All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
After the Libyan blood money scandal at the LSE, inquiries were bound to be made about other universities. Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow, has exposed how Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) agreed to contracts with Gaddafi’s Libya worth at least £1,272,000.00. (He has since been threatened with a defamation suit for pointing this
Michael Gove has just finished announcing to the Commons his proposed replacement for Educational Maintenance Allowance. The new scheme is more targeted than the old one that went to 45 percent of those who stayed in education post-16. Interestingly, it will be administered by the schools and colleges themselves. Gove’s argument is that it is
Whether revolutions devour their own children often depends on the ability of a post-revolutionary government to deliver political freedom, jobs and services. Egypt is no different. If the economy opens up, then the country’s transition to democracy is likely to continue. If not, then anything can happen. So, which will it be? The stock exchange
Perhaps the most interesting political story of the weekend was Nick Clegg’s political mentor, Paddy Ashdown rejecting the idea that the Lib Dems should be equidistant between the two main parties in an interview with The Times: ‘I don’t want to go back to using the word ‘equidistant’ because the world has changed.” He predicts
Nothing would help the international campaign against Colonel Gaddafi as much as the Egyptian military — and therefore Egypt — swinging in behind the UN-authorised effort. It would be one of the few things that would make the Libyan dictator worry and could push fence-sitting loyalists towards the rebel cause. Materially, it could also be
Writing in today’s Guardian about the weekend protests, my colleague Jackie Ashley makes a half-true argument. ‘Miliband [cannot] be blamed for the embarrassing juxtaposition of his words at the Hyde Park rally and the actions of a group of anarchists in Oxford Street as they attacked the police. The Labour leader is no more responsible
Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which – providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no
“He’s elevated personal abuse into a sort of strategy.” So says Nick Clegg of Ed Miliband in one of the most noteworthy snippets from his laid-back interview with the FT today. Another sign, were it needed, that Labour’s animosity towards the Lib Dem leader is mutual — if they won’t work with him, then he
…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Fraser Nelson praises diversion, and reveals how much we’re still paying for Gordon Brown. James Forsyth thinks that Ed Miliband made a strategic mistake by marching without an alternative, and explains why Cameron is so keen on start-ups. Peter Hoskin discerns nerves in
As Nato takes full military responsibility in Libya, the rebels surge onwards in the direction of Tripoli. According to one of the group’s spokesmen, Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte — some 280 miles east of the capital — fell to their attacks last night; although there are reports, still, of explosions there this morning. In any
Perhaps I’m being a little unfair on Ed Miliband but, no, I don’t think I am. Perhaps he’s not in denial. There again, he gives every impression of being a man who still doesn’t understand why Labour lost the last election. Every so often there’ll be a nod to the notion that government spending cannot
Note, please, the wisdom of the man from the San Francisco Examiner who says “We aren’t going to make much [money] from this*.” *So, yeah, subscribe to the Spectator. Please. It’s good for you and, quite importantly, good for us too. [Hat-tip: Radley Balko]
A woman on a British Airways flight who was seven months pregnant was told to give up her more spacious seat because of overbooking. A whole bunch of other passengers were instructed likewise. It was a two leg flight, as I understand it, and for the duration of the first leg all the spacious seats
Driving through post-revolution Cairo at night is eerie. The normally busy streets are deserted, most of the city’s squares and roads are blocked by military checkpoints, and dark clad figures slip in and out of the shadows. Breaking the curfew may result in a six month sentence, or worse. Come dawn, however, the city springs
Cabinet ministers were relatively relaxed about yesterday’s march against the cuts—and rightly so. It did not make a sea-change in British politics and merely served to underline the lack of a credible alternative to what the coalition is doing. But what does worry ministers is where the growth is going to come from in the
Judging by today’s reports, it’s fear and self-loathing in Lib Dem Land. And it’s not just that one of their Scottish candidates has quit the party in protest at its, ahem, “draconian policies” and “dictatorial style”. No, according to this insightful article by Melissa Kite and Patrick Hennessy in the Sunday Telegraph, there are more
Jazz musicians absorb tunes, spend time with them, nearly live with and in them. Getting to know a tune means internalizing its contours and chord sequence to the point where one can walk onto that no-bullshit-zone of a bandstand and tell a story through just joining up the notes. It’s what you work towards. In
The story today of a pregnant woman being downgraded so Gordon Brown and his six aides could travel business class from Abu Dhabi to London may ring a bell with CoffeeHousers. We revealed last August that Brown has a taste for freebies, and that he was offering himself for $100,000 at speaking and award-giving engagements.
With NATO planes circling above Libya, Saudi troops quashing protests in Bahrain, and troops killing civilians in Syria and Yemen, there has been little attention paid to Israel. But Israel has recently been the victim of a series of violent attacks. More than 30 people were injured in a bombing in Jerusalem, and Islamic Jihad’s
The fight between Colonel Gaddafi’s forces and the resistance to his rule will clearly take some time, but the rebels have had a good 24 hours. In Brega, Gaddafi’s forces deserted in large numbers, handing 10 vehicles over to rebels. A loyalist brigadier was killed and in Ajdabiya government forces withdrew overnight, while rebels also
I don’t think there’s any point in pretending that Ed Miliband is not an idiot. All the evidence the prosecution needs comes from this typically self-aggrandising passage in his address to protestors in London this afternoon. We come in the tradition of those who have marched before us. The suffragettes who fought for votes for
Ed Miliband’s decision to address today’s anti-cuts march is a strategic mistake. It makes him look like the tribune of an interest group not a national leader. He’ll also be tarred by association, fairly or not, if these scuffles we’re seeing turn into anything more serious. In his speech, Miliband tried to place the march
On the morning of the March for the Alternative, a friend alerted me to the brilliantly angry Andrew Lansley rap (chorus: “the NHS is not for sale you grey-haired manky tosser”). Admittedly not the most sophisticated political polemic, but as agit-pop goes, pretty effective. Andrew Lansley’s health reforms are fast become a deep embarrassment to
Lord Lawson has given George Osborne’s Budget an A-minus. Writing in today’s Times (£), the former chancellor said that his successor ‘got the big questions right’ by sticking to deficit reduction and assisting hard-pressed taxpayers where he could. The only blemish was the carbon price floor for the energy sector, which Lawson describes as ‘nothing
This is one reason why critics are a good thing. Woody Allen appears to have not even the slightest clue about his own work: [Thanks to DC]
“We should have more history on the programme,” said Evan Davis at the end of yesterday’s episode of R4’s Today. “I learned a lot from that.” He had just been interviewing Peter Jones (listen here) about a piece in this week’s Spectator about the two Libyas — a split which may emerge as a result
Thousands have converged on London today, to march against the monolithic evil of ‘cuts’. They have not stated an alternative, a fact that led Phil Collins to write an eloquently savage critique in yesterday’s Times (£). That the protesters are incoherent beyond blanket opposition to the government is not really an issue: as this morning’s
The greatest game in the world returns this weekend for Season 2011, and too much football will never be enough. Season 2010 will be remembered for the most controversial defection since Anakin Skywalker went over to the Dark Side, as Gary Ablett Junior abandoned Geelong to play for the new Gold Coast team. But if
There are two reasons to return to the Kosovo Conflict for this week’s hit from the archives. First, of course, the surface parallels with Libya: Nato involvement, bombing raids, all that. Second, that yesterday was the 12th anniversary of Nato’s first operation in Kosovo. Here’s Bruce Anderson’s take from the time: Milosevic has Kosovo, Nato
Here is a selection of posts about this week’s Budget, made at Spectator.co.uk. Coffee House ran a live blog of the Chancellor’s statement and the Leader of the Opposition’s response. Fraser Nelson has ten questions for the OBR. James Forsyth considers the politics of Osborne’s measures. Peter Hoskin wonders if Osborne has done enough to
Via Hendrik Hertzberg, here’s Charles Dickens reflecting upon the spirit of American politics: If a lady take a fancy to any male passenger’s seat, the gentleman who accompanies her gives him notice of the fact, and he immediately vacates it with great politeness. Politics are much discussed, so are banks, so is cotton. Quiet people
Who would have thought it? Miliband’s short speech in Nottingham today went largely unheralded, and doesn’t seem to be getting a whole lot of attention now — and yet it tells us more about his approach to Opposition than almost anything he has said previously. Fact is, the Labour leader is taking two risks that
So NATO will now “lead” the Libyan intervention. That makes everything fine and dandy, right? Well, no. There’s no need for anyone unpersuaded by the wisdom of this operation to make a case against it. Not when its supporters do such a good job pointing out its shortcomings. Take my friend Brother Korski, for instance.
The Libya intervention has already turned the international kaleidoscope, showing new and remarkable patterns. It has seen China acquiesce to a no-fly zone, and the West in alliance with the Arab League. Nobody thought that was likely 6 months ago. It has also changed reputations. Nicolas Sarkozy may win re-election on the back of the