This isn’t a criticism of Tim Russert, per se, rather an anecdote that, though trivial, is also rather revealing. From Mark Leibovich’s nicely-judged piece in the New York Times: My last encounter with Mr. Russert was at a Democratic debate in Cleveland, which he was moderating. I was with his colleague Mr. Matthews — I
Via Jim Manzi, it seems that thousands and thousands of people are being inconvenienced by George W Bush’s arrival at Heathrow. Well, I don’t particularly begrudge him his security (but do they really need three planes and four helicopters?) but why aren’t they using an RAF base instead of the country’s busiest airport?
Apologies for the delay in publishing this latest installment in our marathon series. Still, here it is at last. So far we have has featured teams skippered by: Armstrong, Benaud, Constantine, Dexter, Edrich, Fry, Gower, Hutton, Imran and Jardine. Now it is Kapil Dev’s turn. 1. Gary Kirsten (SA)2. Rohan Kanhai (WI)3. Vinod Kambli (IND)4.
Since I wrote this, I’m hardly likely to disagree with the thrust of Matthew Parris’s column in The Times today, am I? I distrust clichés such as “Westminster village”, but there are occasions when they fit. Within the space of an afternoon a relatively small number of people – MPs, broadcasters, journalists, party hacks –
Like anyone else who’s spent any time in Washington these past 20 years, I was stunned by the sad news of Tim Russert’s death, aged just 58, on Friday. these must be terrible times for his friends and family. Like Matt Yglesias, I’ve criticised Russert before, but de mortuis nil nisi bonum and all that.
Everyone agreed that David Davis’s resignation yesterday was extraordinary political theatre and that it would be a rash man who predicted its consequences. Some pundits were prepared to acknowledge the bravura – even the foolhardy courage – of Davis’s decision to risk ridicule and disaster on a supposedly quixotic personal crusade but, as the presses
How can you tell if David Davis is right? Easy! As Mr Eugenides says, just look at these reactions:: JACQUI SMITH, HOME SECRETARY Faced with a crucial decision on the safety and protection of the British public, the Conservatives have collapsed into total disarray on what is their first big policy test since they have
Matt Yglesias posted an interesting map the other day: It’s a map drawn from US Census bureau data on ethnicity and ancestry. According to the census, however, some 7% of Americans look puzzled when you quiz ’em about their ancestry and write American rather than “Irish” or “Polish” or Korean” or “Cuban”. This map shows
American icons are under threat! The Chrysler building has been sold – gasp! – to Arabs; now the Belgians have launched a bid to buy – double gasp! – Budweiser… The governor of Missouri has, of course, pledged to do all he can to prevent the company from falling into (filthy) foreign hands. Where-oh-where will
Defeat for Gordon Brown on 42 Days yesterday would have been catastrophic. But, as I suggested, victory hasn’t done him much good either. The Spectator samples press reaction: “Desperate Brown scrapes through” says the Guardian, quoting Dianne Abbott saying it was a “grubby bazaar”. Just how grubby is shown by the Daily Mail which names
Mr Eugenides observes that for all the talk – much of it reasonable – that the Tories are soft on liberty and that we lbertarian-types should therefore vote for UKIP (no thanks!), UKIP’s only MP, Bob Spink, voted with the government on 42 Days. In the comments, Trixy, of Is There More to Life Than
David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, resigns his seat to fight a by-election on the principles of liberty and justice. A startling move, by any measure. And one worthy of respect. If he wins – and the Lib Dems have said they will not put up a candidate to oppose him – then, happily, he’ll
Many thanks to Isaac Chotiner for pointing out the latest example of what he rightly considers to be Scoop-turned-fact. One the one hand, Zimbabwe’s opposition leaders are being detained, on the other there’s the confiscation of American food-aid which, rather than reach its intended target, was requisitioned to feed ZANU-PF supporters. When the Americans complained
My old friend Gerald Warner has, I’m glad to discover, a blog at the Telegraph entitled Is It Just Me? (sometimes, yes, Gerald, I’m afraid it is…). In his most recent post Gerald reports that the health industry has opened a new front in the Tobacco Wars. Not content with persecuting smokers, the unco guid
Astonishingly, Barack Obama returns Scarlett Johansson’s emails. Equally charmingly, Miss Johansson professes herself surprised by this: “You’d imagine that someone like the senator who is constantly traveling and constantly ‘on’ — how can he return these personal e-mails?” she asks. “But he does, and in his off-time I know he also calls people who have
Scottish banknotes are saved. Hurrah!
It’s a measure of Gordon Brown’s weakness that he’s come so close to losing the vote on 42 Days. But, as Ben Brogan reports, he’s done it: The DUP are on board, Diane Abbott has been spoken to by Gordon Brown for the first time in 20 years, cash for sick miners and help for
Here’s Cameron vs Brown at Prime Minister’s Questions today.
MPs are voting on 42 Days now. I only watched the last part of the debate and am biased in favour of the opposition but even so, the weakness of the case made by Jacqui Smith and her lackeys was startling. Still, the funniest comment on the whole ghastliness comes from Fraser Nelson: The DUP could
Shamefully, I don’t think I’d heard of Billy Beer until Mike Crowley posted this fantastic advertisement at The Stump. I mean, what better slogan could there be? Could an reader who’s actually tasted the stuff let me know what it’s like? Bonus points for using Billy Beer as a vehicle for measuring and interpreting the
