Uproar on Arab Street
Deaths continue to mark the protests in Bahrain and Libya. Reports are inaccurate because communications have been broken, especially in Libya. YouTube is, again, invaluable.
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All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Saturday
Cuddly Ken comes out snarling, and sneering
Another Saturday, another interview with Ken Clarke. This time, the bruised bruiser has been talking to the FT and the remarkable thing is that he has managed to say nothing. Not a sausage. Colleagues were not insulted, Middle England escaped unscathed and the European Court of Human Rights wasn’t even mentioned. But Clarke conveys his determination to
Bad banking
No wonder the banks like Britain’s corporation tax regime. This morning’s newspapers all tell that Barclays paid just £113m in corporation tax in 2009, despite making profits of more than £11bn. In a rare instance of justified anger, Labour’s chosen men have launched an attack on the government’s failure to ‘take the robust action needed
On not understanding Tories
I don’t understand you, really I don’t. The immediate cause of my bewilderment was a piece on this site, yesterday by Matthew Hancock MP, attacking Ed Balls. In normal circumstances, I would have offered to hold his coat, but Hancock wrote: ‘Balls takes positions he knows not to be true, like the ridiculous claim that
America is Talking to the Taliban
This is likely to shake things up. Steve Coll, who tends to be pretty impeccably sourced, reports in the New Yorker that Washington has begun to talk to the Taliban: Last year, however, as the U.S.-led Afghan ground war passed its ninth anniversary, and Mullah Omar remained in hiding, presumably in Pakistan, a small number
Unions vs Government: Wisconsin Edition
Something is happening in Wisconsin*. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that before. Nevertheless, there are aspects of the show down between Governor Scott Walker (Republican) and the public sector unions that may become familiar over here too. The details* of the dispute in the Badger State need not concern us unduly – though James
Friday
Two Second World War Stories
Riots today in Tobruk and Benghazi, places largely known to me from films and histories and comics of the Second World War. The scale of that conflict is, in some ways, ever-harder for people of my generation to grasp. Not only has there been nothing like it since (mercifully), it’s hard to imagine anything like
Even UKIP outspent the Tories in Oldham East and Saddleworth
The spending figures from the Oldham East and Saddleworth campaign have been released tonight and they show just how much the Tories soft-pedaled their campaign there. The numbers, which Michael Crick has blogged on, reveal that the Tories spent less than half what their coalition partners spent in the content, £39,432 to £94,540. Labour, who
Balls’ shrill attack on King
Ed Balls’ irresponsible attack on Mervyn King is a clearly calculated attempt to undermine the Bank of England for Balls’ own narrow political ends. Balls both approved Mervyn King’s appointment and supported King as Governor when he was Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury. Balls was central to creating the record deficit left by Labour,
From the archives: government for the Lib Dems, not the people
The AV referendum campaign began in earnest today. Not without justification, the No campaign argue that AV is a Lib Dem cause, an innovation designed to make ensure they are always the power-brokers. The alternative vote, so the No camp’s argument runs, obscures political transparency and weakens the voice of the people. The argument originates
The week that was | 18 February 2011
Here is a selection of posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson discusses the Big Society, and makes the case for raising interest rates. James Forsyth says that Strasbourg is only half the human rights problem, and notes that The Sun is shining on Miliband. David Blackburn reckons the government’s getting a
Calling all wonks
With this government, it’s often hard to see the wood for the forests. But, overall, David Cameron is on the right side of a major battle over the very fundamentals of government: the size and role of state, as well as radical welfare and education reform. Politicians cannot be expected to fight this battle alone.
What Cricket Tells Us About David Cameron
Peter Oborne has an excellent column in the Telegraph today. Much of it reprises Peter’s case that Cameron is a genuine reforming Prime Minister and that the Big Society (or whatever you want to call it) is Cameron’s way of refuting the certainties of the post-war settlement and the excesses of Thatcherism. But wittingly or
Cameron and Clegg, head to head
Now here’s a shock: something to trump the relentless tedium of the Cricket World Cup. The AV referendum. Labour MP Jim Murphy held his constituency surgery in a large supermarket today and it was well attended, but no one asked about the referendum. Murphy ruefully tweeted: ‘the public are so out of touch with today’s
On the basis of this legal advice, the government is not planning to defy the ECHR
As I wrote this morning, the Times has obtained a copy of a government legal memo (written before last week’s prisoners’ debate in parliament) examining non-compliance with the ECHR’s infamous judgment. The newspaper argues that the government plans to defy the Court; and there are plenty rumours swirling around Westminster to that effect, which is
Eastern promises | 18 February 2011
Events in Bahrain are yet another reminder of why the supposed choice between stability and democracy is a false one. The idea that in the medium to long term backing a Sunni monarchy in a Shiite majority country is a recipe for stability is absurd. If this was not enough, by backing the minority monarchy
Pillars of Sand
The Middle East is set for renewed displays of public anger towards the region’s governments. Events in Bahrain are particularly worrying. Troops took control of the capital, killing at least four protesters in the worst violence in the Gulf kingdom in decades. The trouble in Bahrain, which houses the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet and is
It’s a knock out: judicial activism versus the sovereignty of parliament
The prisoner voting debate is coming to a head, and Dave has turned once too often. The Times has received (£) what it describes as a government legal memo, urging the government to defy the demands of the European Court of Human Rights. After last week’s parliamentary debate, the government’s lawyers calculate that the ECHR
Thursday
The government has been weak over forests
A very dangerous precedent has been established today over the forest fiasco. Caroline Spelman earlier gave the most extraordinary interview on Radio 4’s PM. “We got it wrong,” she said in the Commons. “How so?” asked Eddie Mair. She wouldn’t say. As he kept asking her, it became increasing clear that she didn’t think they
Fianna Fail: Winning the Anarchist Vote (Though Not Much Else)
Who knew Sligo Town was such a cradle for logic and anarchy? If only more usually-pointless TV vox pops were like this. The Economist observed this week that regret is one of the prevailing moods in Ireland these days. Perhaps so, but there’s resignation too. The election will prove momentarily cathartic but the deal struck
In the AV referendum, either Clegg or Cameron has to lose
Tomorrow both Clegg and Cameron will give speeches on AV, Clegg for and Cameron against. They’ll be very civil about their disagreement. But the truth is that one of them has to lose in this vote and the loser will have a very unhappy party on his hands. As Steve Richards points out in The
IDS vows to tackle Britain’s welfare addiction
IDS and David Cameron have been evangelising. An insistent newspaper article and pugnacious speeches herald the latest welfare reform drive. There has been one significant u-turn: the threat to decimate housing benefit for those who have been unemployed for more than a year has been dropped. There is debate about the origins of this sudden
Miliband’s economic immaturity
As an economist working in politics, I’m sometimes shocked at some of the arguments about the economy. But today’s statement on welfare reform is economically shocking. Miliband argues that you can’t reform welfare until there are more jobs. Set aside the fact that this is another area where Miliband’s argument is Lord make me
It’s time for Britain to go cold turkey
There’s a simple truth underlying opposition to spending cuts: the country is drugged up to the eyeballs in entitlements. Today, IDS, Nick Clegg and David Cameron renewed their assault on welfare dependency – the most obvious and damaging of Britain’s addictions. The Labour party is broadly supportive, but the coalition’s plans were still be met
The Mad Dog lies in wait
The Bahraini regime will not yield peaceably before protest, as Hosni Mubarak did. This morning, Bahraini police opened fire on demonstrators with live rounds; four people were killed. There were also reports that Saudi Arabian troops were involved, which would mark a clear change in the Arab establishment’s tactics following Mubarak’s fall. In the uncertain
Spelman: I got this one wrong
Caroline Spelman has just told the Commons that ‘I am sorry. We got this one wrong.’ The forests u-turn is now complete. Rachel Johnson has successfully duffed up the government. The coalition is trying to make the best of the situation, stressing that this shows that this is a ‘listening’ government. But there’s no getting
Hopeless Harriet
Last night, Harriet Harman launched a pre-emptive attack on the coalition’s failure to give 0.7 percent of GNI to overseas aid. Pre-emptive because the government has made no such U-turn – nor is it like to. Much as Tony Blair spoke law-and-order like the Tories, the coalition speaks aid like New Labour – just better.
The curse of bureaucratic self-importance
Good stuff from Ross Clark in last week’s magazine about the extraordinary amounts of money wasted by our local councils, largely – as every newspaper has subsequently reported – on themselves. In a sense while the humungous salaries of the chief executives are indeed infuriating, it is the massive increase in salaries lower down the
Cameron fells the forestry consultation
Despite his easy charm, David Cameron is unsentimental. His dismemberment of Caroline Spelman’s sagging forestry policy at yesterday’s PMQs was as ruthless as it was abrupt. The Prime Minister cannot be an enemy of Judy Dench and other doughty dames, so the hapless environment minister had to be shafted. Cameron’s strategic withdrawal did not end
Debunking the Antarctica myths
In January 2009, Nature magazine ran the a cover story (pictured) conveying dramatic news about Antarctica: that most of it had warmed significantly over the last half-century. For years, the data from this frozen continent – with 90 percent of the world’s ice mass – had stubbornly refused to corroborate the global warming narrative. So
Wednesday
It is not just the Strasbourg Court that is a problem on human rights
As we wait for the result of tonight’s ping pong between the Lords and the Commons over the forty percent threshold, there is one point worth noting about the row over the court ruling on the sex offenders’ register. The court that ruled that sex offenders sentenced to two and a half years cannot be
Curing youth unemployment
Youth unemployment in the UK has hit another record. More 16 to 24-year olds are out of work than ever. The unemployment rate in this group is now a shocking 20.5 percent, which amounts to nearly a million young people out of work. Of those, 600,000 have never had a job since leaving school or
Laws’ return is imminent
Tomorrow’s New Statesman speculates that David Laws is about to return to government. Kevin Maguire reckons that it is significant that Laws is turning down invitations to events after an unidentified date in mid-March. Laws is still awaiting the verdict of the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, but he is expected to be exonerated. Preparing for a
First Egypt Falls, Is Ireland Next?
Today’s entertainment in the Irish election is generously provided by Ned O’Keeffe who, thoughtfully, warns that the Irish army may be poised to take over the country. The outgoing Cork TD (Fianna Fail naturally) may be on to something. Perhaps there is a pro-coup constituency that, sure, wouldn’t be thinking a military regime would be