Sir Menzies Campbell’s call for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU is a desperate bid to preserve party unity on the eve of what may be his last conference as Lib Dem leader. No less than Harold Wilson in 1974-5, he seeks to avert a party split by backing a plebiscite. The trouble
The long quest to find a purpose for the Lib Dems is the modern equivalent to the probably apocryphal story about the child asking his mother about Lord Randolph Churchill: ‘What is that man for?’ The long quest to find a purpose for the Lib Dems is the modern equivalent to the probably apocryphal story
If you’re planning a visit to the cinema this weekend, I recommend you bypass the cold, albeit visually impressive, ‘Atonement’, in favour of Julie Delpy’s first effort as an actor, writer and director, ‘2 Days in Paris’. The premise is simple: a couple round off a tour Europe by spending two days with the girl’s
The old Latin rite of Mass is officially reinstated today. It’s not easy to explain the significance of this to non-Catholics (or even to Catholics under the age of 50), but it’s as though Rome had closed all the great cathedrals of Europe and stripped them bare and had now decided to re-open them and
President Bush’s speech on Iraq last night showed how reliant he now is on others for credibility on Iraq. Take the two key paragraphs that set out the shift in policy: “Because of this success, General Petraeus believes we have now reached the point where we can maintain our security gains with fewer American forces.
Back in May, the American pollster (and Spectator contributor) Frank Luntz advised Gordon Brown to make a virtue out of his reputation for being boring. The Prime Minister has today taken this advice. The new Labour logo is to be “Not flash, just Gordon”: precisely the right message. But this message will work best in
Margaret Thatcher is taking tea with Gordon Brown, Ben Brogan has the scoop. This is just about the last thing that David Cameron needs today as he tries to defuse the Gummer Goldsmith report. He’s now bound to get questions about whether he feels snubbed and if he’ll be inviting her round for a cuppa
When you hear people talk about the importance of the NetRoots in left-wing politics in the US they’re largely talking about MoveOn.org which was founded to try and get the country to move on from the Monica Lewinsky affair and the Clinton impeachment. It has now become a powerful voice in Democratic party politics and
Do not miss Toby Young’s new weekly column Status Anxiety, starting in tomorrow’s magazine. As any fule kno, Toby is the laureate of metropolitan angst so it seemed only fair to give him a weekly slot in which to fret publicly. His first despatch from the psychic borderlands of West London is a beauty, too,
A book has just landed on my desk with Chris Huhne’s beaming, discoloured face on its cover. The LibDem environment spokesman is carrying a placard saying “green taxes now”. So yes, it seems the Liberal Democrat leadership contest has begun. My political column tomorrow is on the LibDem wake/conference next week, and how it will
On the list of things that should keep us up at night, Pakistan has to be pretty high. It is a phenomenally unstable state with nuclear weapons. Much as I worry about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Pakistan is currently the country that terrorists would be most likely to get a bomb from. So I was actually
Interestingly enough, after a day and a half of questioning the most damaging sound bite to emerge so far from the Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus hearings has come in response to a question from one of the most pro-surge politicians in Congress. John McCain just asked Crocker whether he was confident that the Maliki government
If you want a giggle, do read this account by Christopher Hitchens of his time at a health spa. The hard drinking, chain smoking Hitch is pretty much the last person you can imagine being wrapped in seaweed but he even provides photographic proof of the experience.
Anita Roddick, implausible as it may seem, deserves a footnote in future histories of the Conservative Party as well as the annals of ‘ethical consumerism’ where her place was already secure. Long before Fairtrade coffee, barn-fed eggs in Tesco and organic everything, she had spotted and mapped out the psychological terrain where the ethics of
Tonight on 18 Doughty Street, Iain Dale has a half an hour interview with The Spectator’s official candidate for Mayor of London. You can watch the entire thing here. One point that Boris makes that is well worth pondering the next time you’re sitting waiting for a tube train that is delayed or stuck in
If you want to follow the General Petraeus and Crocker testimony the New York Times, the Washington Post and The Politico are all live blogging it. You can also read Petraeus and Crokcer’s opening statements in full here. Update: Britain and America also has coverage that is well worth reading.
There’s another bin Laden video coming out soon. This time, bin Laden will introduce the testimony of one of the 9/11 suicide bombers. The appearance of a second video is surprising as it is hard to see why after three years off screen bin Laden is making two appearances in a week. One would have
