All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
So how big a blow was the news that we’re still in recession to Gordon Brown? Well, compare and contrast his latest podcast on the Downing Street website with David Cameron’s article in the Sunday Times. Brown’s effort is necessarily defensive. Gone is the “we’re leading the world” bombast of a few weeks ago, to
It’s an odd one is today’s ICM poll in the News of the World. Most of it makes for sobering reading for the political class: it finds that two-thirds of voters think the mainstream parties have no “credible policies” on immigration, and that one-third agree with a core BNP policy on removing state benefits from
If you want an idea of how resistant MPs might be to the proposals of the forthcoming Kelly review into expenses, then I’d suggest you wander through to page 13 of today’s Sunday Times. There you’ll find a story about how MPs are planning to counter Kelly’s expected ban on employing relatives. Their ideas stretch
Of all the great mysteries of modern British politics the notion that no-one is permitted to talk about immigration must surely be one of the most remarkable. After all, as this excellent, persuasive, post at the Enemies of Reason makes clear there are plenty of people and plenty of newspapers that never shut up about
A Channel Four News You Gov poll suggests that an overwhelming 84 percent of the public think that the war in Afghanistan is being lost and that British troops specifically are not winning in Helmand. Just because a large majority think that British troops are losing the fight does not mean that the public are
With the recession and Afghanistan, Iran often drops off the new agenda but the nuclear issue hasn’t gone away. The Washington Post’s article today about the recently revealed nuclear facility at Qom shows that the plant was almost certainly part of a nuclear weapons programme. The paper reports that communication intercepts revealed that Iran only planned
In his column in the Mail, Peter Oborne writes that Cameron’s stance on Afghanistan represents the same mistake made by IDS in his unstinting support for the Iraq war. Oborne fears that neo-conservatism has gripped the Tory leadership. ‘The ‘Neocons’, despite being discredited by the Iraq war, have furtively regained their position at the heart
From an interesting Jason Zengerle piece in the New Republic: And yet, for all his obvious ambition, Stewart believes the key to any successful U.S. policy in Afghanistan is modesty. “What muddling through is really about is recognizing that we don’t have all the answers,” he says. “It’s not as if we have some amazing
Contra good Brother Hoskin, I’m not terribly troubled by this YouGov poll: The survey found that 22 per cent of voters would ‘seriously consider’ voting for the BNP in a future local, general or European election. This included four per cent who said they would ‘definitely’ consider voting for the party, three per cent who
Here are the stand-out findings from today’s YouGov poll, conducted after this week’s Question Time, for the Telegraph: “The survey found that 22 per cent of voters would ‘seriously consider’ voting for the BNP in a future local, general or European election. This included four per cent who said they would ‘definitely’ consider voting for
PC Heckler and PC Koch prepare for life on the beat. Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images. Let us concede that there may be problems in Brixton, Haringey and Tottenham that demand new approaches from the police. Let us further accept that perhaps there really are “no-go” areas in some of the estates in these boroughs. But
Hardy Perennial Watch: Daylight Savings Time Edition. Yup, some things are certain and among them is the fuss over the ending of British Summer Time tonight. For years the North has handily Defeated the South but I suspect that, just as Dave Cameron’s southern chums may be about to supplant Gordon Brown’s North Britons, so
I can’t expect anyone to bother reading another piece about Question Time, but bear with me here. In the build-up to Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time, I was convinced it was a fuss about nothing. I still can’t quite understand Peter Hain’s objection to allowing an unpleasant fascist hang himself live on TV. Good
If you have any time spare this weekend, do listen to Peter Oborne’s ‘Conserving what?’ series on Conservatism for Radio 4. It is exceptionally good and this week’s episode, based around an interview with David Cameron, is absolutely fascinating for anyone interested in Conservative philosophy. It also gives some intriguing glimpses at what kind of
Here’s one for Coffee Housers: is this government sleazier than John Major’s? Asked that question on the BBC News channel’s Straight Talk with Andrew Neil this weekend, Martin Bell has no doubts. “I think this one is worse,” he says. But that’s not the end of it. The former independent MP thinks that the parties need to
Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson says that the BNP defines itself by race – that distinguishes it from every other party, and asks whether it is legitimate to discuss the strength of the link between HIV and Aids. James Forsyth wonders why the BBC allowed
The Thick of It returns tomorrow night and by all accounts its as cynical, savage, sweary and uniformly contemptuous as ever. The subject matter of this series is, apparently, over promoted female Cabinet ministers – very topical in view of the government reshuffle and the Conservatives’ perverse all-female candidate lists. It goes without saying that
Most of the media responses to Griffin have been a bit complacent. He was exposed as a dodgy idiot, the vast majority say. I thought he came across pretty well, considering the wrongness of his views. I was uncomfortably reminded that the message of an extreme reactionary is always surprisingly seductive, tempting. The essential appeal
Ah, hell, it’s the curse of Liddle. No sooner have I sat down and written a stirring defence of the Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir, who had been vilified for suggesting there was something “sleazy” about the death of Stephen Gateley, than the bloody woman apologises. Or, at least, sort of apologises. I don’t see
Nick Griffin has just made the following statement: “It was not a genuine Question Time, it was a lynch mob… People wanted to see me and hear me taking about things like the postal strike. Let’s do it again and do it properly this time.” He added that he would lodge a “formal complaint to
No one has done more to make the Tories’ new European allies an issue than Jonathan Freedland. He has written about the subject with real passion and, so sources in the Jewish community tell me, played a crucial role in persuading the president of the Board of Deputies to write to David Cameron expressing concern
Most people expected this morning’s official GDP statistics to show that the economy has come out of recession. But they didn’t. In fact, they had the economy shrinking by 0.4 percent in the third quarter of this year. So the downturn continues – and it’s the longest on record. We’ve always maintained on Coffee House
The Lisbon Treaty decrees that Europe must have a Foreign Minister. It is not clear exactly what the Secretary of State will do, but David Miliband is being widely tipped for the role. According to one diplomat quoted in the Times and the Guardian, Miliband has “good European credentials and a brilliant mind.” The minister
Mobs of howling protestors outside the BBC. Police cordons being smashed by anti-fascists. News clips of upended students being dragged across the foyer of the TV Centre shouting, ‘Shame on you for defending fascism.’ It was chaotic, it was emotive, it was anarchic. But, ultimately, it was a marvellously British occasion. Thanks to the BNP,
Is it legitimate to discuss the strength of the link between HIV and Aids? It’s one of these hugely emotive subjects, with a fairly strong and vociferous lobby saying that any open discussion is deplorable and tantamount to Aids denialism. Whenever any debate hits this level, I get deeply suspicious. Which is why the below
We can debate the rights and wrongs of the BBC’s decision to invite Nick Griffin on Question Time. But having invited him on the BBC shouldn’t have devoted almost entirely the whole programme to the BNP’s agenda. This must have been the first Question Time ever where there was no discussion of the economy, health
There’s only one question that counts now that Question Time has been shown: did it do Nick Griffin and the BNP any good? It’s a tough one to answer. To my eyes, at least, Griffin embarrassed himself in front of the cameras – he was given scant opportunity to gloss over his more unsavoury views;
First question on the Second World War. Is it fair BNP hijacked Churchill? Straw says in the war Britain defeated a party based on race like the BNP. The BNP defines itself by race – that distinguishes it from every other party. All other parties have a moral compass. Nazism didn’t and neither does the
The first results from Question Time are landing. An audience member has just told me that Griffin was “humiliated by the whole panel”. All of them “did well”, I am told. And Jack straw accused him of being the Dr Strangelove of UK politics: a fantasing conspiracy theorist. More follows
As far as the BNP is concerned, Nick Griffin has already won this Question Time debate. It’s not about whether he does badly or well – he simply wins from the publicity. He’s been on Channel Four news, got an interview in today’s Times, all will be splashed all across the tabloids tomorrow – and
Increasingly, it looks as though Tony Blair must make do with what he’s got. Last Saturday, the Independent reported that Nicolas Sarkozy is likely to evoke the spirit of de Gaulle with an emphatic ‘Non’, founded on Britain’s retention of the Pound.Today, Iain Martin has heard that Jonathan Powell’s proselytising in Brussels merely antagonised his
Michael Heath’s Flash Gordon cartoon in the latest issue of the magazine is so good that we figured we’d share it with CoffeeHousers. Click on the image below for a larger version:
The mainstream parties’ collective silence on immigration has, undoubtedly, contributed to the BNP’s growing popularity. Nicholas Soames and Frank Field have penned such an argument in today’s Telegraph. David Cameron’s modernisation of the Conservative Party came at the expense of even mentioning immigration. Yesterday’s mind-boggling population projection should curtail the era of uncontrolled immigration: Britain
Is Nick Griffin’s interview with the Times a sneak preview of what we can expect from him on Question Time tonight? I rather suspect so. His aim in it is not only to project a reasonable front – by glossing over awkward facts (his conviction for inciting racial hatred is described as “Orwellian”), and by