Ricky Ponting batting at Edgbaston last week. Photo: Tom Shaw/Getty Images. Three – yes, a whole three – cheers for Dominic Lawson’s article in the Independent today. He is right: booing Ricky Ponting is disgraceful. There may be a cartoonish element to it all and perhaps the Barmy Army will signal this by cheering the
Well, perhaps. And perhaps I was too cynical about the idea of open primaries* being used to select Conservative candidates. Better ti listen to and consider the wisdom of Matthew Parris. A turnout of around 25% is quite impressive for an exercise of this sort even if one might also presume that the novelty of
Marbury is quite right. The Prime Minister’s advisers must wonder what they have to do to get this Gordon Brown appearing on your TV screen. Now, there are a few things one could say about the content of Brown’s Ted Talk in Oxford but that’s a post for another time. But in general, this is
I confess that I thought Orly Taitz had to be a made-up name. But no, apparently not. The latest tomfoolery exciting the “birther” movement is a transparently fake “birth certificate” purporting to demonstrate that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. As always, the indefatigable Dave Weigel is the go-to fellow for birther-related hilarity. The new
As is customary, James and I disagree about Iran. Or perhaps we merely have different ideas about what constitutes the most important Persian questions. James, I think (and I’m sure he’ll correct me if I’m wrong), places the nuclear issue above all others. I’m more agitated by the nature of the regime in Tehran. That
I hadn’t realised until Matt Yglesias pointed it out that there’s some unhappiness that the US navy’s next aircraft carrier is going to be named after Barry Goldwater and not William Jefferson Clinton. The obvious thing to do, however, is avoid naming ships after politicians at all. This is one area in which the Royal
Possibly! Gordon Brown’s government has a 17% approval rating and fewer than one in five voters think Brown would make a better Prime Minister than either David Cameron or, titter ye not, Nick Clegg. His government is in much the same place John Major’s was in 1996 and we know how that ended for the
Sir Bobby Robson’s death yesterday left one wondering just what has happened to English football management. Or, to be more precise, what has happened to English football managers? Of the top ten sides in last year’s Premiership just two – Fulham and Tottenham – were led by Englishmen and in the last 25 years Howard
In these bleak times, we should be grateful for Silvio Berlusconi’s willingness to provide much-needed levity and entertainment. The story of his encounters with Patrizia D’Addario (above) constitutes a public service: The escort at the centre of a sex scandal involving Silvio Berlusconi has said the Italian prime minister offered her a seat in the
Blimey. A new poll asks: “Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?” Just 42% of Republican respondents answer “Yes”. 28% say “No” and 30% “Aren’t Sure”. As Dave Weigel points out, this is the GOP equivalent of an infamous poll in 2007 which reported that 35%
Like James, I enjoyed Mark Lawson’s column this morning. Then I would, wouldn’t I? I’ve written before about the fatuous desire to graft* American political arrangements onto our own political structure. Lawson is right to suggest that the political and media class’s obsession with The West Wing is all rather depressing. Now, like plenty of
The good news about the Drug War is that the police know it can’t be won. The bad news is that the politicians, judging by their public pronouncements at least, still seem to think it can. There are times when I think it’s important to question some of the assumptions made about policing; but when
“Barack Obama, minting a new generation of future cynics.” That was how one friend of mine – a former Hill aide turned Democratic lobbyist – predicted the Obama presidency would unravel. Now, just six months in, my friend’s sardonicism seems well-judged. This isn’t simply a matter of the fatal combination of the dog days of
Unsurprisingly, the BBC wants the government to increase the number of sporting events that have to be shown on “free-to-air” [sic] television. But it’s hard to see why there needs to be any list of “protected” sport on terrestial television in the first place, let alone why that list should be expanded. Here’s the BBC’s
Lord knows there’s almost no idea too dumb to appear in a newspaper, but this recent effort from the New York Times is a cracker: Does Hogwarts have a drinking problem? As Harry Potter fans crowd movie theaters to catch the latest installment in the blockbuster series, parents may be surprised by the starring role
James is quite correct. Gordon Brown should certainly leap at the chance to have a live televised debate against David Cameron next year. I assume that the Tories think that Brown will, as he has so often before, see this as too great a risk and, consequently, “bottle it”. Perhaps so. But that’s also why
Harry Phibbs’ piece at Comment is Free today makes the perfectly sensible point that the Tories “localism” agenda – the closest thing Cameron has to a Big Idea – is more flexible, even nuanced than is sometimes appreciated. The Man in Whitehall Does Not Always Know Best. Elements of the localist agenda require local councils
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of the Scottish government’s desire to set alcohol prices. Not the least of them is that, in addition to the usual health police, the measure is backed by big business. And why wouldn’t it be? The SNP seem to think that Molson Coors’ support for similar measures
So, back from a week of splendid cricket in Ireland, blessedly free from internet and email and newspapers and everything else and what do we find? Obama bogged down in healthcare and the silly season; Labour still doomed; a good, though not great, edition of the Tour de France and, of course, Sarah Palin remaining
Note the jaunty attempt to emulate Gordon Greenidge; note too the lack of control which has caused the bottom hand to leave the bat, suggesting that this attempt has, alas, more or less failed. Photo: Grant Kinghorn. No blogging until next week, I’m afraid. Holiday time. Albeit an unusually energetic trip overseas as I’ll be