Society

Saturday

Lucy Vickery

Two Bobs

In Competition No. 2502 you were invited to submit a review by a critic identifying the literary precursor(s) to a popular music star of your choice. I was originally going to stipulate that the entry be in the style of a rock critic to winkle out the hipsters among you (although Christopher Ricks, whom I pegged the comp. to, was coming at Dylan from the perspective of an academic). But unsure how much of a crossover there would be between the readership of The Spectator and that of the NME, I lost my nerve and plumped instead for ‘critic’, which seemed to cover all bases. In general, the literary canon

Interconnect

Mind your manners

We’ve all been there: the brain stuck in first gear during an interview; an inappropriate remark to a senior colleague or client; uncontrollable shaking before a speech in public. For most of us these are relatively isolated incidents. There are, however, serial offenders whose failure to control their manners and nerves ultimately proves fatal in today’s cut-throat business world. Two recent surveys highlight the problem. The first reveals that demand for senior executives is booming, thanks to private equity investors’ appetite for hired-in, new-broom management — good news for job-hunters, provided they’re up to the job. But the second suggests they might not be, revealing that 71 per cent of

Ross Clark Ross Clark

London matches the glory of Venice in its prime

Ross Clark says that our capital has the geographical, economic and social conditions that made the Venetian city-state of the 14th century — but all this is vulnerable When Tony Blair secured the agreement of the Scots and — only just — the Welsh for devolution in the referendums of 1998, it was supposed to herald a great revival of the regions. Britain was to be reborn as a kind of West Germany, whose constitution included a reference to ironing out the economic disparities between Hamburg and Munich, Frankfurt and Hanover. Instead, the opposite seems to have occurred. The concept of elected English regional assemblies has been quietly forgotten since

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Any other Business

Shoppers stay home as rates and floods rise — but there’s a bit of better news for M&S Shoppers have spent these past few weeks sheltering from incessant rain, rising interest rates and renewed threats of terrorism. Fuel- and flood-hit food prices are on an up-trend too, so we must brace ourselves for a spate of High Street gloom. At Marks & Spencer, like-for-like sales were up only 2 per cent in the April–June quarter, compared to a rise of more than 8 per cent in the same quarter of 2006. Still, that was slightly less bad than the stock market expected, and there was one bit of better news

Neil Collins

A dull business made great by allowing workers to think

Ah, the terrible persistence of the irritating jingle. It’s nearly 30 years since ‘Thousands of parts for millions of cars’ last assaulted our ears, but I’ll bet millions of middle-aged Britons, motorists or not, can render it pretty faithfully. The company behind the jingle was a leaky lifeboat from the sinking British Leyland. It was called Unipart, and at the helm was the slight, rather diffident figure of John Neill. He had organised the management buy-out of BL’s spare-parts division, and he had a vision of a different kind of business, one where each employee was not merely a cog in a machine but, as he puts it now, ‘has

Tim Walker

‘Being famous has become rather common’

Rupert Everett tells Tim Walker that there is nothing wrong with being a bimbo, that political correctness has been ‘a disaster for everyone’ and that gay adoption is wrong Rupert Everett has just done Richard & Judy, or maybe, he concedes, Richard and Judy have just done him. ‘It is hard to work out who is using who on these occasions,’ he says. ‘I suppose ultimately we are all just hustlers.’ The actor is proud of his autobiography Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins and, now that it has come out in paperback, he is throwing himself at the promotional tour with professional gusto. He can’t, however, disguise the fact

Paul Johnson

Not going gentle into the good night

Retirement, especially for a prime minister, used to being frantically busy in the full gaze of the public, is a melancholy thing. The younger he — or she — is, the more it hurts, with long years of inactivity and growing oblivion stretching ahead. I often think that the most successful of all British politicians, in a worldly but also in a personal sense, was Lord Palmerston. Not only did he hold offices of one kind or another for longer than anyone else, a total of nearly 60 years, but he died as prime minister. His last words, as reported, were: ‘Die? My dear doctor, that’s the last thing I

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Lionel Messi, Superstar

Meant to post this earlier. Right now, I doubt there’s a more exciting footballer in the world than Lionel Messi. His goal against Mexico in the semi-final of the Copa America is a thing of rare and exquisite beauty. Enjoy!

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The astronomical cost of over budget government projects

The TaxPayers alliance has a corking piece of research, available on their new website, out on the cost of overruns in public sector projects. They’ve examined the records of 305 schemes that have either being completed since 2005 or are ongoing and found that each household in Britain is effectively paying £900 for them going over budget. Remarkably, 14 projects have managed to go over budget by more than the Dome did.

The Spectator

What’s wrong with the new consensus

When I supported the Iraq war, it was certainly for the aims James mentioned. And yes, I’m feasting on humble pie now. And Stuart’s right to say that even the Republicans are deserting Bush – the House has just voted to pull out troops by Spring. So I suspect Wee Dougie’s speech will be at the softer end of what’s to come. Britain’s political class are getting in synch with the would-be 2008 presidential candidates. Here’s the bit in Dougie’s speech that jumped out at me: “Given the interconnected nature of the challenges we face, I would argue that we have to simultaneously be fighting to end poverty, to secure

The Spectator

Why America went to war

Come off it, James. American did not go to war to ‘set about a phenomenally ambitious project to build democracies in parts of the world where they had never succeeded before’. America went to war to extract the blood price for 9/11. Saddam was identified with the terrorists. He was said to have weapons of mass destruction and therefore to be a threat to world peace. In attacking Iraq the United States and Great Britain maintained they were acting in self-defence. It was all nonsense, and has ended in disaster. But none of this matters in relation to what Douglas Alexander said yesterday. What matters is that the Gordon Brown

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What is Douglas Alexander talking about?

Douglas Alexander’s speech in Washington last night is being portrayed as distancing Gordon Brown’s administration from George W. Bush’s post 9/11 foreign policy. Particular importance is being attached to this passage: “In the 20th century a country’s might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st century strength should be measured by what we can build together.” If this intended as a criticism of the Bush administration, it is ignorant in the extreme. After 9/11, the United States did not go on some Shermanesque march to the sea. Instead, it set about a phenomenally ambitious project to build democracies in parts of the world where they

Thursday

The Spectator

Nigel Dempster RIP

His critics called him vain, snobbish, jumped-up and vicious – all true – but Nigel Dempster was also generous (he felt uncomfortable if anyone else paid for lunch); charming (displaying exaggerated and affected old-world manners which made women redden with appreciation) and exceptionally funny (with a theatrical sense of timing when recounting a juicy anecdote). But The Greatest Living Englishman (as Auberon Waugh only half-jokingly dubbed him) was an incredibly complex character – his Daily Mail colleague and contemporary mischief-maker, Peter McKay, believed he was so beset by his “demons” that it was a wonder Dempster could ever sleep. As one who spent many years in the same office and

The Spectator

We have a winner, Ms. Moneypolly

The best suggestion by a Coffee Houser for a new author of James Bond stories was Simon Chapman who proposed The Guardian’s in-house funster, Polly Toynbee. A bottle of champagne is on its way to Simon: congratulations! Here is how we think the book might begin: DIAMONDS ARE FOR TAXING by Polly Toynbee Bond walked at a brisk pace, checking the time on his Rolex Oyster Perpetual: he was late for his meeting with M. An engagement at his tailor in Conduit street had delayed him: unavoidable. In life, there were always priorities. He reached for his black gun-metal cigarette case and black oxidised Ronson lighter and then remembered, with

The Spectator

How the Beckhams will crack America

If you want to know how Brand Beckham will be marketed in the States take a look at the storyboards for the ad campaign that is being launched to promote his first game for the LA Galaxy. One of the most intriguing things about Beckham’s arrival in the US, as Sports Illustrated points out, is how he’ll fit in with team mates who earn so much less than him. He’ll be sharing a dressing room with people who earn $17,700 a year—in contrast to his six and a half million bucks.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The coming Cold War

With Britain and Russia on the verge of Cold War style diplomatic expulsions over Russia’s refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi over the death of Alexander Litvinenko, do read Fraser’s cover story on what Putin is up to.

Wednesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

HMQ Not Amused

My impression is that Annie Liebowitz is used to getting her own way.  Not all portraits are equal however… From a documentary titled A Year With the Queen comes this: In one scene… Liebowitz is photographing Queen Elizabeth II when she suggests that the Queen remove her crown for a portrait. “I think it will look better without the crown because the garter robe is so…,” Annie tried, but then the Queen interrupted. “Less dressy? What do you think this is?” the monarch hit back, pointing at what she was wearing and giving her an icy stare. The queen then walked off, with an official carrying the large train of

The Spectator

The Bureaucratic Bungling Corporation

Life is full of little ironies. I am just off to the BBC’s Millbank studios to do some recording for The Week in Westminster. Meanwhile, I have spent much of the afternoon having acrimonious conversations with senior BBC management. The cause? The Corporation has decided to withdraw permission from Emily Maitlis, star Newsnight and News 24 presenter, to be a Contributing Editor at The Spectator. Readers of the magazine will know what a gifted writer Emily is – see last week’s Diary – and I was thrilled when she agreed to become a Contributing Editor and pleasantly surprised when Peter Horrocks, the head off BBC TV news, gave her permission

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Where Bill and Hillary disagree

New York magazine has a piece that is well worth reading on the one issue where Hillary is busy distancing herself from the record of the Clinton presidency: trade. Free trade always takes a hammering during the Democratic primaries thanks to the influence of the labour unions, but there does seem to be something more going on this cycle with not one candidate prepared to offer even the most hesitant defence of future trade agreements. Indeed considering that America still has a sizable manufacturing base to lose, we can expect little impetus for a new trade agreement from Washington in the next few years.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Can John McCain recover?

The former Republican frontrunner has just let his three most senior campaign aides go. These three departures signify the deep trouble that McCain’s campaign is in; he is now third or fourth in the polls and trails the fringe libertarian candidate Ron Paul in the money stakes. But he could still recover. He’s the candidate on the Republican side who is most qualified to be president from day one, not an unimportant qualification considering the state that George W. Bush will leave the country in. He ‘gets’ the nature of the fight we’re in better than any candidate on either side and is also the only Republican candidate to have been