All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Hanna Rosin’s ‘the end of men’ thesis is one of the more interesting socio-economic and cultural arguments out of there. Rosin’s view is that women are simply better suited than men to the new economic environment and thus will increasingly pull ahead of men, reversing old gender dynamics. Rosin points out that, in the US,
Cameron vs the councils may well be the most vicious political battle of 2011 – and one I preview in my News of the World column (£) today. It comes in four stages. First was last week, when the increasingly impressive Eric Pickles said he wanted a 27 percent cut in funding over four years.
And the award for quotation of the day goes to the unnamed Labour MP who says, in the Sunday Times (£), of Ed Miliband: “We’ve got a new nickname for him: the monk, because he wants two years of quiet contemplation to work out what he’s going to do.” And second prize goes to another
Some blogs get you the news from wizards of Wall Street, or the war-torn back alleys of Baghdad. But here at Coffee House we aim to capture a more, well, English experience: news and views from the gates of Gatwick Airport. I’m stuck here, watching the diligent but lonely tractors fight against a mass of
I have had an email from someone called webguy @ michaelmoore.com – who may be the great propagandist himself or perhaps one of his “people” – saying that the US State Department’s claim that the Cuban communists banned Sicko is false. (“Nick, The government cable’s claim that Sicko was banned in Cuba is false. Would
First Clegg, now Cable – the Lib Dems really are putting their all into this year-end attack on the bankers. In an interview with the Sunday Times (£) today, the Business Secretary speaks unequivocally and with some zeal. “We’ve got to…start shining a light onto what’s actually going on at the top of the leading
Whenever I worry that my instinct for pluralism and debate is drawing me to listen to siren voices, I am reminded of the idiocy of the authoritarian alternative. This week I had the honour of being singled out by the Islamist fellow-travellers of iEngage after I dared to write that such a sectarian organisation should
An original Liberal Democrat councillor from Liverpool called Richard Kemp has labelled Eric Pickles and Grant Shapps Laurel and Hardy. Kemp is adamant that savings cannot be made by efficiencies alone; cuts will affect councils’ control of services. It’s a sharp observation. Indeed, he has located the precise point of the Localism Bill. Communities are being empowered; councillors
It really has been the strangest of weeks and it has left me feeling curmudgeonly. On Monday I heard David Cameron give an eminently reasonable speech to Conservative Friends of Israel. Surrounded by people my teenage self would have despised, I realised that this was a speech Ed Miliband could not have made, although there
Tom Baldwin’s inaugeration as Labour spin guru occasions Tim Montgomerie to appraise Andy Coulson. For many, Coulson has committed the spin doctor’s cardinal sin and become the story, and not just his more voluble opponents on the left. Tim rejects that analysis, but concedes that Coulson may drift to pastures new in 2011. Coulson’s record is
An elderly and very left wing friend told me a couple of years ago that he was delighted to be visiting Cuba for the first time. “Be careful,” I said, “remember this is a country without political or economic freedom, where the desperate population tries everything from drug selling to prostitution to stay alive. Don’t
Max Hasting’s essay in the Daily Mail about the dangers for the monarchy of Prince Charles becoming king is an important moment. Hastings, who is very much part of the establishment, is reflecting a view that many hold in private: that Prince Charles’s desire to advance his political views is incompatible with a modern constitutional
Dick Marty’s report on Kosovo leader Hashim Thaci has rightly caused quite a storm. Accusing the recently re-elected Kosovo prime minister of running a mafia-like state, and even controlling a organ-trafficking ring, has not only led to condemnation but is being used by some as an excuse to re-tell conspiracy theories about what actually happened
A propos of nothing – except perhaps the religious time of year – here’s The Spectator‘s report on one Cardinal Ratzinger setting out his “cautious and conservative” vision for Catholicism at the Extraordinary Synod of 1985: Ratzinger’s synod, The Spectator, Vera Buchanan, 7 December 1985 Rome – Well, the Extraordinary Synod is nearly over –
Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth talk to George Osborne. Fraser Nelson delves into the government’s deregulation drive, and asks for your books of the year. James Forsyth wonders how best the coalition can keep its troops happy, and considers David Cameron’s efforts
The High Court has just declared the government’s temporary cap on non-EU immigration is unlawful. Its ground was that the cap was not introduced with proper parliamentary scrutiny. However, the annual cap, which will not be in place until April next year, is not affected by this decision. But without a temporary cap there’ll be
Cameron wishes the Lib Dems well in the Oldham by-election. We know this because he said so, in Brussels this afternoon, no less than three times in thirty seconds. The Telegraph’s James Kirkup has the full transcript, here. The PM does caveat his well-wishing – adding that “we’ll be fighting for the same votes” –
That the Conservatives and the Lib Dems disagree fundamentally on Europe is a well-known fact. But how much they disagree is rarely put on display as clearly as in today’s European Voice. Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat MEP and president of the Union of European Federalists, argues that the coalition’s European Union bill – David Lidington’s
Yesterday, Liam Fox vowed to install a tougher procurement system in the Ministry of Defence and appointed the bureaucracy-busting Bernard Grey as Chief of Defence Materiel. The Defence Secretary said that it is important to start from first principles if reform is to take place. The ministry, he said, “exists to provide the Armed Forces
In an interview with Prospect Magazine, Nick Clegg has suggested that the decision not to loan government money to Sheffield Forgemasters ‘could be revisited.’ When pressed on whether the decision to cancel the loan was an odd decision given the coalition’s stated aim of rebalancing the economy and encouraging manufacturing. Clegg replied, “I agree. The
‘Tis the season to bash a banker – or it is if you’re a Lib Dem, at least. After the stresses of last week, Nick Clegg lets off steam with an aggressive interview in the FT. “They don’t operate in a social vacuum,” he says of the City’s moneymen, before seething that, “it is wholly
As David Cameron stays in Brussels for his third European summit as PM, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the EU’s approach to the eurozone crisis – put up short-term cash and pray – isn’t convincing anyone. On Wednesday, Moody’s threatened to downgrade Spanish government bonds another notch, citing the fact that, between them, the
17th September 1932: Members of the MCC cricket team aboard the liner ‘Orontes’ at Tilbury, en route for Australia (left to right) Walter Hammond, Douglas Jardine (captain), Brown, Bowes, Duckworth (head turned), Harold Larwood, Leyland, Mitchell, Paynter, Herbert Sutcliffe, Verity, Voce and Wyatt. Photo by H. F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images. No, not this lot
Gary Gibbon has just reported that Liam Fox’s visit to Sri Lanka has been ‘postponed’. His private visit this year has been replaced by the promise of an official visit next year. It was never really tenable that a Cabinet Minister could visit a foreign country to deliver a speech while claiming that the visit
From a memo sent by Yahoo CEO Carol Bentz: Yahoos, I want to share some tough news with you. Today, we began notifying some Yahoos that they will lose their jobs. Most of the reductions will come from the Products org and, when completed, will affect about 4% of the company. I know this has
When you talk to MPs about the new expenses’ regime there are a whole variety of grumbles you’ll hear, many of them reasonable. For example, it does seem silly that all MPs buy their own printer ink cartridges rather than the Commons buying a job lot and using bulk ordering to obtain a discount. But
The coalition is taking it to the MoD, Whitehall’s most intransigent department. The FT’s Alex Barker reports that Bernard Gray has been appointed Chief of Defence Materiel. Gray is a revered and original defence specialist with a history of criticising the MoD in plain terms. Resentment persists over his savage report into procurement, which exposed
When he took on being shadow Chancellor, Alan Johnson said that he would need to get hold of an economics primer. Judging by his comments in yesterday’s debate about the bi-lateral loan to Ireland, he hasn’t got that far into it. Johnson told the House, ‘The euro had nothing to do with the [Irish] property
Joy. It will be a campaigning Christmas, now that the Oldham by-election is likely to be held on 13th January. The Labour party is much exercised. The permanently outraged Chris Bryant says it is a ‘disgrace’ that politics will sully the ‘major Christian festival of the year’ – the lapsed cleric seems to have forgotten
Today, the government publishes its consultation proposals for reform of the electricity generation market. The key debate over the next few months will be whether Britain continues to have a competitive market, or reverts to central planning of the power generation sector. New Labour paid lip-service to a competitive electricity market, while chipping away at
Much ado about Bob Ainsworth this morning, and his views on drug policy. The former defence secretary, and a junior Home Office minister under Tony Blair, has become the most high profile political figure to call for the legalisation of drugs. Or, as he put it: “It is time to replace our failed war on
Apologies for the absence: hope you’re enjoying the weather. Thought I’d draw your attention to an article in the Daily Mail by a former colleague of mine, Barnie Choudhury. Barnie’s a Hindu, and his piece is pegged to that new report which suggests that Hindus and Sikhs are, more than ever, part of the bedrock
Hats-off to the former Home Office Minister and Secretary of State for Defence who will use a Westminster Hall debate today to say: “I have just been reading the Coalition Government’s new Drugs Strategy. It is described by the Home Secretary as fundamentally different to what has gone before; it is not. To the extent
David Cameron has this evening told the 1922 Committee that IPSA will have to change by April 1st next year or be changed. He told the ’22 that he understood the ‘pain and difficulty’ caused to colleagues by the new system and denounced the new system as ‘anti-family.’ He said that IPSA would be given
