James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
Today’s absolute must read is Rachel Sylvester’s column on how Brown intends to take on Cameron. It is chock full of details such as this, “The man who will take over at Number 10 tomorrow wants to smash his big clunking fist on to the Conservative leader’s head. I will never forget the look of
This Today Programme special on social mobility is well worth listening to. Also, do read this piece on how to break down the social barriers in education by the head of the Sutton Trust Sir Peter Lampl.
Margaret Beckett has been dismissing calls for a referendum by arguing that Britain is not a country that “governs by referendum” which begs the question as to why she was happy to run in 2005 on a manifesto that explicitly stated, “We will put it to the British people in a referendum”.
With these European documents, the devil is always in the detail. Yes, Blair has passed the four tests on his ‘red lines’ that he set himself, but that doesn’t actually mean that much in reality as opposed to political terms. The invaluable think-tank Open Europe has gone through the document with a fine tooth comb
This BBC interview with Gordon Brown is essential viewing; it’s the best example yet of ‘new and improved Gordon.’ Also worth a click right now, is Ben Brogan’s blog which is doing yeoman’s work tracking the twists and turns of the EU negotiations. As he points out, “if a deal is agreed later tonight, it will
Next week, the CIA will release its records of its activities up to the end of the 1970s. The Washington Post reports that Michael Hayden, the CIA Director, has confirmed that documents on the CIA’s overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying, kidnapping, infiltration of leftist groups, surveillance of journalists and “unwitting” drugs tests on U.S. civilians are all included
Open Europe have a new poll out today that shows that 86 percent of voters want a referendum on the proposed new treaty. Normally, I’m against referendums on the grounds that we live in a parliamentary democracy. But in this instance, that argument is made null and void by the fact that the 2005 Labour
Mark Mardell has a useful post on the progress of the European Treaty negotiations. His blog will be essential reading over the next few days.
I must admit that I disagree with Matt about Bernard Manning. The man was a deeply unpleasant bully and while others who ‘say the unsayable’—Borat, for instance—are actually ridiculing racism, Manning was endorsing it. Consider his performance at an event in Manchester back in the 1990s that was secretly taped by World in Action. Manning
This essay by the US political commentator Michael Barone does a cracking job of explaining why 2008 presidential politics is so dynamic compared to the predictable politics of polarization that have dominated the last few elections. Also worth reading on the US front is this entertaining piece from the New York Times magazine about the candidates to be
The more you reflect on the Clintons’ story, the more remarkable it becomes. A boy and a girl meet at a prestigious Ivy League law school, fall in love not so much with each other as with the concept of themselves as a couple, leave their sophisticated world to go back to his Southern backwater
A few years ago, bookshops started selling the hand book that American GIs were given before coming to Britain during World War Two. With hindsight, it made for amusing reading—it was interesting to see how many of the respective stereotypes had stood the test of time. Well, this is the equivalent guide to Iraq. It
With Tony Blair’s departure from Downing Street there’ll be much talk of restoring ‘good government,’ an end to the centralisation of power, politicisation of the civil service and ‘spin’. Rachel Sylvester has a great scoop in today’s Telegraph about how the establishment is pushing for this through something called the “Better Government Initiative.” It is
The conventional wisdom on the grammar school row is that it came at precisely the wrong time for the Cameroons. With Brown about to take over at No.10, they needlessly shot themselves in the foot so this narrative has it. This is undoubtedly true but the very nature of the operation the Cameroons are engaged
This piece in the Telegraph about Brown’s upbringing is well worth reading. It gives you an idea of how precocious Brown was and how early he developed his sense of social mission. But there’s also an early foretaste of his puritanism: “In April 1962, aged 11, he wrote an article about a church campaign in favour
Interesting piece by Denis MacShane in the Telegraph on how Brown is planning to “trust the professionals” when he becomes PM. MacShane thinks that Brown is comfortable with the governing machine in a way that Blair—who “did not know how to make the Civil Service work for him”—never was. MacShane’s take is certainly very different
Not very. As Matt pointed out the other day, anything like this that doesn’t mandate binding cuts is just hot air. The big winner from the failure to agree a deal: Al Gore. He gets to denounce world leaders for their passivity at his concerts and this inaction preserves one of the essential rationales for
“But, you know, if anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to do it.” Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee at the Republican presidential debate last night.
So, we’re going to get another, much-needed Bank Holiday to celebrate Britishness. Personally, I’d nominate the anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar on the 21st of October. It would break up that long stretch from the last August Bank Holiday to Christmas and celebrates the victory that ensured Britain retained dominance of the seas and
This poll, if it is accurate, is big news: Barack Obama has drawn level with Hillary Clinton in national polls. If the numbers are to be believed, he’s up by seven points in the last month while she’s dropped by nine. Before we all get too excited, though, it is worth noting that this poll