The great paradox of the Tory party is that its predicament in recent years reflects not failure, but success. For 18 years it was in government, for 11 of them under one of the most influential prime ministers in history. The Conservatives dominated the 20th century: Austen Chamberlain and William Hague were the only two
Cinema goers will all be planning to go to see Atonement this weekend: I know I am. But if you are defeated by the queues, which threaten to be of English Patient/Shakespeare in Love proportions, do go and see Knocked Up instead. If ever a film was let down by its title it is this
This new bin Laden video might provide vital clues at to where the al Qaeda leader is hiding. One thing that is notable about it is that his beard is black in the advanced still that has been released, rather than white-flecked as it was back in 2004. Now it is unlikely that bin Laden
Next week’s testimony from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker to Congress on Iraq will give us the best idea yet of how the surge is progressing. To date, the signs are encouraging: to cut sectarian killings in Baghdad in half is a real achievement and begins to provide the conditions in which a political solution
The claim that Osama bin Laden will issue a new broadcast message on the sixth anniversary of September 11 on Tuesday illustrates the fundamental difference between the two sides in the war on terror. Even if it does not materialise, the prospect of the tape has grabbed global attention: we shall be holding our breath
The BBC’s decision to cancel its plans for a day-long special on climate change is fascinating. Earlier this year, I took part in a seminar at Television Centre led off by Al Gore, who delivered the slide show now immortalised in An Inconvenient Truth. The former Vice-President then disappeared, partly, it emerged, because he will
One of the most infuriating things that Ed Balls does is try and claim that every mention of youth crime today is an attempt to demonise an entire generation of children. Take his response when Jackie Ashley asks him about the Tory talk of a broken society: “Most kids come out of school, walk home
The Tories seem very close to adopting the idea that children shouldn’t be allowed to pass into secondary school until they have passed certain tests as party policy. In the Independent today, Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, makes a passionate case for it. “Earlier this week, our party’s policy
No one in modern politics is better at coming up with a pithy sound bite that sounds like a piece of home-spun wisdom than Bill Clinton. Just take this line of his from a TV interview when asked about the criticism of Hillary that says she is too much of an insider to change things:
News is coming through that a huge terrorist attack on US interests in Germany has been foiled. Generally, the best place to follow these things is on The Blotter, a blog from the investigative team of ABC News.
This account of how George W. Bush has tried to mentor Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, is fascinating. Bush sees his role as giving Maliki the confidence to lead. He tries to gee the Iraqi PM up by both giving him support and through some frat-boy ribbing. The whole approach is summed up by
Last night’s GQ Men of the Year Awards were, as ever, a glittering occasion and a tribute to the talents of the magazine’s editor, Dylan Jones (whose most recent Spectator Diary you can read here). Plenty of excellent choices for the 10th annual ceremony, including the editor of the year, Will Lewis, editor in chief
I was just settling down to write something about Michael Ancram’s rather odd pamphlet knocking David Cameron for distancing himself from the party’s past, when I saw this on Comment Central which explains a lot. The more you read it does sound like Ancram just didn’t realise how the media would seize on this story. The
Rachel Sylvester’s column in The Daily Telegraph today sums up brilliantly what Brown is up to with his call for a new politics. As Sylvester writes, “[Gordon Brown’s] aim is to crush David Cameron and the Conservative Party, not just when the country next goes to the polls but for ever. He shares Chairman Mao’s
Nobody in Australia has every come back from poll numbers this bad, this close to an election. According to Newspoll, Labor now leads the government 59 to 41 with 48% of voters preferring Ooposition Leader Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister to 37% for John Howard. Opinion polls in Oz are a lot more accurate than
Given that Tony Blair misled Britain on the way into war in Iraq, Gordon Brown had better be very careful not to mislead us on the way out. Are Iraqi forces really able to take on the militias of the warring Sadr and Hakim families? That’s what we’re told, but look at these two quotes
Boris is back: back Boris! Here at 22 Old Queen Street, the blond bombshell’s Spectator support team are punching the air. It wasn’t that we let the nay-sayers get to us, or that we ever, for a moment, fell for all that guff about him not being serious – it’s just that now we have
Moments into Gordon Brown’s speech about a new kind of government, it is already clear what the speech is about: copying David Cameron. Addressing a group of voluntary organisations, he has already talked about “top-down solutions” no longer working; the revolution he is announcing is precisely the revolution Cameron has been talking about for months.
There is nothing new in Gordon Brown’s taste for citizens’ juries and new forms of consultation – the cornerstone of his speech on the “New Politics” today – although his plan to review the Speakers’ Conference will repay careful study as part of what will clearly amount, in the end, to a substantial package of