Society

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

US CentCom Commander resigns

Admiral William Fallon has resigned as CentCom commander over a magazine profile–that he cooperated with–that pitted him against the White House’s hawkish Iran rhetoric. In a statement, Fallon said: “Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president’s policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the Centcom region. And although I don’t believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America’s interests there”. Fallon’s resignation is bound to set  off a wave of speculation

John Mcfall

Budget 2008: Combating child poverty & helping the environment

Devising this year’s Budget can’t have been easy for the Government. On the one hand, a slowdown seems likely over the next year or so. Two intertwined factors — tightening credit and slowing or falling house prices — will constrain consumer spending and tax receipts. The Government is already nearing the limits of its fiscal rules. Of course, any slowdown in the UK will not be on the scale of, say, the expected US slowdown (many analysts believe that growth is likely to pick back up in 2009). But the Government will nevertheless need to keep a very firm hand on the public finances. On the other hand, the Government

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Spitzer’s done

Eliot Spitzer’s political career is over. The New York Governor might not have resigned yet but it is impossible to see how he can recover from the revelation that he was a client of an expensive prostitution service. The problem for Spitzer is not just that he has been caught in a sex scandal but that he has based his political career on his own integrity; without it, he is nothing. Just to compound the problem, what alerted law enforcement to Spitzer’s activities was a series of suspicious financial transactions making it impossible to depict this as a purely private, sexual matter. Spitzer’s fall has been as dramatic as his

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A gulf in opinion

A profile of Admiral William Fallon, the head of US Central Command, in Esquire is bound to make waves as it claims that, “well-placed observers now say that it will come as no surprise if Fallon is relieved of his command before his time is up next spring, maybe as early as this summer, in favor of a commander the White House considers to be more pliable. If that were to happen, it may well mean that the president and vice-president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don’t want a commander standing in their way.” The whole piece is slightly breathless and

Peter Hoskin

Backing the big-earners

I said yesterday that it’d be a good idea for the Government to use tomorrow’s Budget as a peace offering to the business world.  After Northern Wreck and the non-dom taxation row, bridges need rebuilding. The charm offensive’s begun a day early.  Today John Hutton is delivering a speech to the think-tank Progress, in which he’ll salute those at the top of the salary tree: “Rather than questioning whether huge salaries are morally justified, we should celebrate the fact that people can be enormously successful in this country. Rather than placing a cap on that success, we should be questioning why it is not available to more people.” It’s already riled Polly Toynbee.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Controlling the classroom

A friend is on the board of an independent school, and has been attending more than the usual amount of meetings recently. They are discussing whether the burden of government interference has become so great that they should become a profit-seeking organisation. This would be financed by stopping taking in new pupils from poor areas – a duty it the school has been proud to do since its inception. It’s all being done with a heavy heart, but the cost of the school upkeep is soaring and they fear closure. Having to obey yet more central government marching orders will not endear them to the overseas parents, on whom they

Peter Hoskin

Swearing allegiance

Lord Goldsmith will today release his review into British citizenship and social cohesion. One of his ideas: that all school-leavers take part in ceremonies to swear allegiance to the Queen. It’s window dressing, a pretty policy that won’t achieve anything. After all, the situation’s becoming grimmer for those school-leavers. They’re faced by high levels of tax; rising debt; and little chance of getting on the housing ladder. Add to this the increasingly devalued qualifications of the British education system and the fact that young people are all-too-often victims of crime. These factors explain why so many are choosing to leave the country, and this won’t be remedied by flag-waving ceremonies.

Monday

Corin-Taylor

Budget 2008: Taxing issues

The discussion around Alistair Darling’s first Budget is likely to be dominated by immediate worries, such as non-dom taxation, capital gains tax, the rising budget deficit, Northern Rock, and the impact of the credit crunch on economic growth.  These are all issues of paramount concern.  But it’s important not to forget the negative longer-term effects of fiscal policy in recent years. Public spending has surged since 2000.  On the OECD numbers, it has increased from 37.5 per cent of GDP in 2000 to 45 per cent last year – an increase unprecedented during a peacetime period of steady economic growth.  In 2000, Britain’s public spending as a share of national

Peter Hoskin

Oil-and-water politics

In an article for the FT, Gordon Brown makes his strongest commitment yet to public service reform.  As he puts it: “…there can be no backtracking on reform, no go-slow, no reversals and no easy compromises. Indeed, to meet these new demands it is now time to go further and move to the third stage of reform where we not only further enhance choice but also empower both the users of services and all the professionals who deliver them to drive up standards for all.” Powerful stuff.  Another step on the Damascene road to becoming a Blairite.  Yet – as I’ve said numerous times before – I’m not convinced.  Why?  Because

Elizabeth Truss

Budget 2008: Arresting the fiscal flood

The focus of the UK economic debate of recent weeks has been the credit crunch and the evolution of Northern Rock.  Now, however, the Government’s plans for fiscal policy will take centre stage.  This week’s Budget provides the Chancellor with an opportunity to set out a new approach for government spending, based on the notion of a long term sustainable public spending policy. If this opportunity is missed, it will leave the way clear for the Opposition parties. A new report published today by the independent think tank Reform argues that the programme of public spending increases begun in April 1999 has been unsuccessful. This period of public sector expansion

Sunday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The B Team

After the great success of the first installment of our alphabetical cricket teams, it’s only natural that we move on to, yes, The B Team. As always, have your say in the comments. THE B TEAM 1. Geoffrey Boycott (ENG)2. Sid Barnes (AUS)3. Donald Bradman (AUS)4.  Ken Barrington (ENG)5. Allan Border (AUS)6. Ian Botham (ENG)7. Richie Benaud (AUS) (Capt)8.  Mark Boucher (SA) (Wkt)9. Alec Bedser (ENG)10. SF Barnes (ENG)11. Colin Blythe (ENG) Selection notes: Tough to decide who should bat number 3 in this largely Anglo-Australian side, obviously. Any team with Bradman is going to be competitive. Apart from the Don, it’s not the most exciting batting line-up but that gives

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Who kicked who?

The Peev v Carlson clash (watch it here) is fast mutating into a debate between the merits of UK and US journalism. And another issue – who gave who a kicking? Most US bloggers see this as a clear victory for Tucker who put the Brits in his place with his cutting put-down. It must be one of those optical illusion pictures that could be an old or young women, depending on your brain, because I fairly clearly saw Peev putting Carlson in his place.  My favourite points from this debate: Iain Martin says the Americans consider journalism a profession but in the UK, it’s a more of a trade

Saturday

Alex James

Dizzying spectacle

As it is something we all crave, even demand as a right, a lot of research has been conducted into what makes people happy. I’m surprised everybody isn’t aware, and apologies if you already are, that there are three different classes of experience that are all guaranteed to fill our wells of content. First, some kind of sensory satisfaction is bound to make us feel better: sex, shopping, cheese; all that stuff in the adverts. It’s relatively easy and instant, but unfortunately it doesn’t last long. More profound and enduring, second-order satisfaction is to be found doing things that we are good at. We’re all good at something. As you

Jeremy Clarke

Oasis of calm

At the local swimming-pool, various sessions throughout the week are reserved for the exclusive use of women, schoolchildren, naturists, beginners, GP referrals, naturist GP referrals, youths, water-polo players and early risers. Because I happen to be none of these things, the only sessions open to me until recently were the so-called public swimming sessions, which can be a bit like Clacton on an August bank holiday before the war. It’s been many years since a birthday conferred extra rights and privileges on me. But now that I’ve turned 50 years of age, I qualify to enter the pool during a lunchtime slot in the new swim timetable called ‘50 plus’.

Taki

Broken society

Who the hell does David Cameron think he is to tell Benji Mancroft to think more before opening his mouth? Did Cameron think when he asked us to hug a hoodlum? I’ve been lucky and never had to go to a hospital in the UK but, unless I was bleeding to death and needed emergency help, the last place I’d choose to be treated would be here. Mancroft was right in what he said about the nurses and the sloppy work they do, but, instead of being congratulated by the Tory leader, he’s told to hold back. Like a true-blue phoney politician, Cameron bends over backwards for the soundbite ignoring

Robin Oakley

Senior moment

I used to be quite keen on jogging, working on the theory that you add a minute to your life for every mile run. My enthusiasm weakened after a TV colleague pointed out that the net result of my endeavours would be an extra six months in the nursing home in my eighties at £4,000 a month. But the benefits of continued exercise, at least for those with four legs, were evident soon after 2.45 p.m. last Saturday when six game old boys came to the second last at Newbury virtually in a line, all bursting with vim and vigour and in with a chance of the prize. Putting together

The Spectator

Letters | 8 March 2008

Education revolution Sir: Fraser Nelson (‘Made in Sweden’, 1 March) is right to highlight the importance of Sweden’s independent state schools for the debate on school choice and diversity. The successful Swedish experience strongly influenced New Labour reformers as we sought to introduce independent state-funded schools into England. However, it doesn’t need the Conservatives to ‘bring the Swedish education revolution to Britain’. The revolution has arrived already in the shape of the academies programme, which enables schools to be set up and managed on an independent basis by promoters outside the local authority system. There are now 83 academies open, managed by promoters including leading private schools, universities, churches, businesses

Toby Young Toby Young

Status Anxiety | 8 March 2008

‘Few shows of such embarrassing, authorial ineptitude can have hit the London stage since the Blitz.’ That was the verdict of Nicholas de Jongh, the Evening Standard drama critic, on the satirical play about the royal family that Lloyd Evans and I wrote in 2006. It wasn’t the only bad review we got, but it was by far the most damning. According to Jongh, A Right Royal Farce was not just your run-of-the-mill damp squib; it was the worst show to appear in London since 1941. You can imagine my glee, therefore, when I learnt that Jongh had written a play himself. ‘Aha’, I thought. ‘The scourge of London’s theatreland