Society

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

“Positioning over action”

CoffeeHousers sometimes chide us for getting a bit over-excited when we describe articles as “a must read”, “essential” or “important”.  But the opinion piece by Philip Collins, Tony Blair’s former speechwriter, in today’s Times, really is all of those things.  Collins’ central point – that the Brown administration has elevated “political positioning over action” – is not a new one, but he expands from there to summarise the entire span of the New Labour years, and throws in plenty of healthy references to Sigmund Freud too.  Here’s a key passage: “When Mr Brown commends [Anthony] Crosland’s idea of equality, he does so on the grounds that it provides the Labour

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Want a big bonus? Get yourself a public sector job

Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling rail against bankers’ bonuses. But, says Ross Clark, the really appetising salaries, perks, expense packages and pensions are to be found in the public sector. A terrible reckoning lies ahead for the last fat cats Imagine for a moment that you are a banker in one of the bailed-out banks. You have seen a few of your colleagues disappear into the lift with a bin bag and every time you wander past a pub you have had to endure the thought that there may be drinkers inside demanding you be sentenced to cruel and more unusual punishments. Yet, for all the angst of the past

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

We must stand up for free markets

As today’s the first anniversary of the Northern Rock nationalisation, I thought I’d re-read Matthew Parris’s stunning defence of free markets in this week’s magazine.  I recommend CoffeeHousers read the whole thing, if they haven’t already, but here’s a key passage: “So amid all the doom-mongering and recanting, I have an assertion to make. The market has not failed. The present collapse is evidence that the market is working. Confidence bubbles are an inherent feature of a free market system. Panics — confidence vacuums — are an inherent feature too. The test of the theory of market capitalism is whether the system provides from within itself the means to prick

Martin Bright

Mills sent down – Lampl turns up

Two stories with no connection really, apart from their capacity to raise an eyebrow. I wondered if David Mills, the estranged husband of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell would ever be convicted but that day has finally come. I remember having lunch with Jowell just after she split from Mills (at the Savoy Grill, naturally) and it was obvious to me that she still had feelings for the controversial lawyer. She explained to me that he was a great man, much misunderstood. I would understand if I got to know him, she said. There were tears in her eyes. I once accused Jowell of helping Italianise British politics, but I wouldn’t

Peter Hoskin

Darling sets a limit

So, Alistair Darling’s announced that the Government is setting a limit on the bonuses that RBS pays out to its staff.  Here’s a section from the Beeb report: Mr Darling said bonuses at RBS would be cut from the £2.5bn paid last year to £340m. There will be “no reward for people who have failed,” he added. And bonuses will no longer be paid in cash, but in shares. The bank will pay “the minimum it can with regard to its legal obligations,” the chancellor said, referring to the fact that some employees are contractually obliged to receive bonuses. The idea of a bonus limit is sound enough to my mind,

Peter Hoskin

Slurring his way to resignation

I think it’s safe to say that Shoichi Nakagawa’s resignation today is the first time a government minister’s resigned for what are – officially – cough-syrup related reasons.  Although, watching the video below, it’s easy to see why people are saying alcohol, not medicine, may have been behind it all:

Peter Hoskin

A 20-point lead for the Tories

Here at the headline numbers from the latest Ipsos-MORI poll: Conservatives — 48 percent (up 4 percentage points) Labour — 28 percent (down 2) Lib Dems — 17 percent (no change) Aside from the hefty Tory lead, the unchanged Lib Dem position is worth noting – especially in view of the astonishing gains they’ve been making in other recent polls.  I haven’t seen any below-headline findings yet, but will report back if there’s anything interesting. P.S. The last time the Tories had a 20-point lead (or above) was back in September.

Peter Hoskin

Is Field gearing up for a Budget-time rebellion?

Saying the things that practically no other Labour MP will say, Frank Field writes an incisive article in today’s Independent.  Number 10 will not be amused by his claim that there’s a “very serious possibility of a sterling crisis'”, but I figure it’s this passage that should worry them most: “…tax increases are unavoidable even in the short run, and the Government should seize that necessity to help make our tax system more progressive. In times of economic decline it is more, not less important, to protect the poorest by developing initiatives that shift any increase in the tax burden onto those with the widest shoulders… …increasing taxes on some,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Brown misses out on first Oval Office visit

Hillary Clinton, on her tour of Asia, has announced that the Japanese PM will be the first foreign leader to be received by President Obama at the White House. Prime Minister Aso will visit Washington next week. This still leaves the race to be the first European leader to visit Obama open. But Gordon is not favoured to win that one either. PS Prime Minister Aso is, in some ways, in an even worse state than Gordon Brown. His approval rating is below 10 percent and his finance minister has had to resign after appearing tired and emotional at the G7 Finance Ministers in Rome.  

Peter Hoskin

Deflation averted…<br />

…for now.  The RPI measure of inflation (which includes mortgage repayment costs) dropped from 0.9 percent in December to 0.1 percent in January.  The targeted measure, CPI, remains well above zero – dropping from 3.1 percent to 3.0 percent – although some forecasters think it will go negative this year.  Expect further rate cuts from the Bank to stave off a period of prolonged deflation.

Peter Hoskin

At each other’s throats

Watch out.  The fur’s flying in Cabinet, and there may well be blood.  The latest claim, revealed by Ben Brogan in the Mail, is that Harriet Harman’s being blamed by her colleagues for floating that ‘lifeboat for Brown’ story yesterday: “Last night, Harriet Harman was at the centre of a blame game over claims that Mr Brown is Germany’s favourite for a new job as a global financial watchdog. Downing Street poured scorn on reports that the Prime Minister is being lined up for an international role that would force him to quit No 10. Labour sources claimed instead that Mr Brown was the victim of a botched spin operation

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Obama’s Momentum

James fears that Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms may be in trouble if he can’t win enough Republican support to convince centrist voters. In other words, he’ll be too much beholden to the left-wing of the Democratic party. Well, perhaps. But centrist voters in 2009 are rather to the left of where they were in 1993, the last time major health care reform was tried. Also: Obama is a better salesman than early-90s Hillary Clinton. Remember too, Obama won with more than half the vote; Clinton was elected merely by a plurality of punters. Now it may be that the GOP’s near-universal refusal to meet the new President half-way on the

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

If Obama can’t get Republican votes in Congress, he’ll be forced further left than he wants to–or should–go

Barack Obama likes to portray himself as a post-partisan politician, someone who reaches beyond party. So, it was a blow to him to have to pass the stimulus without a single Republican vote in the House and only three Republican votes in the Senate. His cabinet doesn’t look particularly bi-partisan either. Robert Gates is a hold-over from the Bush administration but he is not even a registered Republican meaning that the only Republican in the Cabinet is the Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood: Bush also chose transportation for the one member of the other party in his Cabinet, Norm Mineta. In the New Yorker, though, Hendrik Hertzberg argues that as

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Herbert will be the countryside’s voice in the Shadow Cabinet

When Nick Herbert was moved from Justice to Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs, which is essentially the old Ministry of Agriculture Food and Fisheries, in the Tory reshuffle there was disappointment among reformers who felt that his talents could have been better used elsewhere, most notably the Department of Communities and Local Government. But Herbert is bringing some much needed policy innovation and energy to this brief; his predecessor Peter Ainsworth was far too anonymous. Today’s policy proposal on food labeling strikes the right balance between informing the consumer of where their food has come from and avoiding crass food nationalism. Combined with last week’s proposal to create

James Forsyth James Forsyth

You couldn’t make it up: Blair wins a million bucks while Brown struggles desperately on

The contrasting fortunes of Blair and Brown over the last few years are like something out of a childhood morality tale. Impatient Gordon hurries Tony out of office before he wanted to go. The result: Blair escapes the blame for the financial crisis, leaves office with impressive approval ratings and secures a string of impressive international jobs. Also, by getting out before the crunch hits, Blair makes a small fortune on the international speaking circuit and raises enough money to get several charities growing. Meanwhile, Gordon inherits the crown at pretty much the worst possible time and now finds the Labour party almost certain to go down to a massive

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Will the downturn break the eurozone?

There has been some speculation that the financial crisis will force Britain to join the euro. But I think it is far more likely that the crisis will break the eurozone. Consider this from the FT’s Wolfgang Münchau, who could hardly be called a euro-sceptic: “The right course would be to solve the underlying problem – to shift at least some of the stimulus spending to EU or eurozone level and, ideally, drop those toxic national schemes altogether and to adopt a joint strategy for the financial sector, at least for the 45 cross-border European banks. But this is not going to happen. It did not happen in October, and

Peter Hoskin

The Tories should release the second Freud Review

Now the Tories have nabbed David Freud from the Government, they have the perfect opportunity to recast the welfare debate for the recession years.  As Alex Barker pointed out in an excellent blog post for the FT yesterday, they certainly need to.  After all, recent findings suggest that the Freud-prescribed workfare measures aren’t working quite as well as many hoped they would as the downturn takes hold.  Now, that’s not to say the welfare reform agenda should be jettisoned.  There’s overwhelming evidence that it works better than centralised alternatives, and with unemployment levels shooting ever upwards – and with some 5.2 million Brits on out-of-work benefits – there’s a clear need for drastic

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Watching the Watchers

LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 16: Photojournalists stage an act of mass photography outside New Scotland Yard police station on February 16, 2009 in London. The event aims to highlight the threat of an amendment to the Counter Terrorism Act that could be used to prevent press photographers taking pictures of the police. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images) Of course, it’s not just press photographers who are vulnerable to this sweeping, draconian legislation. More here.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Obama and Churchill

So Obama has said he doesn’t feel the need for his presidency to be reinforced by the presence of a British-government-owned bust of Winston Churchill in the Oval Office. As my friend Tim Shipman reports, the bust, loaned to George W Bush after 9/11, is now in the care of the British Embassy in Washington. This is a good thing in as much as anything which damages the Cult of Churchill in the United States is to be welcomed. One can desire this without in any way compromising one’s respect and appreciation for Churchill’s wartime heroics. But the Churchill Cult in the US  – especially amongst conservatives – distorts American

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Blair policy-chiefs talking to the Tories

Westminster loves defections; they are tangible sign of the direction in which the wind is blowing. So, David Freud’s decision to move out of Labour’s orbit and to the Conservatives is being treated as big news in the village. Tory Kremlinologists should note that it was George Osborne who reeled him in. This is a sign of both Osborne’s continuing importance to the Cameron project and the fact that Freud will be reporting into the leadership not Theresa May. Paul Waugh blogs that the Tories should now be reaching out to two former heads of Blair’s No 10 policy unit, Geoff Mulgan who is now running the Young Foundation and Matthew