Over at ConservativeHome Paul Goodman suggests that Nick Clegg be invited to address the Conservative Party Conference this year and, in general, that the Tories need to do more to get to know their colleagues in government. He’s right. And here, via John Rentoul, is John Curtice to help explain why. Professor Curtice suggests that
The usually estimable David Maddox has a very strange post up at the Scotsman’s politics blog complaining that Alex Salmond wants to exploit the 700th anniversary of Bannockburn. Apparently: While Bannockburn is a battle which Scots should take historic pride in, seeing off an invading English army which had numerical superiority, it nevertheless is symbolic
The new firm of Osbourne Osborne* & Laws got off to a good start yesterday. True, trimming £6bn from this year’s budget is a trivial task compared to the decisions that lie ahead but as a statement of good sense and prooof of good intentions it was, as I say, a good start**. The plain
Rupert Murdoch is scarcely infallible and there’s a sense abroad that he doesn’t really understand the internet. But even if that’s true it doesn’t mean that his decision to take the Times behind a paywall is necessarily a mistake even if, naturally, it’s inconvenient for bloggers and other news-grazers. So journalist me sort of
Am cricketing today, so talk amongst yourselves. Or stay silent if you prefer. Meanwhile, here’s a reminder that the Murdoch press reaches parts their competitors can’t…
Way back when back in the distant times I was at college I had – still do, in fact – a friend who was a John Denver fanatic. Aged 20 or so he’d seen the great troubador more than 20 times. In those days I had not yet seen the country light and, sad to
Well, in the government anyway. After David Cameron and Nick Clegg, the next most important chap is David Laws. So it’s reassuring to see that the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury is prepared for the worst. I recommend this interview with the Financial Times which, frankly, offers just another reminder that the calibre
From the Morning Star and noted without any need for much further comment: Veteran Communist Monty Goldman is jubilant over his outstanding result in Hackney’s mayoral election this month. Goldman, who was born and bred in the east London borough, began contesting local elections 50 years ago. This time he won 2,033 votes – or
Nike’s World Cup ad is great. Let’s see how Adidas counter with Lionel Messi et al. Note too how even in an ad Ronaldo is an egotistical pillock.
Going out on a limb here, I’m guessing that Rand Paul’s admission that he would have opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act is not going to help him become the next Republican Senator representing the great state of Kentucky. Of course he’s walking back from his comments now but going from “I wouldn’t have voted
A wise column by Martin Kettle in today’s Guardian. Wise, of course, because he reaches a conclusion this blog arrived at some time ago: Yet it is not too soon to insist that almost everything about this government so far, including today’s programme, is intended to be about more than making the best of a
This is a question of faith and those who believe won’t let anything change their mind, while those who can’t believe in the Miracle of Lance won’t be satisfied until the poor man does something impossible and proves a negative. I’m divided: I think the believers deluded and the sceptics dangerously monomaniacal but I also
Looking south towards Hawick. Quiet times here on account of visiting family. Usual service to resume later in the week. All being well.
Election post-mortems are always interesting and often fun. Take the speech Ed Miliband made to launch his campaign for the Labour leadership. While paying due attention* to Labour’s achievements in government, it still reads as an indictment of the party’s record in office. Consider these snippets: We must start by understanding the country we seek
I’ve been assuming that Ridley Scott’s interpretation of the Robin Hood saga must be terrible. After all, it’s nearly a decade since Black Hawk Down, Scott’s last properly good movie. But now AO Scott pops up in the New York Times to suggest, though he may not mean to, that the movie has something going
Beautiful muslim women. Verily. According to the increasingly-ridiculous Daniel Pipes, Rima Fakih’s triumph in this year’s Miss USA beauty pageant is yet another dismal example of affirmative action. This is what that “affirmative action” looks like: Terrible, you’ll agree. Not that Pipes is alone in complaining about this. Someone called Debbie Schlussel says “Hizbollah is
Cadel Evans wins Stage 7 of the 2010 Giro d’Italia in Montalcino. Photo: Luk Beines/AFP/Getty Images. What with being deprived of, for various reasons*, Contador, Menchov, Valverde, Pellizotti, di Luca, the Schleck brothers, Armstrong and Cancellara you could have been forgiven for thinking that this year’s Giro d’Italia might be a disappointment. Not a bit
Norm does a good job pointing out the sillyness of this silly Johann Hari column in which Hari complains that the Liberal Democrats have betrayed themselves, their voters and the country by agreeing to advance Liberal Democrat goals from government. How shocking! Nevertheless, Hari complains that “the British people have not got what they voted
It’s good to talk about something other than the election and its aftermath. So let me recommend this: the National Archives are tweeting the Second World War. Day by day and several times a day and with a 140 character limit they bring you the news as it was in 1940. It’s a strangely
One of my favourite bloggers, Sunder Katwala, has a typically fine post asking if this coalition really is, as some of us think, Dave’s “Clause 4 Moment”. He makes a number of pertinent point, not the least of which is his contention that, actually, it’s Nick Clegg who has imposed such a choice upon his