All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Charlie Wilson in Afghanistan. I guess the movie they made of Charlie Wilson’s War is now more famous than George Crile’s book. That’s a shame because the movie, while entertaining, ain’t half as revelatory as the book which is more than just a political thriller explaining how – with only some exagerration – a lone
Is it just me, or is there something grimly hilarious about The Man Who Claimed To Have Abolished Boom-And-Bust describing our recent economic turmoil as a “one-off”? Yep, here’s Brown in today’s FT: “We are paying a one-off cost for globalisation.” More seriously, this is the technocratic side of Brown which Downing St will hope
David has already highlighted some of the more dubious arguments Con Coughlin deploys in response to his critics but a couple of other points may still be made. Con writes: If I understand correctly Alex Deane’s high-minded rant about the rights of innocent people receiving a fair trial (which, just to put the record straight, I
Gordon Brown is a creature of habit. Every morning at 7:30 he holds a telephone conference with his cabal of Shakespearean fools, who review the papers for him. I imagine a scene of domesticity, of coffee and muffins, an adoring wife and child milling about offering tactile affection – a hand on the shoulder, a
Ben Brogan’s column in the Telegraph today is a rum one. His thesis is that David Cameron’s job is not merely to present himself as a plausible Prime Minister in waiting but also to persuade voters that they can and should trust politicians again. So, not a tricky job then. [W]e have lost our ability
If you were going to craft The Most Exciting Speech Ever, then there’s a good chance it wouldn’t contain the phrase “Post-Bureaucratic Age,” and wouldn’t be delivered at the Technology-Entertainment-Design conference. But – as James Crabtree points out in an great post over at Prospect – there are quite a few reasons to take David
Peter Mandelson gave the Dearing memorial lecture last night and in a section responding to the criticisms of the budget cuts for higher education said: “Much of the rest of the public sector will receive similar constraints in the course of this year or soon after.” Mandleson has implied this before, most notably on
The latest issue of the Spectator is published today. If you are a subscriber you can view it here. If you have not subscribed, but would like to view this week’s content, you can subscribe online here, or purchase a single issue here. A selection of articles has been made available, free, for all website
Rarely are obituaries so full of parties, history-changing events and personal contradictions as those of ex-Congressman and rebel-armer Charlie Wilson, who died last night aged 76. War will mix with cocaine. Burqa-clad women will mingle with strippers. “Good Time” Charlie’s life was genuinely remarkable. Described as “one the most distinctive” congressmen, he spent most of
The New America Foundation’s Steve Clemons, who is always good fun, has been giving rave reviews to this Edward Luce piece in the FT that argues, essentially, that Obama’s Gang of Four – Emanuel, Axelrod, Gibbs & Jarret – have cut the President off from a wider circe of voices, many of whom he could
Con Coughlin has an awful piece up at the Telegraph arguing that, in the light of today’s decision in the case of Binyam Mohamed, “if another al-Qaeda bomb goes off in London, the judges will be as much to blame as Osama bin Laden.” Seriously. That’s what he wrote. It’s as preposterous as it is
If you want to understand what the Cameroon’s are thinking, Danny Finkelstein is essential reading. He used to work with them and he thinks like them, there is almost a mind meld between him and them. His column today is all about why it would make more sense to actually separate out parliament and the
I must admit to rather liking the Tory death tax ads. They are the kind of hardball aggressive politics that the Tories need to master if they are going to win this election. Are they dishonest? Well, I think in the grand political scheme of things they qualify as fair: Brown won’t rule this out
The Joanne Cash affair is the kind of story you couldn’t make up. But once you get beyond the comic details there are a few things worth taking seriously. First, CCHQ has not covered itself in glory during this episode. It was aware of the problem but rather than dealing with it, it attempted to
Good spot by the FT’s Jim Pickard, who has picked up on these informal minutes from the last meeting of Labour’s National Executive Committee. He’s aleady rooted out some of the juiciest sections (including stuff about voting reform and the election date), so I’d suggest you head over to the FT Westminster blog for that.
The Tory graveyard poster – brilliant and shocking – cast a long shadow over PMQs today. The debate itself came down to fine judgements about the validity of the leaders’ arguments. Cameron demanded to know if Brown planned to introduce this grim levy or not. He quoted acidic comments from senior Labour figures who’ve called
This death tax levy is gutter politics at its most visceral and it’s thrilling drama. Brown’s and Cameron’s loathing for each other is pure soap opera, and they’re having a right old slanging match. I agree with Pete, it is dispiriting to see the Tories stoop to misrepresenting policies, the show-stopper in Brown’s repertoire. Together
Bad news for David Mundell. The Tories’ sole MP in Scotland (at the moment!) might think himself the obvious choice to be Scottish Secretary, should David Cameron form a government later this year but the party leader seems much less convinced of poor Mr Mundell’s merits, telling the Herald today: “You will have to wait
Stay tuned for live coverage from 1200. 1200: And we’re off, bang on time. First question on Labour’s elderly care plans. Brown delivers a load of platitudes about how the government is committed to better care. Even adds that he hopes for cross-party backing. 1201: Cameron now. He leads on elderly care plans too –
Yesterday’s Guardian story about a potential death tax would have been perfect material for Cameron in PMQs. Even after Andy Burnham’s denials, there are still legitimate questions to be asked about it. For instance, would the government say that they will never propose the tax? And, if not, how will they pay for their social
A strident interview from David Cameron in today’s Express, in which he touches on everything from inheritance tax to not, never, ever joining the Euro. It’s this passage that jumped out at me, though: “Middle Britain has had a wretched time under Labour. This Government has taxed mortgages, marriages, pensions, petrol and travel and raised
So, the government has lost its case and the FCO has now published the famous missing seven paragraphs: v) It was reported that at some stage during that further interview process by the United States authorities, BM had been intentionally subjected to continuous sleep deprivation. The effects of the sleep deprivation were carefully observed. vi)
When the Pope arrives here for his state visit, should he not be arrested for his views about buggery? Or at the least be interviewed by the old bill? The Pope has called homosexuality a “moral evil” and that saving mankind from sodomy is as important as saving the rainforests. Further, homosexuality could lead to
I don’t usually agree with the sage of Twickenham but he is right that Mandelson’s promise on Cadbury “melted away”. Kraft is a notoriously feckless corporation, loathed the world over. Reneging on promises is its modus operandi and the remaining 4,000 Cadbury workers are understandably concerned that the closure of Somerdale is just the trailer.
With just over 2% of votes still to be counted, Ukraine’s pantomime villain, Viktor Yanukovych, is coasting for victory in the country’s presidential election. Yulia Tymoshenko, the current prime minister and one of the leaders of the pro-Western ‘Orange Revolution’ in 2004 has yet to accept her loss, but with the EU praising the “impressive
Labour’s new ad with David Cameron facing both ways highlights what was wrong with the Tories’ opening ad of the year, that one dominated by Cameron’s face. The Tory strategy for the election campaign has to be to try and make it into a referendum on this failed government. But that ad, which emphasised Cameron
The Tories are keen to hammer the government over the £20,000 “death tax” story which appeared in the Guardian this morning. And, to that end, they’ve produced the attack poster above. According to their press release, it will appear in 18 sites across London tonight. At first glance, it’s a strong image with an equally
…well, sorta. 5:25 into his interview with Mike Huckabee, our former PM gives his take on the constant stream of Iraq inquiries: You can certainly see his point. Although I doubt the government will be too impressed with Blair trawling through all the Iraq stuff on American television, only weeks before he hits the campaign
This is one of those things that I don’t quite understand. Gordon Brown is obsessed with dividing lines and this is supposed to be upsetting us? Sure, this need to draw a contrast (often a false one, but never mind) between his Virtuous Labour party and the Callous Toffs & Cads at Tory head office
Bad news for David Cameron in the Standard this afternoon – several Tories have not made expenses repayments that were agreed seven months ago. After yesterday’s success, the last thing Cameron needed was a question over the effectiveness of his Scrutiny Panel, established to go “beyond the letter of the rules”, which he deemed too
If you’re going to take anything away from Andy Burnham’s press conference this morning – apart from his denials about a £20,000 “death duty” – it’s how heavily those Labour “guarantees” are going to feature in the election campaign. Here we had social care guarantees, cancer treatment guarantees, waiting line guarantees, and even a new
David Cameron’s speech on “Rebuilding trust in politics” (good luck with that!) was the usual curate’s egg: nice and appealling in theory but also vague and gimmicky. This part, for instance, was quite reassuring even if, like so much else, it has more than a hint og Googlism about it: We are a new generation,
With Brown pitching his AV referendum as the solution to at least some of our political ills, it’s worth highlighting the quieter efforts of another Labour MP, Derek Wyatt, to fix the system. Mr Wyatt, you see, has got involved with the MyMP iPhone app which helps voters track and converse with their MPs. The
Well, the Populus poll isn’t all good news for the Tories. As James pointed out last night, they have shed another point and Labour have regained some ground. But, as both Peter Riddell and Mike Smithson note, the Tories can still secure an outright majority on the basis of these figures. The numbers which lead