So the government is going to reject advice that Ecstasy be reclassified as a Class B drug. No surprise there. Got to adopt a tough stance on these matters, you know. Not that the penalties for possession of a Class B drug are anything other than absurdly draconian themselves: you can still be locked away
Photo: Keystone/Getty Images Once upon a time Citroen produced the DS – driven here by Lord Hailsham – as revolutionary and beautiful a car as anyone has produced in the last 50 years. More importantly, it was cool. So, what better way for the marque to make a statement than by reviving the old DS
Melanie may think that the United States made a monumental blunder when it elected Barack Obama, but right now, it must be said, the Americans themselves seem pretty happy with their new President. For the last week newspapers and cable TV have been hyping every perceived blunder and doing everything bar declaring the Obama presidency
Apologies for the radio silence. I’m still struggling to comes to terms with England’s Jamaican debacle. Matters were scarcely improved by an ill-considered trip to Murrayfield yesterday. Back to the drawing board then. Still, while there was a certain grimness to Scotland’s sluggish performance against Wales, at least it didn’t plumb the depths of England’s
I have nothing to say on this ludicrous Jeremy Clarkson controversy, save to observe that this constant hoopla over whether BBC presenters have offended anyone is beyond wearisome. That said, Iain Gray, the aptly named leader of the Labour group in the Scottish parliament, responded to Clarkson in especially presumptious style: “Such a comment is
Could there be anything more juvenile than Fleet Street’s unanimous view that Gordon Brown has been embarrassed by Tony Blair “beating” him to an audience with Barack Obama? Sure, it’s always entertaining to dip back into the Blair-Brown psychodrama and everyone likes the idea of the PM watching Tone preach the word at the White
I’m indebted to Justin at Chicken Yoghurt for alerting me to this article from La Repubblica: “PORTO VIRO (Rovigo) – ‘It’s a pity – È un peccato – I love working with the Italians, I love Italy. I just hope this Ssuff about the Grimsby refinery is just a one-off’. Brian has just got back
From Tony Blair’s speech to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington this morning: I believe restoring religious faith to its rightful place, as the guide to our world and its future, is itself of the essence. The 21st Century will be poorer in spirit, meaner in ambition, less disciplined in conscience, if it is not
Good grief. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and House Speaker William J. Howell announced a deal Thursday morning to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in Virginia, a monumental decision in a state built on the profits of cigarette sales that remains the home to the nation’s largest tobacco company. If Virginia falls*, can the Carolinas
Fraser’s report from Michael Gove’s education reform shindig today is a must-read. I agree with him that this is the key point Gove, Cameron and the Tories need to make: “In your neighbourhood, there will be a new school going out of its way to persuade you to send your children there. It will market
Commenting on this post, Juliana raises a talking point one hears quite often. “Bush was not perfect by a long chalk but he kept America safe for his two terms. Now he is gone Obama is handing America to the terrorists and the jihadists and the brainwashed in North Korea on a plate.” Leaving aside
It’s not been an error-free start for the new President has it? But, really, even for the internet age, some of the reaction to the stumbles is laughably over the top. So much so, of course, that Obama can draw some comfort from that. Here, for instance, is Victor Davis Hanson writing at National Review:
I spent five years in Washington and could not tell you what the Commerce Department really does. Now that i think of it, I doubt I could name any of George W Bush’s Commerce Secretaries. Certainly, none have lodged themselves in the memory. Which is another way of saying that apart from the big three
Intriguing. Interesting. Fascinating. All words often used to spruce up slightly dull cricket. But the first days’ play in Kingston has been intriguing. And interesting. And good. A slow outfield may have cramped scoring, but once England had won the toss and elected to bat there’s little doubt Chris Gayle would have been happier than
“One cannot underestimate how widely admired Tom Daschle is in Washington for his integrity.”—David Gergen, advisor to every President since Nebuchadnezzar and, er, the barometer of DC’s Conventional Wisdom. Of course, Gergen also means one cannot “overestimate” the extent of “Washington’s” admiration for Mr Daschle. Verily, greater love hath no man than to lay down
Conor Friedersdorf makes a point that is too often overlooked: Abraham Lincoln often commuted three miles on horseback so he could sleep on the grounds of a military hospital at night; and that once during the Civil War a British traveler who wanted to meet Lincoln knocked on his door, got invited inside, and ended
At least that’s the message Obama seems to be sending to Democrats in Congress. In an interview with ABC News he was asked about the “Buy American” provisions in the “stimulus” bill and said he doesn’t want any “provisions that are going to be a violation of World Trade Organization agreements or in other ways
British tycoon Richard Branson participates among other people and actors in a ‘Refugee Run simulation’ during the World Economic Forum on January 30, 2009 in Davos. During this event, participants have to face an ‘attack from rebels, a ‘mine field’, border corruption, language incapacity, black-marketeering and refugee camp survival’. Photo: PIERRE VERDY/AFP/Getty Images Simply because
There are some policy ideas that one supports while recognising that they may come with costs, in some cases considerable costs (eg, drug legalisation, open borders, etc etc.) But I confess that I remain mystified by the ferocity with which so many people oppose something as seemingly uncontroversial as school choice. Because it’s not as
Fifty years, then, since Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the “Big Bopper” died. Yet it could have been even worse: Waylon Jennings was supposed to be on that plane too: “I remember the last time I saw Buddy,” Jennings said in his interview with CMT.com. “He had me go get us some hot dogs. He