There’s no stopping this blogging thing. The latest citadel to fall is, of all places, the dear old House of Lords. Hence Lords of the Blog which officially launched today. With any luck it will capture something of the upper House’s eccentricity… Lord Lipsey makes half a fair point here, for instance: I am in
From Alasdair Reid’s inquest into Saturday’s Roman debacle: Rome is not exactly short of statues, but they could raise another one this morning to Dan Parks, the Scotland fly-half, whose woeful performance virtually gifted Italy their win. The official statistics showed that Parks had made seven errors in the game, the most significant of which
Danny Finkelstein: Please accept that what I am about to write I do as someone who is a. A big fan of Paul McCartney and b. Entirely ignorant of divorce law. But I just have to ask – why does Heather Mills get £24 million for being married to McCartney for four years? I write
Brilliant Ryan Lizza piece on Hillary in this week’s New Yorker. Key paragraph: Unlike Hubert Humphrey, Al Smith, or even her husband, Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail has never been able to project the image of the happy warrior. There is now, and has always been, a certain joylessness in her bearing. She has
Dan Drezner’s at a high-powered conference in Brussels from where he relates this interesting tidbit concerning Richard Holbrooke: I have it on good authority that, not only does the former UN ambassador believe that he’ll be Secretary of State if either Clinton or Obama wins, he genjuinely thinks he’ll have a comparable position if McCain
The most dismal aspect of this, shall we say, innovative proposal is that it is not in the least bit surprising. Equally, one ought not to be astonished when politicians proclaim it a perfectly capital notion. Primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals
You didn’t think I’d forgotten did you? After Armstrong and Benaud we come, logically enough, to Chappell Constantine. [Updated after much dithering. To hell with it, however, romance demands that Learie be skipper. Thanks to Sam G for reminding me of this.] THE C TEAM 1. Jimmy Cook (SA)2. George Challenor (WI)3. Greg Chappell (AUS)
Annoyed though I am by Hillary’s claim to have solved the Irish Question, it’s nothing compared to her – how to put it? – revisionist claims about the Rwandan genocide. These are revolting. Hilzoy lays it all out here in a post* that’s as enraging as it is sickening. The conclusion: I think it’s a
Highly entertaining developments from our old pals at Daily Kos. Seems the Clintonites are taking their ball home and boycotting the site. What larks! DailyKos is not the site it once was thanks to the abusive nature of certain members of our community. I’ve decided to go on “strike” and will refrain from posting here
Italy 23 Scotland 20 England 33 Ireland 10 Wales 29 France 12 What an utterly lousy afternoon. Six hours of TV, three games of rugby and scarcely an encouraging moment all day. Wait ’til next year, eh? Er, no, not really: we visit Paris and London next season. Wake me up in 2010.
From James Fallows’ Tibet-blogging: CCTV coverage (that’s state-run China Central TV) Lots more interesting stuff here and here.
LOL-Cats are so yesterday. The new sensation sweeping the British blogosphere is the LOL-Blair. No wonder, given the former Prime Minister’s modest ambitions: After accepting a job as Middle East peace negotiator, a million dollar contract at JP Morgan, a high level role as a Rwanda advisor, a position on the Africa Progress Panel, an
Lord knows there are plenty of reasons to be appalled by Hillary Clinton, but her claim to have been “instrumental” (I kid you not) in bringing “peace” to Northern Ireland is (for me) the single most enraging element of her campaign. Of course this is monstrous nonsense but, alas, it seems to be being treated
Ordinarily the useful rule is that the answer to any question asked in a headline is a resounding “No”. (“Can Illegal Immigrant’s Guinea Pigs Give You Cancer?” or “Was Princess Di Murdered by Cherie Blair’s Gurkha Lover?” or “Is there a Secret EU Plot to Hang the Queen?”) Still, there are times when the rule
Lisa Schiffren at National Review: The famously tolerant Dutch, whose nation has the highest emigration of any European country as the native born flee the effects of multi-culturalism, Islamisation, and the after effects of legalizing everything, have come up with a new line to cross. Public sex in Amsterdam’s city parks will now be legal.
Marvellous stuff – to the point of self-parody- from the Guardian’s Michael Billington: I am depressed to read that David Mamet has swung to the right. In an essay for the Village Voice, Mamet claims he is no longer a “brain-dead liberal” and increasingly espouses a free-market philosophy and social conservatism. As a citizen, Mamet
Crivvens. Whatever next? An apology for 1978? IRAN sought to ally itself with Scotland last night, praising Alex Salmond’s administration for its anti-war stance and suggesting Tehran has more in common with Holyrood than Westminster. Rasoul Movahedian, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told The Scotsman that Scotland and Iran shared “similar views”
The Politico’s Ben Smith is an excellent reporter and blogger. Which makes this post rather rum: The global interest in the Clinton-Obama contest is really quite amazing. Marc Ambinder finds that they’re talking about Jeremiah Wright on Peruvian TV. And I spent last night talking politics with a Latvian friend who displayed an alarming familiarity
At last! An amusing campaign memo. Ben Smith has the details of the Obama campaign’s bloggish response to a ridiculous Clinton memo. It’s all worth reading, but here are some fun bits: The path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania so if Barack Obama can’t win there, how will he win the general election?
As we all know, Americans’ love affairs with God and guns baffle foreigners. In that respect this Reuters story is obviously not aimed at the wires’ US clients. It’s meant to be helpful and explanatory and is, therefore, a good thing. In fact it’s a kind of journalistic rite-of-passage you need to pass through to