One of the most significant disclosures about the incoming Brown regime is the news today that the next PM will bring Jeremy Heywood back into Number Ten as head of domestic policy and strategy. After working for Norman Lamont and Ken Clarke, Heywood was Blair’s private secretary between 1999 and 2003, and was one of
The news that the Shiite mosque in Samara has been hit by terrorists is extremely worrying. It was the attack on this site in 2006 that prompted one of the most devastating waves of sectarian violence since the fall of Saddam. Over the next few days, we will find out if civil war in Iraq
Methinks the Indy will sell more copies than usual today.
Enoch Powell famously said that “For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship’s captain complaining about the sea.” For Tony Blair to complain about spin is like… well, words fail me. But the Prime Minister had plenty of words about how the wicked media has corrupted the message of the virtuous
This was an oddly defensive speech from a normally robust orator. It tells you a lot about Blair’s preoccupations that he left his big statement on the media till this point: it is obviously a subject that has gnawed away at him. He says he’s not playing the blame game, but it’s hard to see
Mark Mardell has a handy guide to the negotiations on the EU Constitution. He identifies four red lines for Blair and Brown. • Calling it a constitution, or any mention of flags or anthems. That battle was won ages ago.• The idea that this is “a consolidating treaty” – Blair wants it to be “an
Richard Rorty – who died last week – was a playful thinker and a serious philosopher. In his time he attracted attacks from the committed left – and the equally convinced right. Great big clunking fists came at him from both directions and on both sides of the Atlantic – so he must have been getting something
God has had a hard time of it lately, what with Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens weighing in to see who can be the most aggressive Alpha Atheist. Then again, He has been coping pretty well with heavy duty theological attack for – well, since Adam and Eve. But I see no reason why God
When you hear that Gordon Brown is engaged in “fact-finding”, you can assume with complete confidence that he has made his mind up on a subject – whatever it is – and is now holding a “review” to validate his conclusion. Ask poor Derek Wanless, who was hauled in to put intellectual flesh on Gordon’s
History continues to be made in France following Nicolas Sarkozy’s election as president last month. Yesterday’s first round parliamentary elections were an absolute triumph for his centre-right UMP party, which annihilated the Socialists. Prior to Sarkozy’s election, the UMP party and government were deeply unpopular; the turnaround since has been truly remarkable and probably unprecedented
The abortion debate continues, but with the continued absence of the key statistic. How many pregnancies in this country end in an abortion? In my experience, people guess at around 10% or lower. In fact it’s is one in four in England (26.1%) and one in three in London (33%). It’s hard to consider these
This primer in the New York Times on what jihadis consider to be the rules of war is fascinating. Seemingly the only restrictions are that, with the exception of Iraq, you can’t kill in the country where you live unless you were born there and that you have to get consent from your parents for
Malan is an anti-racist Sir: As a South African liberal, I regard both Rian Malan and Ken Owen with the highest affection and respect. However, Owen is completely wrong and Malan completely right in the matter of the South African government’s approach to Robert Mugabe. Owen is talking nonsense when (Letters, 2 June) he suggests
I caught the end of the Darcey Bussell farewell after an evening at the birthday party of Blair’s departing head of communications, Ben Wegg-Prosser, an event attended by many of the ur-Blairites who were there from the very start in 1994. Watching the tearful ballerina dodging flowers thrown by the adoring fans, the curtain calls,
‘We will have to get new targets in Europe,’ Vladimir Putin said in an interview last week. ‘Which weapons will be used …ballistic missiles, cruise missiles or some completely new systems — that’s a technical matter.’ The apparent purpose of this outburst was geopolitical blackmail. Ostensibly at least, the Russian President was warning George W.
This essay by Shiv Malik in Prospect about the lead 7/7 bomber Sidique Khan is an absolute must read, it is one of the best thing I’ve ever read on the whole subject of what radicalises young British Muslims. Do read the whole thing but this part of the conclusion gives you a taste of
It is easy to denounce the media for the amount of attention that they devote to Paris Hilton’s antics, to rail against the cult of celebrity and the like. But what this doesn’t explain is why people who couldn’t pick a d-lister out of a Heat line-up and normally don’t give two hoots about celebrity culture
I have yet to capitulate to this series of Big Brother, which is not to say that I won’t. But it does seem very striking to me that the reality TV show seems to have become the canvas upon which we observe the nation’s residual bigotries and (in the case of Shilpa’s victory) our desire
If you want a sense of how an Obama candidacy might shake up American politics, consider this: John McCain’s ad man, who was Bush’s media adviser, has reportedly told the campaign that he can’t work for it if Obama is the Democratic nominee. He wouldn’t want to destroy the hope that, he feels, Obama represents. What
A truculent, argumentative blonde drama student called Emily has just been kicked off Big Brother for saying to the even more truculent and argumentative black WAG wannabe Charley – as they danced – “Are you pushing it out, you n***er?” Emily protests that it was a joke, Charley – who has been known to use