By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Froze
Ah, sweet, sweet New York City.
Society
Wednesday
A weak document
As Pete said earlier, even by this government’s low standards, the National Security Strategy is a pitifully weak document. It looks like it was ordered up in 24 hours’ notice: the pages have wide margins, large type and pointless platitudes. “Our assessment remains the same as in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review,” it says – ie, not a snowball’s chance of any nation threatening the UK with weapons, ever. Not a hint here of Russia’s new belligerence and massive ballistic spending that may one day be at the disposal of a nationalist psycho in the Kremlin. And defence wise, “we are entering a phase of overall reduced commitments” – huh?
Death of a visionary
Like Mother Theresa, it was Arthur C Clarke’s historic misfortune to die in the same week as someone with more “celebrity” (Anthony Minghella in his case, rather than Diana). But Clarke was a hugely important figure. Much has already been made of his prophetic abilities as a scientist, notably on satellite communications and moon exploration. But he was also one of the truly great science fiction writers, up there with Bradbury, Blish, Philip K Dick and Asimov, and far superior to the trash fantasy writers of today who have followed in the footsteps of Frank Herbert and Michael Moorcock (while never matching them). Clarke’s talent as a writer was to
Exclusive commentary and podcast: The West is provoking a new Cold War with Russia
A downloadable podcast of last night’s Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate – “The West is provoking a new Cold War with Russia” – is available here. Lloyd Evans’ web exclusive report on the debate can also be accessed here.
Tuesday
Rallying point | 18 March 2008
With the FTSE100 soaring 191 points and Dow Jones up 321 points, what are the odds that tomorrow’s front pages will have headlines of “markets rally”, the same way they announced yesterday’s plunges?
Obama’s speech on race
The controversy over the racially divisive sermons of Obama’s friend and pastor Jeremiah Wright was the biggest challenge that Obama has faced in the campaign so far as it threatened his whole political identity. His speech today on the issue was both impressive and significant. If he had flubbed it, it could have reinforced doubts about his candidacy. Instead, he is back on the front foot for the first time in a while. More on the speech over at Americano.
Live Audio: The West is provoking a new Cold War with Russia
The latest Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate – The West is provoking a new Cold War with Russia – starts at 18:45. Speaking for the motion are the journalist Anatole Kaletsky; the award-winning historian Norman Stone; and Alexei Pushkov, the anchor of the popular Russian TV programme Post Scriptum. They will be opposed by the journalist Edward Lucas; Dr Lilia Shevtsova, Senior Associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Ronald D. Asmus, Executive Director of the Transatlantic Center of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The debate will be chaired by Jonathan Freedland. For live audio click here.
Beckham worth more than Bear Stearns
If you want to get a handle on just how cheaply Bear Stearns was sold, consider this, David Beckham’s contract with the LA Galaxy is worth more than what JP Morgan paid for ailing investment banker. JP Morgan has already realised one big advantage from its purchase: its moving into the Madison Avenue HQ of Bear Stearns.
Intelligence Squared debate: The West is provoking a new Cold War with Russia
A reminder that the latest Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate – The West is provoking a new Cold War with Russia – takes place at 18:45 today. Speaking for the motion are the journalist Anatole Kaletsky; the award-winning historian Norman Stone; and Alexei Pushkov, the anchor of the popular Russian TV programme Post Scriptum. They will be opposed by the journalist Edward Lucas; Dr Lilia Shevtsova, Senior Associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Ronald D. Asmus, Executive Director of the Transatlantic Center of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The debate will be chaired by Jonathan Freedland. The Spectator website will feature live audio of the debate,
Black Wednesday Mark II?
Do check out this excellently-researched blog post from the think-tank Open Europe. It details their finding that, as of yesterday, the pound has fallen by more over Brown’s premiership than it did on Black Wednesday. And there could be worse to come. As Open Europe put it: “If the current trend continues the pound will be down about 18-20% by Brown’s first anniversary. Brown’s Black Wednesday may be happening more slowly compared to Lamont’s – but it could be bigger.” Here’s their neat graphic, with the Brown era represented by the pink line and the Lamont era by the blue line:
Recession Watch
Asian markets rallied this morning, most likely in expectation of an emergency rate cut from the US Federal Reserve. After the falls of yesterday, many commentators predict that Western markets will also stabilise today. Any respite, though, will only be temporary. The major indicators still make for gloomy reading, and fears remain that other US banks will go the route of Bear Stearns. In the UK, one of the major questions is of whether there’ll be any political fallout from the the financial crisis. Brown’s spending and borrowing binge has exposed us to the worst of it all. Will he get his comeuppance? Much will depend on whether people swallow the
A decisive moment for Obama
The controversy over Barack Obama’s pastor and his racially divisive views just keeps getting worse for the Obama campaign. Today, Obama will attempt to move past the story by giving a speech on race in America. The challenge for Obama is to explain why somehow who presents himself as a candidate who can help heal racial wounds became such firm friends with a man who seems to delight in exacerbating them. More on Americano.
And Another Thing | 18 March 2008
I have no objection to washing up. I prefer it to most other chores. When I was very small my mother allowed me to ‘help’ with the washing up. This meant doing the drying. I got praise for the thorough and conscientious way I did it, polishing the delicate pieces of old china till they reflected the light. My mother had a gift for making all dull jobs seem important and requiring craftsmanship. She said: ‘You’re a first-class dryer now.’ I preferred it to washing up in those days. Now it’s the reverse. I like putting on a big striped apron and taking over the sink. Normally the dishwasher takes
Pity the monks of Tibet who dare to hope that anyone will come to their aid
I can’t remember what sort of foreign policy we have right now. When New Labour was elected we were told it would be an ‘ethical foreign policy’. A year or so later, Robin Cook altered this to a ‘foreign policy with an ethical dimension’, which is a rather different thing. I assume it is now something like ‘a foreign policy with no ethical dimension whatsoever’ or maybe, since about five years ago, ‘a vigorously unethical foreign policy’. In this, I don’t suppose we are very different to most other nations and one should at least be glad that the pretence otherwise has been long dropped. But watching those stolen images
Tesco, I hate you — and you need to know why
For the vociferous band of Tesco-haters, waiting for the supermarket giant to slip up on one of its own homogenised banana skins has been a long and frustrating business. OK, you can clutch on to the failure of Tesco to achieve the 4 per cent year-on-year increase in sales during the Christmas period which analysts had predicted (it only managed 3.1 per cent). You can point out that its shares have plunged by 20 per cent since December — but which retailer’s shares haven’t? You can crow that a remarkable number of its executives over the past year have been scattering to jobs in rival businesses (one of them, dammit,
Has the Celtic tiger lost its roar?
A collapsing property market, slowing consumer spending, rising unemployment and an economy that is fast deflating: that might sound all too much like a forecast for the British economy. But actually it’s a description of the Irish economy right now. For the last decade, Ireland has been the most dynamic economy in Europe, with growth rates that far outstripped any of its rivals. This republic of not much more than 4 million citizens has turned itself into one of the most prosperous nations in the Western world. Fuelled by a long boom, a swaggering generation of Irish tycoons has emerged, buying up businesses around the world. Yet in the space
Monday
The Cheney School of Parenting
Harlan Coben takes to the op-ed pages of The New York Times to recommend parents install spyware on their kids’ computers. Make no mistake: If you put spyware on your computer, you have the ability to log every keystroke your child makes and thus a good portion of his or her private world. That’s what spyware is — at least the parental monitoring kind. You don’t have to be an expert to put it on your computer. You just download the software from a vendor and you will receive reports — weekly, daily, whatever — showing you everything your child is doing on the machine. Scary. But a good idea.
Department of Prissyness
Ezra says this New York Post headline – ‘Whore-ible Ordeal: Dad – demonstrates that – shockingly! – the NYP “isn’t a very classy newspaper”. And thank god for that. There are enough humour-free newspapers in America already without needing to scold the Post for daring to make it’s readers laugh in fine, classical tabloid fashion. Sex scandals are manna for the tabs and it’s encouraging – in this too tired and shabby world – to see that the Post is maintaining high standards in the coverage of these affairs.
Quote of the Day | 17 March 2008
From Alasdair Reid’s inquest into Saturday’s Roman debacle: Rome is not exactly short of statues, but they could raise another one this morning to Dan Parks, the Scotland fly-half, whose woeful performance virtually gifted Italy their win. The official statistics showed that Parks had made seven errors in the game, the most significant of which was that he emerged from the dressing room in the first place. Too true, too bleedin’ true.
McCartney DivorceSettlement
Danny Finkelstein: Please accept that what I am about to write I do as someone who is a. A big fan of Paul McCartney and b. Entirely ignorant of divorce law. But I just have to ask – why does Heather Mills get £24 million for being married to McCartney for four years? I write as someone who a) Can’t stand Paul McCartney or either of his wives and b) Is also entirely ignorant of divorce law. But… Isn’t £24m pretty fair compensation for having endured Sir Paul McCartney for four years. It works out at £16, 427 a day which, as a per diem, seems quite reasonable… (Of course