Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
We hear phrase “market failure” often enough – but (as Michael Prowse once said) government failure is far more common. The most egregious example is education – and David Cameron says in his press conference today with Michael Gove. Here are a few facts they highlight today in their document (read it here): 1) Some
Now that Francis Maude is no longer lurking around Conservative headquarters dampening any high spirits he might encounter, bubbles of optimism are allowed to float with impunity around Team Cameron. For the last three weeks, the Tories have enjoyed double-digit opinion poll leads. The consensus in Westminster is that the Conservatives (or, more accurately, Boris
As it’s Friday, here’s some entertainment – the interview Gordon Brown gave to Radio One’s Newsbeat last year (newly added to YouTube). The interviewer, Rajini Vaidyanathan, specialises in leftfield questions and often gets hilarious results. After asking if he was a “grumpy, dour backstabber” (he was prepared for that one) she asked the then Chancellor
If you haven’t already, do read our latest cover story. The Telegraph follows it today, and Robert Winnett has a good analysis about the problems piling up on these voters Labour had come to rely on. Some CoffeeHousers have asked: is it so surprising that the sub-prime crisis is concentrated in poorer areas? Of course
The appalling story of how the Tory Party fixes its MEP candidates is told on ConservativeHome. This won’t be picked up on Fleet Street, as MEPs are such a boring business. But it raises serious questions about the Conservatives’ commitment to localism in running the country, if this is how they treat their own party members.
Of all the scary economic forecasts we’ve heard recently, perhaps the most chilling is the idea that we’re nine months behind America on the credit crunch. What would it mean for us? And what political effect might it have? In tomorrow’s magazine, George Bridges, former campaigns director for Cameron, does for us what politicians do
The hallmark of this ridiculous government is the difficulty one always has on 1 April trying to discern which newspaper stories are April Fools. The Guardian tickles our ribs in suggesting that Carla Bruni is being recruited in Brown’s Government Of All the Talents as some kind of fashion tsar. Is that so much more
Was Alan Milburn on to something? When he proposed slashing Whitehall by a quarter in his interview with me for this week’s magazine – on the grounds that you can only take bureaucrats’ power away if you send them away – I imagined he was just stirring things to be mischievous. But now Matthew Taylor,
It’s always a pleasure when a Labour MP – panicked about impending defeat – ruminates about the future for their party strategy. It’s rarer for a minister to do so – which is why Ivan Lewis’s piece in Progress (picked up in today’s News of the World) is worth reading. Here’s my decoder: 1) “We
I summarised Radio Four’s “Thought For The Day” as being “Jesus was left-wing too”. Yet a CoffeeHouser says Jesus was the first socialist and has challenged me to find one passage in the Bible suggesting otherwise. My offering is a passage from the First Book of Samuel (okay, pre-Jesus) where God warned him against big
Do you ever wish you could listen to the best bits of Radio Four’s Today Programme while skipping the dross? Just as Sky Plus has transformed television by allowing you to fast forward the adverts, I have recently acquired a radio that does the same: Evoke-3 by Pure has this same “live pause” facility So
David Cameron has an interview with tomorrow’s FT where he comes up with lots of reasons why there will be no tax cuts. Here’s the gist. 1. The tax burden is a not a useful yardstick to judge a government by. As he says: “Using the tax burden is never a good idea because you
Has Times Online just scooped Media Guardian on a media story? Sam Coates has a one-liner in Red Box saying that Steve Richards (one of CoffeeHouse’s favourite columnists from the other side) of the Independent and GMTV is off to replace John Kampfner as editor of the New Statesman. It’s our opposite number in the
My, what a lot of Brownies. I can only assume today’s PMQs was one of those weird things, where no two people can agree. Many of my colleagues in the press gallery thought it was dull. I was riveted. Cameron was taking Brown on home turf and having him resort to his litany of fake
After Hillary Clinton’s hilarious “mis-speak” – whereby she concocted a story about arriving in Bosnia under sniper fire – the betting markets have moved again towards Barack Obama, who is now the clear favourite to become president (Obama – evens; McCain – 6/4; Clinton – 7/2). No wonder she got on so well with Cherie
“£10 note is at the centre of a crossroads. To the north, there’s Santa Claus. To the west, the Tooth Fairy. To the east, a radical Muslim. To the south, a moderate Muslim. Who reaches the cash first? The radical Muslim, of course – the others don’t exist.” So runs one of the many gags
On the floor of Alan Milburn’s office is a scroll signed by the Queen offering her ‘well-beloved councillor’ £2,000 to be Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. It is a souvenir of his battles in the Blair–Brown days. He was appointed to this position to co-ordinate the last general election campaign, and was briefly seen
The Tory inflation report has splashed today’s Mail, got (another) p1 in the Telegraph, p2 lead in The Sun – the list goes on. A direct hit. Proof of Coulson’s nous, but also of Labour’s strikingly ineffective rebuttal mechanism. Most goods on the Tory list are cheaper, in real terms, than ten years ago. Other
The Conservatives have today published one of the best pieces of research I have seen them do in some time – a “cost of living” report to coincide with David Cameron campaigning in London today. Following on from a spread in The Sun last week, it focuses on what inflationary pressure means to families. Butter:
The Spectator recently ran a letter from Lord Adonis saying the Swedish schools revolution which I said David Cameron would bring to Britain was in fact being delivered under Labour. Huh, I thought, keep telling yourself that – if it makes this whole Brown thing better for you. But today I picked up my local
