The Spectator

How will the violence in Gaza end?

It is hard to see anything good coming out of this brutal civil war in Gaza right now. But Martin Indyk, US ambassador to Israel under Bill Clinton, sketches out a positive—and possible—end-game in the Washington Post today : Whatever transpires, Gaza has become Hamas’s problem. It’s a safe bet that the real attitude of

Contemporary Labour, nice

For some time, New Labour has been looking for a fresh-sounding name for the post-Blair era. I have heard “New New Labour” (too daft), “Neo-Labour” (too close to “neo-con”), “New Labour-Plus” (David Miliband’s formula), “Real Labour” (code for “Old Labour”) and even just “Labour” (code for “can we stop all this branding stuff please?”). On

I fear the violence will get worse, much worse

Mostly I am feeling too depressed about what’s happening in Gaza to even find words to comment on it. Civil war has been looming for so long, and yet I kept hoping against hope that it wouldn’t actually break; that somehow, something would change to divert things from their inexorable path.  For once, on this

This should cheer the Blairs up

If the Blairs are rather down about leaving Downing Street, they should consider this: Bill Clinton raked in more than $10 million from his various speaking engagements last year. Tony might soon be joining those friends of his from school and university who, as he once said, “ended up so rich.” Indeed, maybe he should be

Iraq edges away from the brink

The fact that the violence in Iraq has not reached the point of no return after yesterday’s bombing of the mosque at Samara is reassuring. John Burns, the New York Times’ incomparable Baghdad correspondent, has a must-read on why the reaction to-date has been so muted. If the situation remains calm, in relative terms, through

What should the Cabinet get the PM?

The Times reports today that the Cabinet has held a whip round for leaving presents for Blair and Prescott and that they’ve got £1,600 to spend on the two of them. What should they give Blair apart from a card saying thanks for the majorities? The gift can’t be too extravagant as that would upset

Where will Gordon go first?

Benedict Brogan’s always excellent blog has an interesting post on the question of what Brown’s first foreign trip as leader will be. As Brogan notes, if Brown goes to Paris and Berlin he risks looking like the new kid in the class eager for approval from his peers—a danger that has been heightened by Sarkozy

A friendly mistake

“We’ve gone on holiday by mistake”. So says Richard E Grant’s unforgettable character in Withnail & I. The other day I was trying to get on to Facebook to list myself as one my wife’s friends and write something nice – an innocent enough objective, I thought. Somewhere down the line – not quite sure

The Tony n’ Dave show, catch it while you can

A few thoughts from the penultimate Cameron v Blair show. The Prime Minister has a new phrase, “the end of waiting as we know it,” which doesn’t mean waiting has ended at all. He’s sharply reduced the number waiting over six months. But the median inpatient wait for an NHS operation is 5.4 weeks, exactly

Checking up on progress

At PMQs today, David Cameron raised the whole question of what had happened to the information sharing measures which were supposedly going to be put in place after the Soham murders to protect children from paedophiles. For some background on the matter, do read this article by Tessa Mayes which details just how slowly the process

Brown’s team

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

Iraq on the brink

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

You won’t have Tony to kick around anymore

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

Blair’s red lines

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-one kind of Tory

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

For God’s sake

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

Brown’s mind is made up on Iraq

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