This week’s New Yorker has a fascinating profile of the graffiti artist Banky. He’s one of those people you either love or hate. This quote gives you a flavour of where he’s coming from: “I don’t think art is much of a spectator sport these days,” he began. “I don’t know how the art world
At 9p.m. last Thursday, while over 15 million American households were tuned in to “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC, 1.7 million were watching the first Republican primary debate on the cable news channel MSNBC. Yet despite these paltry viewing figures (only 2.2m tuned in to the Democratic debate the previous week), the media twitter means that
Peter Hain was on the Today programme this morning doing a victory lap for the resumption of devolution in Northern Ireland. But he gave the game away when he predicted that this deal would stick as there are no political forces more extreme than those in government. The consequence of the Good Friday agreement, or
The Scottish Parliament is often reported by London newsreaders as a proxy for Scottish public opinion. In truth, it’s an institution held in wide contempt – and the desultory 52% turnout (in what was a knife-edge election) speaks volumes. This is the first fact to consider when judging the problems which Alex Salmond is facing
Tony Blair’ send his congratulations–or should that be félicitations–to Nicolas Sarkozy.
“Barzini’s dead. So is Phillip Tattaglia — Moe Greene — Strachi — Cuneo — Today I settle all Family business.” Remember that scene in The Godfather, where Michael Corleone tells his soon-to-be-executed brother-in-law that the Corleones have settled all their vendettas in a bloody spree of vengeance? That’s what Westminster feels like this morning. The
Truly extraordinary scenes at the Salle Gaveau in the eighth arrondissement of Paris tonight. Shortly after the official exit polls announcing Sarko’s victory, thousands of his supporters sang the Marseillaise, with thousands more joining in from outside. After a long ride through Paris, his Renault Limousine surrounded by least 20 media motorcycles, Sarko arrived at the
Anything other than a Nicolas Sarkozy win this evening would be a huge upset. The latest polls show him with a 10 point lead over Ségolène Royal (pictured left). The only crumb of hope for Royal is the high turnout with 75% of voters having already cast their ballots by late afternoon; this might be
Strange kind of love Sir: Liam Byrne’s breathless panegyric (‘Rise up, Englishmen’, 28 April) on the glories of being British must have left some of us pretty punch drunk. This is a man who eagerly serves a government that has spent a decade transferring the rights of the British to govern themselves out of Britain
Thursday wasn’t only election night here, but also the first Republican primary debate of 2008. Over at Comment Central Daniel Finkelstein has a typically astute post on whether Republicans shouldn’t have an abortion litmus test for their presidential nominees keying off the trouble Rudy Giuliani got in to when asked about whether he supported the
If you’re enjoying Coffee House, I do hope you’ll take a look at Stephen Pollard’s new blog and Clive Davis’s—which come complete with a photograph by PooterGeek.
Good news from Paris. No, not the capital of France which, it seems likely, will tomorrow crown Sarkozy its President. I mean the Hilton heiress, who was sent to jail yesterday for 45 days for driving while disqualified. There are so many cheap jokes one could make about the new Los Angeles Hilton and the
It is bleakly symmetrical that Tony Blair’s tenth anniversary as Prime Minister should have fallen in the same week as the Scottish, Welsh and local elections. But it was no less apt that the PM should have passed this milestone the day after the conviction of five British Islamists who plotted to blow up a
The situation about to unfold in Scotland is why I can’t stand PR. First of all, not one voter will get the government they actually voted for. Instead, politicians will disappear off into the modern equivalent of smoke-filled rooms and thrash out a deal while the public desperately tries to see in the window. Also,
A couple of months ago I had never heard of Facebook. Now, I place internal bets with myself at every social gathering I go to about how long it will be before someone mentions it. My boyfriend and I had a dinner party on Wednesday which managed to run to almost forty minutes (surely a
It’s a pity that the elections yesterday coincided with Molly Dineen’s documentary ‘The Lie of the Land’ because I imagine that the minister of agriculture (or minister of Naff, Maff, Defra or whatever it’s called now) was too busy with politics to be watching Channel 4 last night. Shame. The film looked at a way
To shift focus in our election coverage to across the Channel, Nicolas Sarkozy’s lead is widening. Two new polls out today put him at 54% and 54.5% respectively, a comfortable lead over Ségolène Royal. Also, it looks like the debate was more of a win for Sarkozy than most commentators thought. A post-debate survey found
What is the peculiar magic of string quartets? Ian McEwan posed this question when I interviewed him recently. It came to mind again during an enchanting evening at the Spectator’s Westminster offices last night, as the Bridge Quartet gave a sublime performance of Elgar’s music, including the String Quartet in E minor. The event renewed