Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
Does Daniel Day Lewis deserve an Oscar for There Will Be Blood? I’d say so, over Clooney anyway – who rarely differs the characters he plays. In a Hollywood era where stars basically play themselves, Day Lewis changes beyond recognition and always has – think Room with a View, My Beautiful Laundrette or My Left
I’m on the train back from Question Time (most of the panel stayed in Newcastle last night) and I am again sitting three seats down from a man who has come to personify the Tories’ problem. Vince Cable was lauded by Alan Duncan and Ruth Kelly for his leadership on Northern Rock – before, after
Anyone who was depressed by the powerful splash in the Daily Telegraph today about Britain’s brain drain had best sit down. I have worse news. It may be a new OECD report, but the data’s from the 2000/01 census (first served up on CoffeeHouse). So the picture today will be much, much worse. At the turn of
Anyone with a taste for schadenfreude can tune in to BBC1 Question Time tonight, where yours truly will be in Newcastle extolling the virtues of the free market in the home of Northern Rock. Other panellists are Ruth Kelly, Vince Cable and Alan Duncan.
CoffeeHouse has just been brought up in the Commons – Mark Harper has challenged Ed Davey to clarify what on earth Lembit Opik is on about. Is it true, he asked, that Lembit is not a rebel as he claims because the LibDems plan to abstain on the issue of a referendum on the Lisbon
Back refreshed from the recess, Cameron (41) starts off by wishing Brown a “happy 57th birthday” – when “happy birthday” would have done. Nothing groundbreaking in their exchange. Cameron had a few good lines responding to what Brown had just said. “There always is an inquiry with this government. Frequently a police inquiry.” And then
It’s our Dear Leader’s birthday today: Gordon Brown is 57 years young. He’s a famous bibliophile – and I figured we could send him a list of books. Here’s five to start with. 1) Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff – how to stop control freakery leading to misery 2) Wikinomics – why hierarchies are collapsing
The Tories had a head start on welfare reform, but Brown is fast catching up. When Chris Grayling launched his Wisconsin-style proposals last month, there were (typically) fears internally that they were too harsh. Yet there were two surprise factors: the overwhelmingly positive public reaction, and Brown’s inability to decide whether to accuse them of
Lembit Opik calls up to set me straight. Here was I portraying him as a principled rebel true to his manifesto by pledging to abstain, rather than vote against, the totemic issue of whether the British public should have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Au contraire, he says. ‘On this occasion, I am being
A cheeky little bird has leaked me this text, from a letter Lembit Opik sent to a constituent – saying he will defy Nick Clegg and abstain from a vote on a referendum for the Lisbon Treaty: “The question of a referendum on the Treaty itself is a hard question. As you well know, others
A few months ago, I rather unkindly suggested that Alistair Darling is no more a Chancellor than Captain Scarlett was an actor. This may now be his salvation. Reading Rachel Sylvester’s column, we learn that Brown watered down capital gains tax reform and made his volte-face on Scottish tax proposals without consulting his Chancellor. If
I interview Jim Murphy in tomorrow’s Spectator, in which he gives his endorsement to Tony Blair as EU president. For the first time, we’re running a longer version of the piece online (click here). I’ve always rated Murphy, ever since I saw him shout down Trots in my student days at Glasgow. Coffee Housers are
Fraser Nelson warms to Jim Murphy, the Minister for Europe, who is steering the Lisbon Treaty through parliament — and now promises that he would help Blair become EU President Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first tip for stardom. Throughout his twenties, Jim Murphy suffered this affliction. Before Tony Blair led the
If there is an award for a brass neck of 2008, George Osborne has just done enough to win in. First, he proposes a tax on the non-doms (which I critiqued at the time). Then, Darling nicks it in his infamous magpie budget. Then, it becomes clear this daft proposal will simply drive away the
As if to prove he’s still a left-winger, Frank Field today gives a lecture calling for an extra 10% tax on earnings over £150k that could be completely offset by charitable donations. In other words, “if you don’t give this to charity, we’ll tax you” – Field believes people spend their own money more wisely
Both Che Guevara and Thatcher declared they were for “reform”, so Brown saying it means nothing in itself. His definition of reform is “personalisation” which, as far as I can make out, is 180 degree opposite to Blair’s idea of reform. One of the best (and shortest) think tank pamphlets I’ve read in a while
A new motto – “uncertain times call for uncertain leadership” – could apply right now to the Church of England, the government and parliament. In my News of the World column today, I say that the Williams fiasco fits a depressing trend. 1. The Church of England is in crisis. Its own figures show a
Charles Clarke throws the book at Brown today in an interview with the Daily Mail. A few choice quotes. 1) “You saw it with David Cameron over MPs’ expenses when he was out, very fast, dealing with the situation. Gordon must stop being a ditherer. He lacks courage. He looks at his papers, dithers
If a museum were built to honour the ancestral political class, it would not look much different from the House of Commons. Its corridors are lined with portraits of the political greats and its staircases are adorned with old Vanity Fair caricatures. ‘Honourable members’ are still treated as if they were just that, with the
Unkind souls joke that proof of Tony Blair’s Catholicism came not on his conversion, but when he recommended Rowan Williams as the Archbishop of Canterbury. Under his tenure his church has seen schism (over gay clergy) whilst being overtaken by Catholicism in attendees for the first time since the Reformation. This Archbishop lost my confidence
