So, Iain Dale writes: It’s that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2009-10, which will be published in September… The rules are simple. 1. You must vote
Tom Watson strides up the 9th hole during round three of the 138th Open Championship. Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images. This needs to be written now, not later. Because I’m still a sceptic. I’d love to believe that Tom Watson, 60 in two months time and sporting a new hip, can really win the Open Championship
In 132 years of test cricket a side has followed on and won on just three occasions. Despite this, enforcing the follow-on has become almost as unfashionable in the modern game as stationing a fielder at third man. It is as though modern skippers have concluded that the accumulated weight of cricketing evidence, built up
A shocking hiatus had turned this weekly tour along the dirt tracks of American folk and country music into just a more-or-less-weekly series. But we’re back this week and back with a good ‘un. I can’t believe it’s taken this long to get round to featuring Alison Krauss and her band Union Station. I know
Conservative Home’s survey of 144 of the Tory candidates most likely to enter parliament after the next election is very interesting. It’s hardly a surprise that the Tories want British history to be taught in schools, nor that they’re in favour of school vouchers and strongly euroscpetic. Nor is it an enormous shock that 48%
James’s comments on Ken’s latest are all very germane and all that. But whatever the party’s differences with Big Bluff Ken, this is a sentiment all sensible people can endorse: Jogging is for people who are not intelligent enough to watch breakfast television. Quite so. UPDATE: Buzzards join the anti-jogging movement. [Hat-tip: Tory Bear]
Sometimes you can only despair. It seems that anyone who gives talks to schoolkids (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) on a “regular” basis now needs to pay £64 for a certificate declaring that they are not a paedophile. This is part of something called the Vetting and Barring Scheme* designed to protect children from
No-one who has done time at one of this country’s more expensive educational institutions will be surprised by this account of the aftermath of the 1939 Eton vs Harrow match at Lord’s. It’s a scene of carnage that could be lifted from the pages of Wodehouse or, more darkly, Waugh. Note too the attitude of
Parlour game time! The Literary Canon is an intimidating thing at the best of times but these days it’s becoming grotesquely bloated. It could do with losing some weight. So, in that spirit, it’s time to think of what books could safely be ditched without causing too much pain or guilt. The Second Pass starts
The problem with Major Foreign Policy Speeches is that different folk are listening. For instance, this section from Hillary Clinton’s “Hey guys, remember me?” speech today: “…we will remain clear-eyed about our purpose. Not everybody in the world wishes us well or shares our values and interests. Some will seek to undermine our efforts. In
General Richard Dannatt may well be correct to demand additional men and equipment for the Afghan campaign and the military has certainly been ill-served by this government (though not only by this most recent ministry). But when the accusation of “playing politics” is thrown around let’s not forget that the good General is perfectly adept
Danny Finkelstein’s column today argues that Sarah Palin is the true leader of the Republican party these days. And he doesn’t mean that in a good way: There is no more eloquent statement of modern Republicanism than resigning office with time still on the clock. Mrs Palin has chosen to talk about power, rather than
Matt Yglesias laments that American political institutions aren’t more like, well, ours: The American legislative system, however, is not a good venue in which to attempt to rip off a band-aid. Nobody wants to propose such a thing, provoke an outcry, and then have it not happen. And the odds of getting 60 votes in
Defence procurement is difficult. It’s hard to design and build new weapons systems and predicting what kinds of equipment and force structure will be needed in 20 years time is a necessarily tricky business. Mistakes and blunders don’t just happen; they’re inevitable. Still, despite the Eurofighter and the looming problems with the Royal Navy’s new
Tuesday’s stage in the Tour de France was interesting and, in its way, revealing. Ultimately, it was about power and interest. Should the race be run be its organisers or, effectively, in partnership with the peloton and the teams? And, just as importantly, should the interests of the teams be placed ahead of the interests
There were at least a dozen people on my flight from Edinburgh to Cardiff last week who were clearly heading to Wales to watch the test match. This was not a surprise, given that tests held at Headingley and, perhaps especially, Old Trafford attract plenty of spectators from north of the border. There is much
So the Tories have announced their new international development policy. Apparently it’s going to be “results-based” and fit for a “post-bureaucratic age” (this latter being, mind you, the kind of phrase coined by bureaucrats). Iain Dale likes the sound of it and so does Tory Bear. I’m sure there are plenty of good ideas lurking
More evidence emerges to support the notion that Scoop is really a work of non-fiction. This time it’s in the form of this report in the Washington Post: For months, the reports percolated in Washington and other capitals. Iran was constructing a major beachhead in Nicaragua as part of a diplomatic push into Latin America,
Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar of England walk off after securing the draw in the 1st Ashes Test Match between England and Australia at Sophia Gardens. Photo: Hamish Blair/Getty Images. Look at Monty Panesar’s face there. The poor lad looks punch-drunk and spent, drained by the scale of the drama in which he’s played such
So, yes, little blogging. Blame a combination of Ashes cricket and an infestation of family… Hiatus will continue as I shall be at the cricket in Cardiff on Friday. Talk amongst yourselves and deliver your verdict on whether Kevin Pieterson is just a tube or merely something else… See you on Sunday* or Monday…. *We’re