Society

Saturday

Barbara Day

Flaunting corruption

Leaving Archa Theatre, Prague With the theatre playing such a large role in the social and political history of the Czechs, it is no wonder that former president Václav Havel’s new play has a political theme. Nor is the subject surprising: a leading politician comes to the end of his term of office. The surprise is that Havel began work on Leaving in the 1980s, when he was still a dissident with the time to be a philosopher. In his 13 years as president he had no time for creative writing, and took the play out of the drawer comparatively recently. The join however is seamless, and one wonders how

Paul Johnson

And Another Thing | 23 August 2008

It is an indictment of our society that, despite huge scientific advances in the last century, particularly in the production of food, millions of people, perhaps hundreds of millions, do not get enough to eat. The principal culprit is the Green movement, in its many species or fanaticisms. The Prince of Wales, who might be described as the most prominent Green man, has recently drawn attention to the destructive power of his ideology by attacking the growing of genetically modified crops, perhaps the largest step forward ever taken by mankind to reduce the cost of basic foodstuffs, and to increase their production and worldwide availability. I imagine if the Greens

Richard Northedge

Credit Crunch: First Anniversary

When Britain had a secondary banking crisis in the 1970s the big banks launched a lifeboat to rescue the sinking smaller lenders. Today we have a primary banking crisis. It is the big banks that are in trouble — but this time there are no bigger brethren, at home or abroad, to launch the lifeboats. Barclays, HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland have had to raise £20 billion of new capital to fill the holes left by bad lending. That is enough cash to buy one of their high-street rivals — though expansion is the last thing on their minds. Northern Rock, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley are

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

Shared Opinion | 23 August 2008

It didn’t occur to Cameron that White Van Man might be trying to pat him on the back Ah, the chaos there must have been on Planet Cameron every time that Dylan Jones was due for another chat. The editor of GQ writing a book about their man. Which anecdotes to tell? Which to leave out? The tension! The half-drunk Innocent smoothies! The half-smoked Marlboro Lights! He’s not Piers Morgan, but nobody wants to drop a Clegg. Flunkies in panic. ‘Samantha being a Goth! That’s got to go in! It’s edgy, it’s funny, it suggests you might have pulled a wild one. Grrr! And that teenage stuff about meeting Mick

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

After Jade’s cancer, what next? ‘I’m a tumour, get me out of here’?

Rod Liddle says that the stunningly tasteless announcement of Jade Goody’s cervical cancer on Indian Big Brother marks a new low. But that won’t stop TV bosses saying it is a public service Here’s a notable first for television — a contestant on a Big Brother programme was told, in front of a television audience, that she had cancer. The woman in question was Jade Goody, whom you may vaguely remember as the coarse, thick, Bermondsey chav who sprung to national prominence for having been allegedly racist on a previous series of the programme. This time she’s on the Indian version of Big Brother called Bigg Boss — an attempt,

Theodore Dalrymple

Global Warning | 23 August 2008

Recently while travelling on the London Underground, the opening words of Marx’s The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte ran through my mind like a refrain: ‘Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic events and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.’ Why, you might ask, did this passage insinuate itself into my brain on the District Line between West Brompton and Earl’s Court? Standing opposite me was a young man badly dressed in black, on whose baseball cap was inscribed the word ‘Victim’. On his black T-shirt were the words, ‘I wish I could be you’, which

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The One-Term Pledge?

Peggy Noonan thinks McCain should pledge to serve just a single term: I still think a one-term pledge could win it for him, because it would allow America to punt. It would make the 2008 choice seem less fateful. People don’t mind the chance to defer a choice when they’re not at all sure about the product. It would give bitter Democrats a chance to regroup, and it would give those who like Obama but consider him a little half-baked to vote against him guiltlessly while he becomes fully baked. (Imagine the Q&A when Sen. Obama announces his second presidential run in 2011: “Well, Brian, I think, looking back, there

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Sloganeering

If there is a Labour leadership election, the candidates are going to need slogans and in an actual contest they’ll need something that draws a contrast. (With no opponent, Brown could run under the banner, ‘Gordon Brown for Britain.’) Thinking about what slogans, the various possible candidates might use does give you an idea of what they’re trying to sell. In Miliband’s case youth and a bit of excitement about Labour again, for Johnson an ability to unite the party and ease the dislike that the public feel towards the government while Jack Straw wants to emphasise his ability to steady the ship.  Here are some possible slogans we’ve come

Brian Cullen

Russia’s aggression shows weakness as much as strength

Some of the responses to Russia’s actions in the past two weeks have been slightly panicked, and focused strictly on geo-politics.  But the key to the situation is Russia’s economic position – not any ambitions to kick off a new cold (or hot) war.  We shouldn’t be surprised that supposedly resurgent Russian ‘imperialism’ has dealt its first blow in energy-rich central Asia.  Russia’s actions are a result of its needs as a petro-economy.  Its economic weaknesses led to this attack – not a desire to take over the world.  As The Economist has written today: “Contrary to some excitable first reactions, Russia’s ability to crush the minuscule Georgian army does

Peter Hoskin

Fit for purpose?

Another day, another data loss scandal.  The culprit this time?  The Home Office – or rather the private consultancy firm entrusted by the Home Office with the details of over 100,000 criminals, and which subsequently misplaced the memory stick they were contained on.  Not that that absolves Jacqui Smith – or others in her department – of any blame.  You’d have thought that a department formerly described as “not fit for purpose” would have introduced watertight data security procedures by now. Smith can count herself extremely lucky that Parliament’s not sitting at the moment.  But this is still far from ideal news for the Government, in the run-up to Brown’s autumn

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Playing house

It all kicks off after McCain gives the worst possible answer to the question of how many houses he and his wife own: “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you”. (Video of Obama’s ad and McCain’s response after the jump) For a lot of candidates, this would be an election ending blunder. But McCain went through an ordeal a lot more traumatic than having your house repossessed in the Hanoi Hilton, a couple of his own children serve in the military meaning that you can’t paint the McCains as part of the idle or out of touch rich and Obama’s own housing issue complicates the Democrat’s line

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Sport and the arts

A reader asks Megan if she supports government spending on the arts and sport. She has a pithy answer: “No”. And of course I have some sympathy for her point of view. In an ideal world this might indeed seem like frippery and even in the world we endure it can often be a transfer from poor to rich. In other words, in the UK, lottery funding for Olympic rowing or the Royal Opera House is to some extent a tax on the poor and/or the gullible for the benefit of the already better-off-than-most. But looked at differently, I’d wonder if these monies are really so very different from the

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Cricket Writing

the London papers, Mike Atherton at the Times, Selvey at the Guardian, Angus Fraser at the Independent and Derek Pringle at the Telegraph. Atherton is new to the post but shows signs of becoming, as one might expect frankly, an excellent addition to the press box. There is nothing wrong, per se, with former test cricketers moving into the press box. After all, it has long been the case that former players have found fresh and comfortable berths in the press corps. Scyld Berry, the Sunday Telegraph’s man who edited Wisden this year was not a great cricketer himself, but I was disappointed that he thought it

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Hey, Britannia!

I’m glad to see that Tim Worstall has found some good news! Sounds like things are all well and good in Britannia’s realm: Britons lack “national purpose” according to a study which found that most people prefer to spend their Bank Holiday watching television or surfing the internet rather than celebrating the country’s heritage. Excellent, there’s nothing more repellent than a “national purpose”. Quite so. Though, how can anyone be surprised by this? Mind you, in other patriot games, the extent to which Britons have developed an unhealthy fascination with the Olympic medal table now that we’re actually winning some events is mildly distasteful. There’s a slightly boorish boastfulness to

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Tip for the Day

Courtesy of a friend’s Facebook status update: XXX XXXXX advises you not to chop chillies before inserting contact lenses Good advice!

Alex Massie Alex Massie

McCain’s in the house, but which one?

I suppose that, technically, it has nothing to do with whether a candidate for the Presidency is worthy of the office, but, really, don’t you think John McCain should at least know how many houses he owns? From the Politico’s Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen:  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own. “I think – I’ll have my staff get to you,” McCain told us in Las Cruces, N.M. “It’s condominiums where – I’ll have them get to you.” The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his

James Forsyth James Forsyth

VP watch: Buy Bayh

Time Magazine: One of the biggest moments in the campaign is going to be your announcement of a Vice President. What is that decision going to tell voters about you? Barack Obama: Hopefully, the same thing that my campaign has told the American people about me. That I think through big decisions, I get a lot of input from a lot of people and that, ultimately, I try to surround myself with people who are about getting the job done and who are not about ego, self-aggrandizement, getting their names in the press, but are focused on what’s best for the American people. I think people will see that I’m

Sean Martin

Is He too young?

The Beijing Olympics was a chance for China to shine. But despite the brilliance of much of the games, the hosts keep reinforcing the criticism that all isn’t what it seems. At the opening ceremony we had the 9 year old miming because the real singer wasn’t pretty enough. And now we have a gold medallist who may not be old enough to compete. He Kexin won the top prize in the uneven bars gymnastics at the supposed age of 16. However a blogger appears to have found lists from the General Administration of Sport of China that show she is 14. These allegations are not new as they were

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Tories have their biggest ever lead, Labour at record low

The 24 point lead the Tories have in this month’s Ipsos/Mori political monitor is their largest since the survey began after the 1979 election. The 48 percent they scored is the highest they have ever been in opposition and their best performance since January 1988 when they were at 50 percent—their highest ever score.  By contrast, Labour’s 24 percent is its worst ever performance in the monthly survey. For those interested in comparing how the Tories are doing compared to New Labour in opposition, in 1995 Blair’s Labour party was consistently scoring in the mid to high fifties. But in every election apart from 1987, Labour has underperformed its poll

Sean Martin

School isn’t for everyone

The GCSE results debate today will be full of the usual accusations of grade inflation from critics and celebration of better teaching by the Government. However in the Times Lord Adonis has tried to open a wider debate on education. His most eye-catching point is that pupils leaving school at 16 is unacceptable and that we need to “eliminate dropping out”. The need to encourage pupils to stay in education for as long as possible is one of Labour’s main crusades. But why is this so important? Adonis says that criticism of new vocational subjects is “class-based elitism that instinctively wants to ration success and cap the aspirations of the