Politics

Is Britain going the same way as Iceland? Iain Dale says that my reference in my political column to senior economists referring to London as “Reykjavik on Thames” is “terrifying, if true.” Cheeky wee monkey. ‘Course it’s true. The phrase I can attribute directly to Willem Buiter, one of Brown’s first appointments to the MPC and a pro-Euro enthusiast (but that doesn’t make him bad and wrong). He makes the Iceland case, and coins the phrase, in this rather technical but sobering FT blog post. Now you could argue he’s just one maverick. But I’d make three points in defence. 1) Buiter was denounced as a maverick when he said

Here are some of the posts made over the past week on Spectator.co.uk: The Spectator website is hosting an exclusive clip from the recently-discovered Agatha Christie tapes.  Click here to listen to it. Fraser Nelson says the world isn’t behind Gordon Brown, and suggests that the Tories shouldn’t let Brown provoke a split. James Forsyth wonders who is stoking the early election speculation, and speculates whether Peter Mandelson will end up a national treasure. Peter Hoskin asks whether the Tories should lie low, and Reports on David Cameron’s decision to ditch Labour spending plans. Stephen Pollard thanks his readers, as he moves on to pastures new. Melanie Phillips wonders which

By which I mean, natch, should El Gordo toddle off to Buckingham Palace and call for a general election next spring rather than hanging on until 2010. Danny Finkelstein says yes he should. I rather agree. Admittedly this agreement is to some extent predicated upon my dislike of Brown and the rest of his miserable, chiselling crew. (Smith, J being but the most alarming example of the breed). Consequently, the sooner the country has a chance to be rid of them, the better. Nonetheless, putting personal prejudices aside (and the downside of a Tory victory in the spring, of course, is that disappointment will arrive that muh sooner), there’s a

Ewen MacAskill reports that Hillary is indeed going to be Obama’s Secretary of State. His report in the Guardian is entirely unsourced however – which is interesting because MacAskill is not a reckless reporter by any means. Even so, Josh Marshall says he doesn’t believe anything any British paper publishes about American politics. My old friend Toby Harnden has a theory explaining what could have happened: Maybe the almost complete lack of sourcing is a clue. When that happens, what’s usually going on is that a very senior person on the paper has been told something, is certain it’s true and directs that the story be written, without furnishing many

My friend James Forsyth asks a daring question: “Will Peter Mandelson end up a National Treasure?” A crazy notion, you may feel, but not an impossible one! Now, of course, in many respects Mandeslon is a dreadful character, but whereas, say, Alastair Campbell is a mere thuggish bully, Mandelson is a subtler operator who enlivens, rather than demeans, the political game. I suspect the lobby is delighted that he’s back. Who could fail to be amused by the manner in which he smoked George Osbourne this summer, as though the Shadow Chancellor was but a kipper? This was Mandelson as his slimy, effortlessly loathsome best. There was something brilliant in