All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Carol Sarler may be correct to argue, as she does in this week’s edition of the magazine, that we have an unhealthy fascination with sex crimes that is both prurient and puritanical. But I’d suggest that, whatever the merits of her wider argument, she doesn’t know very much about Ireland: In Ireland, some 2,000 adults
At a press conference at the Hay Festival this week, broadcaster-comedienne Sandi Toksvig began with a wistful reminiscence of what arts broadcasting used to be like when she started out. ‘You could have an idea, go and see your editor, and they’d say okay, let’s do it’ she explained. ‘Now, you go to, ahem, certain
The game is afoot. When you talked to Labour people about an attempt to remove Gordon Brown they always used to use say ‘if’. Now they say ‘when’. The view is that June 4th will be grim for all the major parties, but particularly grim for Labour. Oddly, the worse the Tories do, the worse
It is the very ordinariness of this case that makes it worth mentioning. From this week’s edition of our local paper, the Southern Reporter: Unhappy with conventional treatments, Jean Sherlow turned to cannabis in a bid to relieve her pain, Selkirk Sheriff Court heard on Tuesday. The 59-year-old decided to cultivate her own supply at
It’s typical, isn’t it? Coffee House decides to stop working for a couple of hours and, in the meantime, two MPs confirm that they’re going to stand down. You’ve probably caught the news elsewhere on the good ol’ blogosphere but – yes – Margaret Moran and Julie Kirkbride won’t be running for Parliament in the
Will the elections on 4 June finish off Gordon Brown? The theory that an embarrassing result for Labour – finishing behind the Lib Dems and/or UKIP – could trigger a leadership challenge gets frequent hearings in Westminster. And now Guido blogs that plans are afoot, with David Miliband and Alan Johnson readying their “campaign teams”.
You’ve got to love Nick Clegg’s declaration that “warm words, rhetoric and consideration are not enough,” in an article for today’s Guardian, and hot on the heels of some, er, “warm words” in the Independent yesterday. Although, in seriousness, I imagine that one of Clegg’s proposals will be fairly popular: no more holiday time for
As North Korea continues to ratchet up the nuclear rhetoric, the US and its allies have publicly determined that ‘something must be done’. Barack Obama, in what is the first and most serious test of his Presidency, announced that the world must ‘stand up’ to North Korea. But behind the bluster from Pyongyang and Washington
I suppose one ought not to be surprised that there remain some folk for whom the Cuban revolutionaries remain unblemished heroes. Equally, there is, alas, no great reason to be too astonished that the Guardian still publishes panegyrics saluting the brilliance and ineffable wisdom of Castro and Guevara. Nevertheless, Simon Reid-Henry’s* article today may take
British politics is currently suspended in one of those strange Road Runner moments, when we’ve run over the cliff but haven’t looked down. From April 2011, spending on public services will start to fall by a cumulative 7 percent over three years, according to Budget 2009. And given its fairytale economic assumptions (trampoline recovery, etc)
I missed Julie Kirkbride’s extended interview with Sky this afternoon, but ConHome have covered all the main points. Basically, she says she can justify all her expense claims and would like to remain an MP at the next election. Here are Sky’s highlights, so you can judge for yourself: P.S. While this has been going
The Giro d’Italia isn’t the only cycling story around right now. Not by a long shot! Consider this: Close to 200 prisoners will cycle around France next month, watched by scores of guards on bicycles, in the first penal version of the Tour de France. The 196 prisoners will cycle in a pack and breakaway
Well worth reading Professor John Taylor’s article for the FT today, in which he extrapolates from Standard and Poor’s recent assessment of the UK’s creditworthiness to deliver a warning about the rising national debt in America. This passage jumped out at me: “While there is debate about whether a large deficit today provides economic stimulus,
Like any sensible person, I shall be supporting Barcelona this evening, even if that does also require one to endorse the insufferable Thierry Henry. Nonetheless, give me wee Lionel Messi over Christiano Ronaldo any and every day. Alas, I fear the worst and suspect that Manchester United will prevail and that they may do so
The pressure sure is mounting for Julie Kirkbride, the wife of the disgraced – and discarded – Tory MP Andrew MacKay. A ConservativeHome poll this morning showed that 81 percent of the grassroots think she should step down as an MP. While Guido’s also on the case, asking: where’s Julie? David Cameron was quizzed about
Today is one of those days that remind you that the international situation is as serious as the economic one and the crisis facing our democracy. No one quite knows what North Korea means by its nuclear tests and declarations that the 1953 armistice is no longer operative. Indeed, no one even really knows who
Is Brown trying to save the world again? It’s hard not to get that impression from reading his dreary article in the FT today. Headlined “What Europe must do to build a recovery,” it adopts the same lecturing tone, and the same misleading claims about the UK position, that Brown patented last autumn and carried
An intriguing set-up in today’s Indpendent, as all three of the main party leaders write articles on the need for political reform. The result, though, is a little underwhelming. Despite some differences in tone and emphasis – Brown bangs on about Bills and committees; Cameron talks about strengthening Parliament; and Clegg dwells on party funding
Nadine Dorries is at the end of her tether: Does the DT [Daily Telegraph] have an agenda other than the desire to perform a public service? Why would they expose this fiasco at the start of an election campaign if the priority was not to destabilise the main political parties and to drive votes towards
Here are some of the posts made over the bank holiday weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson picks up on some damaging revelations for the Government, and reveals that Andrew MacKay is to step down. James Forsyth says that David Cameron has diagnosed the problem, and wonders whether Gordon Brown will bring David Blunkett back. Peter
There is something depressingly predictable about the news that extremist groups are filling the void left by the Pakistani government in terms of accommodating the refugees from the Swat valley. Save the Children estimates that only 20 percent of the roughly 2 million refugees are in government run camps. The Washington Post reports that: ‘Outside
Look, I know that the expenses mess needs sorting swiftly and decisively – I’ve been saying as much for the past few weeks. But there’s still a sense that things are now moving a little too quickly. Under the correct interpretation that “this is about more than expenses,” polticians have rushed from discussing second home
As sun breaks through last night’s cloud and the beautiful Wye valley is once again bathed in dazzling sunshine, Tuesday morning seems a good moment to take stock of what was a triumphant, record-breaking bank holiday at the Hay Festival. As ever, the opening-weekend programme contained a plethora of luminaries from the worlds of books,
I have no idea whether Sonia Sotomayor is qualified to sit on the United States Supreme Court. But, unlike Harriet Miers, she’s not obviously unqualified. Having been appointed to the bench by George HW Bush is no bad thing; having been recommended by Daniel Patrick Moynihan a considerable advantage. Presuming that no scandalous relevation from
The central deceit behind Budget 2009 – Alistair Darling’s trampoline recovery theory – is steadily crumbling. CoffeeHousers will remember the scam. He pretends that Britain will, from April 2011, enjoy three years of turbo-charged growth averaging 3.5 per cent a year, hence justifying his pre-election splurge. It was, in my view, an extraordinary moment –
It has been a few days now since we asked CoffeeHousers to put forward their questions for Theresa May. We’ve since picked out the best, which have now been put to the shadow work and pensions secretary. She’ll get back to us in the next few days. Anyway, here are the questions: John Moss “Is
The Sun has been shining on David Cameron recently. The paper’s call for an early election has helped Cameron out considerably and it has generally given him a pretty positive write-up these past few weeks. But today’s editorial on the European elections pointedly does not endorse the Tories: “Labour has surrendered all credibility by betraying
There’s something perturbing about this story on party funding in the Times: “Hundreds of donations to political parties are to be kept secret under plans being slipped through the House of Lords. Labour and the Conservatives have been accused of collusion over plans to raise the threshold above which parties must report donations from £5,000
The headline coming out of David Cameron’s speech tomorrow, which The Guardian publishes as an essay tomorrow, will be his rejection of PR. But I’m more interested by how Cameron is again hitting the right notes about broader political reform. Take these two passages: “I believe the central objective of the new politics we need
One of the major forces driving the public’s reaction to the expenses scandal has been the feeling that we, the voters, simply don’t know what our elected representatives are up to. But this goes well beyond claims for moats, bathplugs and so on. We the electorate actually know very little about what our MPs do.
If M had Miss Moneypenny, General Mike Hayden had Cindy. Both were attractive and of a certain age and both were excellent guardians of the gate. While Miss Moneypenny never caused M any trouble at all,Cindy is turning out to be a focus of a major row between Hayden, the head of the CIA and
Until I read Andrew Sparrow’s story in The Guardian today, I’d missed this quote from David Cameron on Andrew Marr: “You know they’ve given power to the judges, on the one hand, and Europe on the other and the whole thing, frankly, is not in my control. That’s what people, I think, are angry about.
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 – provided 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
We’re taking your questions for Theresa May until around 1900 this evening, at which point we’ll select the best five or so and put them to the shadow work and pensions secretary. To submit a question, please click here.