Society

Wednesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Hillary Clintons Duty to Quit

The general view seems to be that Clinton needs to gain an edge in either the cumulative popular vote or, less probably, the pledged-delegate count if she is to have a chance of persuading the Superdelegates to give her the nomination (and of course, once you strip independents and other non-Democrats out of the election tallies, Clinton has won a majority of registered Democratic voters). Even so, it’s not hard to see how this sort of caper could tear the party apart. Most folk seem to think this would be a terrible, undemocratic way to win the nomination. Not so fast says a friend: Don’t hate the player, hate the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What’s next?

Over on Americano, a look at how Obama might try and change the story line and what the seven week gap between now and the crucial Pennsylvania primary might mean for the campaign.

Matthew Dancona

Taxing times

Danny Finkelstein has a must-read column today on the Tory tax row, which has already prompted response over at Conservativehome. Quite apart from his formidable intellect, Danny has something which most of those commenting on the pros and cons of tax cuts don’t, which is scars on his back. As a close adviser to William Hague when he was leader, he saw at first hand how this argument worked in practice rather than theory. He knows of what he speaks. The least persuasive argument for the Tories to embrace radical tax cuts is that previous proposals have been timid or unclear. The fact is that Labour made sure that the

Lucy Vickery

This be the verse | 5 March 2008

If you are in awe of the wit and skill of those who appear regularly on the Spectator’s weekly competition pages, and are looking for an antidote to doom and gloom, do visit www.lightenup-online.co.uk, a new quarterly online magazine showcasing the best of contemporary light verse. It is edited by Martin Parker, a veteran competitor, and the first edition features comic gems by familiar names such as Bill Greenwell and D.A. Prince.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

No sleep till Denver: Hillary, the unlikely underdog, takes it to the wire

It was meant to be the night that Barack Obama sealed the deal. The presidency seemed almost within his reach. Then, against the odds, like the villain in a horror movie, Hillary came back from the near-dead. And by the end of Tuesday night — with a thumping win in Ohio and a victory in the popular vote in Texas — she had earned the right to take this contest to Pennsylvania on 22 April and, maybe, all the way to the convention in Denver in August. Obama remains the favourite to win the nomination but for the first time Clinton has a credible reason why she should be the

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Water, Prozac, management consultants: all completely useless

According to one serious front-page newspaper report, all those bones found on the site of that former children’s home in Jersey were actually left-over props from an edition of Bergerac. The whole place is taped off, they’ve had the floppy-eared sniffer dogs in and the supposedly grisly, horrible revelations have been leading our news programmes for a week or more. Now it may well be not multiple murders after all, but merely fake stuff left for John Nettles to find many years ago, before he forsook the Channel Islands for the scarcely gentler parish of Midsomer. This revelation surprised me less than you might imagine. I have long held that

Paul Johnson

And another thing | 5 March 2008

There are certain words, carrying overtones of money and privilege, which stir up strong emotions. One is ‘private income’. ‘What’s held me back,’ says Uncle Giles in The Music of Time, ‘is that I’ve never had a private income.’ J.B. Priestley used to say, disdainfully, ‘He’s got a private income voice.’ There were various euphemisms used by the squeamish to whom talking about money was indelicate. About 1870, someone noting a list of clergymen at Lambeth Palace inquired what was the significance of the letters ‘W.H.M.’ after the names of some of them. He was told they stood for ‘wife has means’. Another such emotive phrase is ‘expense account’. I

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

We already have the NHS, do we need a DHS too?

Earlier this year Con Coughlin argued in The Spectator: Clearly there is a need for the government to get a firm grip on all the various security challenges that might come our way, which is why there has been much talk at the Cabinet Office, which is overseeing the review, of establishing a National Security Council along the lines of the body in Washington that advises the White House on security policy — both short-term and long-term… A better alternative might be to set up our own Homeland Security Department — represented by a minister of Cabinet rank — which would have responsibility for ensuring proper protection of our borders

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Oiks Welcome!

Comments are good. It’s always nice to hear – and learn – from readers. So it was lovely to receive this comment from, appropriately, “Monoglot”, on this post about Marion Cotillard’s love of conspiracy theories: What is it [about] french and the strange conceit that it needs no translation, in some circles? You don’t see people doing this with german, polish, russian, chinese. A big blob of Chinese wouldn’t be pasted into this blog – why French? Is it a public school thing? There’s a few public schoolboy blogs that do this, in England – not so much abroad in more egalitarian english speaking countries however. I suppose this used

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Live-blogging Ohio, Texas and, er, Hamilton…

The internet is all about niche, right? It’s clear to me that there’s an as yet unfilled opening for a blog that combines analysis of the latest shenanigans between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton with equally speculative and ill-informed musings on England’s tour of New Zealand. We break new ground here, folks, with the world’s first (I believe) cricket-politics live-blog… We’ll be roaming all over the globe tonight, taking in the results from Ohio and Texas as well as the action from Hamilton as the Black Caps take on the visiting English… 9.14pm: Michael Vaughan makes a hash of the toss. He calls heads and it’s tails. Daniel Vettori and

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

What’s to blame for the Broken Society?

A CoffeeHouser, William, asks how I can blame socialism for the Broken Society – a problem which he says is an “absence, not the promotion, of a collective responsibility”. This cuts straight to the heart of the problem. It is a play on words. “Collectivism” in the terms of state socialism (and the current welfare state) has become an agenda for the atomisation of society. It means more selfishness. The more folk rely on the state, the less they depend on each other. If welfare means a family is better off apart than together, the economic rationale of a family vanishes. If welfare pays more than minimum wage work, is

Peter Hoskin

A successful policy?

Apparently, the Government’s 24-hour drinking laws have been a success.  So much so, in fact, that a review will today mark them a solid 7-out-of-10 for delivering “excellent” results in many areas. Why, then, do the statistics paint a different picture?  In the 12 police forces that keep the relevant records, alcohol-related anti-social behaviour has risen by around 46 percent since the new laws were introduced.   Throw in massive increases in alcohol-related illnesses and injuries, and it becomes clearer that 24 hour drinking is a part of the problem rather than the solution.  I doubt a  “tougher” system of yellow and red cards for landlords and shop-owners will do anything to change this.  What do CoffeeHousers think? P.S. Great coverage over at Three Line Whip.

Monday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

This is your government boasting…

Charles Moore in The Spectator: One of the running jokes in Private Eye used to be a list of benefits from some public service or other which included, inexplicably, ‘grapefruit segments’. Last week, the Labour party emailed me ‘Our 50 top achievements since being elected in 1997’. Achievement no. 50 is ‘Free fruit for most four- to six-year-olds at school’. It’s the sheepish “most” that makes it priceless, rescuing it from the usual vacuous banality of government announcements.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Doh is not a real word…

But… The makers of Scrabble are going after the Indian boys responsible for the wondrous Scrabulous. What stupidity. Don’t they realise that Scrabulous has introduced the Facebook generation to the game. Yes, it’s a rip-off of the boardgame but it’s also the best thing to have happened to Scrabble in years. How many sets will be sold to people introduced to the game online? Plenty I should imagine. Why, for the first time in years I played a couple of games of “real” Scrabble last weekend. I doubt that would have been the case but for Scrabulous. Tellingly, Hasbro and Mittel aren’t cracking down, as best one can tell, on

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Photo of the Day | 3 March 2008

Selkirk on the attack during Saturday’s tough 8-0 victory at Falkirk in the Scottish Cup. The club’s reward is a sixth round tie away to Haddington. (Away again!) (Photo credit: Falkirk RFC’s ghoneyman)

Peter Hoskin

From Putin with love

So, Putin’s protégé Dmitry Medvedev scored an overwhelming – and very much expected – victory in the Russian Presidential elections.  Was it a fair result?  It seems unlikely.  The chairman of a European delegation sent to observe the contest has already said that: “The results of the presidential elections … are a reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped.” These concerns have been echoed by the German Chancellor, among others.  (No such audacity from Gordon Brown – he’s already dispatched his letter of congratulation). In the end, though, the protests won’t change a thing.  The question now is of whether Medvedev will divert

Peter Hoskin

Back at square one?

With Israeli troops conducting operations in Gaza over the weekend, it’s well worth reading (or re-reading) Lorna Fitzsimons’ prescient article for the Spectator. Fitzsimons concludes her piece as follows: “What is plain is that the past seven years of attacks — and the dramatic increase in the past few months — have been unbearable for so many Israelis. Israel has acted with a commendable level of restraint that in all probability no other country in the world would have shown when under attack. Israel may well have to re-occupy large parts of Gaza, essentially admitting that its 2005 experiment of unilateral withdrawal failed — it wasn’t able to bring security to the region

Sunday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The A Team

It’s late on a fiercely cold evening with the rain lashing and the wind howling down the Yarrow valley. Obviously, then, it’s time for an exciting new Debatable Land series! Readers possessing elephantine memories may recall this post in which I confessed – nay, revelled! – in being a cricket geek. I’m not alone in this. Like a good number of other sensitive souls I often spend idle moments (of which, blessedly, there are many) selecting imaginary cricket XIs. Thus one can spend hours pondering the greatest West Indies XI of time or the finest selection of left-handed cricketers or, well, you get the idea. An old and favourite variety

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Can Hillary hold the Alamo?

Austin, Texas Tuesday’s contests will decide whether the Democratic primary contest continues or not. If Obama wins both Texas and Ohio then it will be impossible for Hillary Clinton to continue. While if Hillary wins both Texas and Ohio then she will have a new lease of life, she would still be the underdog but she would have earned the right to stay in the race until at least  Pennsylvania on April 22nd.  For Hillary the minimum she needs to do to credibly carry on is to triumph in Ohio, where she currently leads in the poll, and the popular vote in Texas, where she trails narrowly according to the