. Bless her. The New York Times’ London correspondent has an entertainingly gruesome piece on the lagered-up misbehaviour of Brits on tour. No-one who has spent any time on Cyprus or the Costa del Sol will need reminding of the horrors that await the unwary or innocent traveller who stumbles upon the modern British tourist in his – and, indeed, her – natural element. It is, as you would expect from Ms Lyall, well done and, in places, appeallingly, well, dry: But they [Brits in Greece] said that the lurid stories are media exaggerations. “I’ve never seen anyone get stabbed the whole time I’ve been here,” said Chris

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Annals of Modern Life

It had to happen: peanut butter now comes with a warning that, yup, it contains actual peanuts. On the other hand, perhaps this isn’t as absurd as it may seem. Or, to put it another way, it’s good to see that peanut butter is, well, peanut butter and not something made using ersatz-peanut-like substances. That this is reassuring is, of course, also depressing.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

“Ping pong is coming home”

Whatever one thinks of Boris Johnson, the new Mayor of London, I think one can say that his speech in Beijing accepting the Olympic flag as it is passed from Beijing to London provided a splendid antidote to the totalitarian efficiency that seems to have rather weighed down these games. By contrast, there is every reason to suppose that London may be an agreeably and entertainingly shambolic affair. How could it be otherwise when Boris is the man notionally in charge of it all? Watch this and be delighted/appalled/tickled pink:I’ve previously suggested that the opening ceremony needs only the Band of the Grenadier Guards. Nothing more, nothing less.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Democrats’ challenge: Turning the election from a referendum on Obama into a choice between Obama and McCain

Everything this year seems to have aligned for the Democrats. The incumbent Republican president is deeply unpopular, more than three quarters of voters think the country is on the wrong track, the economy is in trouble and the conservative coalition is fracturing. But still the presidential race is tight; there aren’t more than a couple of points in it. The explanation for this is quite simple: the election has moved from being a referendum on the Bush years to a referendum on Barack Obama. The extent to which Obama dominates the media coverage of the campaign means that the most important thing in deciding your vote is what you think

Sean Martin

Zanu PF are still delusional

With the MDC still refusing to sign the unacceptable power sharing deal, Zimbabwe’s future hangs in the balance. The discussions are as farcical as we expected – a fact demonstrated by Mandy Russow’s piece in the South African Mail and Guardian today. In it, she interviews both George Charamba and Tendai Biti, from Zanu PF and MDC respectively, and asks them identical questions about the deal negotiations.  Charamba’s answers depict the central cause of Zimbabwe’s ruin: Zanu PF delusions. He asserts: “It is about the plight of the white man and Britain and its mining interests…I don’t know what you are terming as economic decline. In terms of the stats,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Clinton factor

Day two and again what the press want to talk about is the Clintons.  Tonight Hillary speaks and, to be fair, she is damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t. If she takes it to John McCain, the pundits will say look what the Democrats are missing. But if she talks more about her primary campaign and Obama, she’ll be accused of pulling her punches. The word is that she will indeed go after McCain hard, something that the Democrats failed to do in prime time last night. The problem is that the keynote former Virginia Governor Mark Warner is not a red-meat speaker so he’ll likely not