James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
Fraser is at David Cameron’s event so he’ll have more on the Tory announcement that they’ll abolish the basic rate of tax on savings and raise the personal allowances of pensioners by £2,000 My initial reaction is that it is a savvy political move, the population is getting older and old people vote in higher
The whole economic meltdown is less of an opportunity for the left in Britain than the US for the simple reason that Labour was in power here in the years leading up to it. Today, Jackie Ashley bemoans that Brown’s refusal to admit that mistakes were made means that the left might miss the opportunity
Until today the transition had gone pretty much perfectly for Obama. His appointments were impressive and warmly received, his poll numbers have risen to record levels and the scandal about Governor Blagojevich allegedly trying to sell off Obama’s Senate seat has not hurt Obama or any of his staff. But today the transition hit a
There is a classic example of government waste and arrogance in today’s Observer. The Department of Health has taken to paying celebrities to appear in public health announcements. The thinking (and it is rather dubious if you ask me) being that a celebrity is more likely than anyone else to persuade us to eat five
In The Observer today, Peter Oborne argues—as he has in the past—that David Cameron is far more of a radical than most people realise: “[Cameron] has been accused, especially by supporters, of being long on ambition, short on principles. This is almost the complete opposite of the case. I have read most of his speeches
In his speech to the Labour conference, Gordon Brown launched a highly personal attack on how David Cameron treats his children: “Some people have been asking why I haven’t served my children up for spreads in the papers And my answer is simple My children aren’t props; they’re people” But Brown seems to have no
The Tories keep telling us that they are on an election footing. If they are, part of that must be aiming to lose as few news cycles as possible between now and polling day. There are going to be some that the Tories can’t stop Labour winning; Labour is still the government giving it the
I’ve been reading Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Dire Warning by John Lukacs about Churchill’s speeches in May 1940. It is well worth reading; a fine example of microcosmic history and short at only a 140 odd pages. Reading it one particular fact stood out to me: “the British their soldiers and sailors and
A second bank bailout would, as Pete noted earlier, be a hinge moment in British politics. Anthony Wells has shown that Labour’s fortunes began to recover because people believed that Brown and Darling’s rescue plan for the banks would work. If the government have to go back and have a second crack at it that
Peter Oborne’s column today is explosive stuff. He writes that secret talks have already begun between Labour and Liberal Democrat figures about a possible coalition. He reports that as a sweetener to any possible deal the Labour Whips office is already drumming up support for Ming Campbell as the next Speaker. Oborne points to an
It now seems that Governor Paterson probably is going to appoint Caroline Kennedy to the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton. The odd thing about her mini-campaign, if you can call it that, is how unnatural she has been. She has been much less assured and appealing than she was when she stumped for Obama.
Every age needs its contrary thinkers, those prepared to challenge the conventional wisdom of the day. As Lexington argues in The Economist, Samuel Huntington—who died on Christmas Eve—was that for the 1990s. While others were triumphalist after the West’s victory in the Cold War, Huntington was pessimistically warning of a coming Clash of Civilizations. Huntington
The idea that 2009 will be a good year for the Tories is fast becoming conventional wisdom. Michael Brown makes this case in typically eloquent style in The Independent today arguing that once the downturn begins to really hurt, people will turn from the government to the opposition. But what really struck me was Brown’s
Helen Suzman was a woman of quite remarkable character and bravery. To have been the sole anti-apartheid MP in the South African parliament for so many years must have required a level of courage and a dedication to principle that few of us can imagine. Suzman was a good liberal, in the proper sense of
The Daily Mail reports a quite astonishing quote from Tony Blair: “Mr Blair, replying to a question after delivering a lecture at Yale University in Connecticut, said: ‘It is true that we had ten years of record growth when I was prime minister. ‘I have, unfortunately, come to the conclusion that it was luck.’” Having
The events of 2008 should make us all wary about making predictions. So instead, I’m going to flag up some things that I think are worth watching out for in 2009. The Chinese government’s legitimacy is predicated upon rapid economic growth, so what will happen there when the downturn hits? I’m fascinated to see if
The embarrassment that is Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor who has been accused of trying to effectively auction off Obama’s Senate seat, isn’t going away for Illinois, the Democrats or Obama. Rather than resigning in shame following Patrick Fitzgerald’s devastating press conference, Blagojevich has tried to brazen it out. Today, he is set to name
A problem for the Tories at the moment is that they lack a big idea on the economy. This is what enables Brown to unfairly paint them as a ‘do-nothing’ party. The Tories should take inspiration from Arthur Laffer. Here’s a lightly adapted version of a recent Laffer article, that Osborne should make party policy:
Today’s Wall Street Journal is spot on about how the limitations of Putinism have been exposed by the collapse in the oil price: The last few months have laid bare Putinism’s true character. His recovery was no miracle: With oil so high, and half the work force employed by the state, any country like Russia
Reading New York Magazine’s profile of Tony Blair, I was struck by this quote from Blair: “Actually,” he says, “what’s interesting is I’ve spoken to several European leaders—I won’t name them—who I didn’t really think were religious at all, and was rather surprised. They know I’ve started this foundation. And they’ll say, ‘That’s really interesting,
