World

To the fifth anniversary of Big Brother Watch, where Mr S joined David Davis and Alan Rusbridger in an apartment opposite Thames House to raise a glass to the campaign group’s victories against the surveillance state. Matthew Elliot, the organisation’s founder, told attendees that Big Brother Watch’s biggest role ‘is to make sure that the arguments for civil liberties for privacy and against surveillance are properly heard,’ in what has at times become a tense debate between the government and civil liberties campaigners. The guest of honour Alan Rusbridger certainly made sure such arguments were aired when he took to the mic. In his speech, the Guardian editor-in-chief swiftly turned his attention to the

We all need stories ‘to help us make sense of the complexity of reality’, intones the sensible sounding voice of Adam Curtis at the start of his new documentary about Afghanistan, Bitter Lake. But stories told by ‘those in power’ are ‘increasingly unconvincing and hollow’. What a relief then that Curtis has raided the archives of BBC News on our behalf for footage of the west’s 13 year engagement in Afghanistan to construct his own more than two hour long story. His conclusion: the crisis in Afghanistan is all the fault of the witless Americans! The problem all began on a US warship parked in the Suez Canal in 1945

Seventy years on from the liberation of Auschwitz, Roman Kent, who was 12 when he was sent there, wept as he implored the world not to allow anything like that to happen again. ‘How can one erase the sight of human skeletons – just skin and bones, but still alive?’ he said. ‘How can I ever forget the smell of burning flesh?’ Paul-Emile Seidman was working as a doctor in Bichat hospital in Paris when the survivors of the concentration camps began to arrive. In a few days our beds were occupied by skeletons…They all seem to be of the same age, whether they are twenty or sixty. Their heads

Q: When is a meatball not a meatball? A: When it’s vegan. Nothing is sacred to the killjoys over at Peta, not even the honest Ikea meatball. Just about the only tolerable aspect of an afternoon spent at the Swedish furniture giant – the meatball –has come under attack from the left, with the introduction of a vegan version. Teaming up with the animal rights lobby, ‘the company has announced that the tasty vegan treats will be available in its store restaurants beginning in April.’ Mr Steerpike is not sure what these non-meat balls will be named, but given Ikea’s form in the area, it will probably be a totally

Over Christmas I finally got around to reading Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth.  I cannot recommend this book – newly translated from the German – highly enough.  It challenges and indeed changes nearly all received wisdom about the leading figure behind the genocide of European Jews during World War II. The title of course refers to Hannah Arendt’s omnipresent and over-praised account of Adolf Eichmann’s 1961 trial, Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil.  I would say that Stangneth’s book not merely surpasses but actually buries Arendt’s account.  Not least in showing how Arendt was fooled by Eichmann’s role-play in the dock in Jerusalem.  For whereas

The next set of exit polls are now out from Greece and they, again, show Syriza pulling off a spectacular victory. Their lead might even be just enough to see them win an overall majority; the poll estimates that they will win between 148 and 154 seats in the 300 seat parliament. If Syriza do win outright, they will have no justification to voters for watering down their demands to the rest of the Eurozone. They will have a clear mandate to push for the debt restructuring that they want. But Berlin is not going to be in any mood to grant concessions. Angela Merkel is already deeply unhappy about

Private Eye will have a field day when it comes to the tributes being paid to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia – it’ll be like beheading fish in a barrel (for adultery). Among the tributes paid to the people’s medieval theocrat was one by David Cameron, who said: ‘I am deeply saddened to hear of the death of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abd Al Aziz Al Saud. ‘He will be remembered for his long years of service to the Kingdom, for his commitment to peace and for strengthening understanding between faiths. ‘I sincerely hope that the long and deep ties between our

The Swiss National Bank usually ticks away as quietly as one of its nation’s more expensive timepieces, but when the cuckoo does occasionally burst out of the clock, all hell breaks loose. After a policy was introduced in September 2011 to depress the Swiss franc against the euro (as traumatised investors continued to pour money into safe-haven Switzerland), governor Philipp Hildebrand resigned when it came to light that his wife Kashya had sold a huge bundle of francs ahead of her husband’s market intervention, then bought them back at a handsome profit. Now, weeks after Hildebrand’s successor Thomas Jordan called the informal fixing of the franc at €1.20 ‘absolutely central’

Warning to publishers. Don’t commission a first-time author without giving him a deadline. The Chilcot Inquiry, a long-pondered probe into the origins of the Iraq war, is maturing gracefully and expensively like a lovely old port. Seven years and counting. Let’s hope it tastes good when it comes out. At PMQs, David Cameron replied to questions about Chilcot with his ‘not-me-guv’ routine. Here are the things he isn’t responsible for. Ordering the Inquiry. Fixing the Inquiry timetable. Accelerating its publication. Receiving the Inquiry. Deciding what do with the Inquiry once it’s completed. Inquiring into delays surrounding the Inquiry. When, or if, the report appears it will damage the reputations of

The ministers covering women and equalities do have a view on the disappearance of topless Page 3 models, but the Prime Minister apparently doesn’t. Today Nicky Morgan called the decision of The Sun to put something over at least a portion of the breasts of the women in its paper ‘a long overdue decision and marks a small but significant step towards improving media portrayal of women and girls. I very much hope it remains permanent’. Her Lib Dem colleague Jo Swinson said she was delighted that the old fashioned sexism of Page 3 could soon be a thing of the past’ and called on the newspaper’s editors ‘to consider whether

Shin Dong-hyuk really shouldn’t need defending.  The thirty-two year old was born in, and grew up in, the North Korean gulag system.  And as he has related in his book Escape from Camp 14, and in public appearances, what he saw on an average day in his childhood constituted more horror than most people will see in their collected nightmares. At one point he overheard his mother and brother talking about an escape attempt from the highest-security category camp they were in.  He informed on them, as he had been educated to do.  Subsequently, along with his father, he was forced to watch their execution by prison camp guards.  He

The suggestion Mitt Romney might make another run for the Presidency of the United States made me think of a line from one of my father’s novels: ‘There’s nothing so sad as the memory of lost fucks.’  There’s a measure of wistful sadness but also some wry resignation. The obvious reaction is that, hey Mittens, third time ain’t no charm. Because that’s the way it’s supposed to work these days. You’re supposed to accept being beaten, supposed to retire gracefully from the fray, supposed to recognise it’s someone else’s turn. This ain’t Richard Nixon’s America and it’s not Ronald Reagan’s either. And yet, in one sense, why should Romney accept it is

In ten days time, Greece goes to the polls in what is, arguably, the most important election that will take place this year. For if — as looks likely — Syriza wins, then the Eurozone crisis will move into an acute and particularly dangerous phase. Syriza are committed to a loosening of the terms of the Greek bailout deal. But, as I write in the magazine this week, Berlin, Frankfurt and Brussels are all adamant that there will be no easing of the fiscal straitjacket. Indeed, Berlin is making it clear that it would rather Greece leave the Euro than allow it to restructure its debts. As always with Greece