All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
What sort of war do we find ourselves fighting and, more than eight years after the destruction of the World Trade Center, who is winning? Like Norm, I commend a couple of columns from today’s papers. First up it’s Matt d’Ancona (late of this parish of course) in the Sunday Telegraph who writes: [T]here are
After the platitudes in David Cameron’s speech yesterday, comes the bluntness of Ken Clarke in today’s Sunday Telegraph. Interviewed by the paper, the shadow business secretary says that it would be a “folly” to rule out tax rises: “It is something that every Conservative tries to avoid but I didn’t avoid it when I was
Self-delusion is an important skill in politics. If you can’t convince yourself that what you’re saying is true then good luck with convincing the electorate. Among Gordon Brown’s difficulties is the unfortunate truth that he’s not an accomplished liar. So, for instance, when he tells Andrew Marr this morning that “Everything I have ever won
It’s a curious feature of British politics these days that an ex-army, ex-FCO hand educated at Eton and Oxford can reasonably considered a “new” kind of politician. Then again, Rory Stewart isn’t your average Old Etonian. Assuming, as seems likely, he wins Penrith and the Border he seems likely to be the new member of
David Cameron can give rousing, mature, insightful speeches. Yesterday’s was not one of them. It used the word ‘hope’ 7 times and ‘change’ 27 times and that, I suspect, was its entire purpose – because there was precious little content in it otherwise. In the News of the World today, I describe the speech as
There is a fascinating glimpse at the tensions inside the top echelons of the Conservative party in The Times today. Francis Elliott reports that Steve Hilton is trying to veto the appointment of James O’Shaugnessy, head of policy for the party, as head of the Downing Street policy unit should the Tories win the election.
It is a truth, yet to be universally acknowledged, that the overwhelming majority of global terrorism is committed by radical Muslims. However, the Guardian reports that Whitehall has reached that conclusion and passenger profiling is “in the mix” of the latest airport security review. Thank God, sense prevails at last. The previous airport review, conducted
First she loved him. Then she hated him. Then she seemed lukewarm towards him. And, today, she’s gone back to hating him more than ever. Yes, Polly Toynbee’s latest column is another marker stone in her oscillating relationship with Gordon Brown, and it doesn’t contain any minced words: “Cancel new year, put back the clocks
the National Security Agency alone now gathers four times more data each day than is contained in the Library of Congress. From David Brooks’s column in the NYT today
The Dark Lord’s grip is weakening. Lord Mandelson’s waning status dominated headlines in the prelude to Christmas, and today the Telegraph reports that Harriet Harman, and not Mandelson, will lead Labour’s election battle. Mandelson’s marginalisation is understandable. He has been the government’s fire-fighter, deployed to defend the indefensible and bamboozle voters with a fantasia of
Woah, hang on there. A Labour and Conservative coalition in the event of a hung Parliament? Crazy talk, surely? But that’s what Martin Kettle devotes his column to in today’s Guardian. It’s only unthinkable, he writes, “until you start thinking about it.” Hm. So rather than dismissing the prospect out of hand, I thought I’d register one particular complaint against
The execution of Akmal Shaikh has brought China to our frontpages, and to the forefront of diplomatic thinking, as the New Year begins. The question is not just how to respond to this single and, in many regards, sad event – but how to deal with growing Chinese power more generally. How will we shape
The last two months have seen two terrorist incidents in the US. In one case, the father of the terrorists had alerted US officials to the dangers posed by his son. In the other, the perpetrator had made his extremist views known to a roomful of army physicians. It is a remarkable social and, as
Happy New Year – and have a drink! That’s the message from the new year issue of The Spectator, where Leah McLaren has written a superb piece answering the Liam Donaldsons of this world. Here she is, in full flow: “Almost all of this country’s most famous names been unapologetic boozers. From Kate Moss to
The mission for the Tories in the New Year is to communicate to the electorate just how bad a state the public finances are in. The Tories need to hammer this message home until the proverbial man on the street knows the numbers. Only when people realise that we were first in and last out
As Melanie Phillips says in her article for this week’s issue of the magazine, the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab highlights the role of other, less frequently discussed, countries in Islamist terror. One such country is Yemen, where Abdulmutallab is thought to have trained at an Al Qaeda camp. The US believes there may be
As we’re still in that period of the year for looking back as well as forward, I thought I’d share with CoffeeHousers a political timeline I put together. It’s not everything which happened in the political year, mind – but rather the important events in the debate over spending cuts. This debate has, at very least, been
Bob Ainsworth’s response to the Nimrod inquiry features one extraordinary omission: ministers do not appear to be directly accountable in the event of another tragedy. The reforms establish the MAA, the military aviation authority, which is independent from the MoD, but will not have responsibility for releasing aircraft to service – assistant chiefs of staff
The terrorist attacks on 9/11 succeeded because US intelligence failed to bring the various pieces of information together to prevent them. The attempted terrorist attack on a North West Airlines plane headed for Detroit almost succeeded because US intelligence failed to bring different pieces of information together that would have prevented the bomber getting on
No blogging today: I’m off to try the delights of a London Hogmanay. Yes, really. Frankly, the longer one has endured what passes for life on this so-called good earth the more one wearies of the boozed-up, back-slapping amateurs who infest hostelries tonight insisting that all’s for the best in this the best of all
What is the point of airport security? It’s most important job, it seems to me, is not to deter or even prevent terrorism but to remind the public that there is a terrorist threat. If this was true before the Knicker-Bomber it’s even more clearly the case now. That’s not just because Mr Abdulmutallab was
It is a depressing fact that the Detroit bomber appears to have been radicalised in London. Today, the New York Times takes an extensive look at the bomber’s radicalisation in London. As the paper, which is not prone to hyperbole, says: “Investigators are now, in fact, turning a sharper and retrospective eye to the passage
Graeme Swann and Ian Bell combine to dismiss Ashwell Prince for 16 runs: Swann would finish with nine wickets in the match. Photo: Paul Gilham/Getty Images. With his long-sleeved shirt and buttoned-collar there’s something appeallingly old-fashioned about Graeme Swann. True, the sunglasses he often favours add a modern touch but, at bottom, Swann’s the kind
“Did he know who you were? I mean, not to be disrespectful, but he has been away for two and a half years…” So Five Live’s Phil Wiliams asked David Miliband who was talking about his conversation with Peter Moore who has just been released from Iraqi captivity. Brilliant image. The guy gets out of
It’s that time of year – TV and radio are packed with special editions of Dr Who, news reviews and numerous best-ofs. So let me add to the cacophony with a look ahead to next year. Here are thirteen (and a bit) predictions for 2010: 1. The Taliban will mount a Tet-like attack on an
Clear your diary, invite the relatives over, and huddle around a computer: Gordon Brown will be delivering his New Year’s message – via podcast, on the Downing St website – this evening. Just in case you’ve got other things to be doing, this article in the Telegraph gives you a good taste of what to expect. In
The next time your four year old nephew smears chocolate over your trousers you are to congratulate him. According to government guidance, soon to be issued to nurseries by Dawn Primarolo, the glibly smirking illiterate would have been writing. Yesterday’s Independent reported that in response to evidence that the gender gap between children under the
Hogmanay is still a couple of days away, but it’s proving to be a very happy old year for us at 22 Old Queen St. The Spectator just been named political magazine of 2009 by readers of Iain Dale’s blog. Normally, we’d maintain a bashful silence: but I’d like to say a quick thanks to
Two of the leaders of the organisation that is claiming responsibility for the attempt to blow up a jet over Detroit were released from Guantanamo in 2007, ABC News is reporting. They were sent from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they were entered into an ‘art therapy’ programme designed to rehabilitate terrorists. They seemed to
Oh, Darling, what hast thou done? There are few more pertinent, or more damning, examples of what the government’s soak-the-rich policies could mean for the country than the news that JP Morgan is having second thoughts about developing a £1.5 billion European HQ in Canary Wharf. Of course, the bank may still go ahead with
As I say in the intro to my selection of the decade’s “overlooked” books for The Daily Beast, this kind of list is a tricky little customer. Not only will you omit some title which really, really oughta be in there – but just what makes a book overlooked in the first place? Do you include a
We have been experiencing techinical problems at Spectator.co.uk today and some readers may have been unable to access the site. We hope that the situation will be fully resolved shortly.
New York’s ever falling murder rate is one of the wonders of modern urban policy. It is proof that decisive political leadership can arrest and then reverse decline that many had considered inevitable. This year, as The New York Times reports, New York is scheduled to record the lowest number of murders since records began
If you’re looking ahead to 2010, it’s a safe bet that Iran is going to be an even bigger issue than it was this year. The violence currently rocking the country is an echo of June’s presidential election, and a reminder, too, of the continuing internal pressure that the Iranian regime faces. The question