Society

Saturday

Aidan Hartley

Wild Life | 24 January 2009

Port-au-Prince Haiti seems almost beautiful from the air. Hillsides eroding into the Caribbean like a rained-on sandcastle. Up close I struggle to find redemption. There are cheap rum tots and poor citizens warming up for carnival, but no hope. I want to find black pride in this, once the richest nation in the Antilles. Here slaves defeated Napoleon’s armies and had Wordsworth poems written about them. But today, with Obamarama on the TV, Haiti is a theme park for the Apocalypse. The population is lounging about in hot pants and slippers as if they’d just got out of bed. Pigs gorge on mountains of rubbish. The roads are bone-jarringly awful

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Blagojevich: Entertainer of the Year

Can we agree that Rod Blagojevich is making a great run at the title Entertainer of the Year. Here’s the disgraced governor of Illinois protesting his innocence (again!) today: I like old cowboy movies, and I want to explain how these rules work in a more understandable way. There was an old saying in the old West. There was a cowboy who was charged with stealing a horse in town. Some of the other cowboys, especially the guy whose horse was stolen, were very unhappy with that guy. One of the cowboys said, “Let’s hang him.” One of the other cowboys said, “Hold on, let’s give him a fair trial.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Knife Crime Hysteria?

There’s an old newspaper adage that “If it bleeds, it leads” that helps explain the current obsession with knife crime. But there’s another old truth that it would be useful to remember: news, almost by definition, is defined by what is rare and unusual, not what is common. The more coverage an event or pattern receives, the more exceptional it is likely to be. There was a knife crime “summit” at the Scottish parliament today at which John Muir, whose son Damian was stabbed to death in Greenock in 2007, called for mandatory jail sentences for anyone caught carrying a knife: Mr Muir, 69, said his son’s death was one

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Obama needs a new Iraq policy

If the Iraq War had not happened Barack Obama would not be president. If most Washington Democrats had not discredited themselves in the eyes of the Democratic base by voting for the war, a first term Senator—even one with Obama’s political talents and appeal—would not have been able to win the party’s nomination. In the Democratic primaries, Obama proposed a 16 month withdrawal plan. The plan owed more to politics than to military strategy; he announced it after John Edwards in a last-ditch effort to stay in the race had produced an absurd rapid timetable for the departure of US forces in an attempt to pander to anti-war voters. Now

Daniel Korski

Needed: a new head of Nato

The Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will step down at Nato’s 60th anniversary summit in early April. The former Dutch foreign minister has had some successes during his time in office but his tenure has been dominated by trans-Atlantic rifts, Nato’s struggling Afghan mission, and a failure to work more corporately with the EU. Little of this has actually been his fault but nor has he been able to help chart a way out of trouble. NATO is no longer the place where Americans or Europeans go to talk about strategic questions. This is true not only for non-military topics such as the global financial crisis or climate change,

Peter Hoskin

Will Brown serve up some cold revenge?

One of the great political losers of the past six months has been David Miliband.  Only last August, he was launching his attempt on the party leadership and Polly Toynbee was feting him as Labour’s best chance for a bright future.  But shares in the Foreign Secretary started plummeting in the wake of those infamous banana and ‘Heseltine’ moments.  And, after his disastrous visit to India – during which he embarrassed himself and, by extension, the UK on the world stage – one wonders whether he’s got any political capital left at all.  There’s certainly a stronger case now that he shouldn’t remain in the role of Foreign Secretary – Milibandiplomacy just isn’t

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Can Brown really not see that he hasn’t got everything right?

With the country officially entering recession today, the Prime Minister went on the Today Programme to make his case. The first part of the interview was, from his perspective, quite effective. He managed to stress that the other major economies were either in recession or going into recession, he hit back using politically astute populist language at those prophesying doom for the UK and he drew a clever—albeit misleading—dividing line between doing what he has done and doing nothing. All in all, it was shaping up to be one of Brown’s more effective media performances. Then, the wheels came off: Brown, to Evan Davis’s mounting incredulity, refused to admit that

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Kennedy Poppycock

Anne Kornblut, normally a reliable reporter, was given a turkey by her editors yesterday. Here’s how she begins her WaPo story on Caroline Kennedy’s (mercifully) brief Senate bid: With her abrupt exit this week from consideration for the Senate, Caroline Kennedy added her name to a growing list: women who have sought the nation’s highest offices only to face insurmountable hurdles. Like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Palin before her, Kennedy illustrated what some say is an enduring double standard in the handling of ambitious female office-seekers. Even as more women step forward as contenders for premier political jobs, observers say, few seem able to get there. Sure. Nothing to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Our shrinking banks

On the Today Programme this morning, Gordon Brown backed away from the PBR’s claim that the economy would start to grow again in the third quarter this year, adding a slew of caveats about the need for international cooperation to make his actions effective. But looking at the JP Morgan chart above, brings home just how bad the situation is. The banks have lost $1.25 trillion in value since the crisis began. Considering the importance of the banking system and credit to any recovery, it seems unlikely that the British and American economies are to start growing again anytime soon. We are facing a recession that appears to be more

Peter Hoskin

A coded message from Campbell?

I wonder what Downing Street made of Alastair Campbell’s plea to Spurs manager Harry Redknapp in the Thunderer column this morning: “Redknapp at least had the good grace to look embarrassed as he shook [Burnley manager, Owen] Coyle’s hand, and the post-match phone-ins were flooded with Spurs fans saying that they didn’t deserve to win. In which case all that remains to be done – a long shot, I know – is to appeal to their sense of fairness. If Harry truly wants to concentrate on avoiding relegation, if he really is a man of the people, surely he has to do the decent thing. Stand aside.” Quite.  

Peter Hoskin

Will Brown ever come clean about the liabilities we face?

Well done the Treasury Select Committee, who are today calling on Brown ‘n’ Darling to release quarterly accounts showing just how much the banking bailout is costing the taxpayer.  It’s an absolutely crucial demand – not just for the sake of accountability and transparency, but also to reassure creditors and investors that the Government has anything like a clue of what’s going on.  Failure to meet it could make credit rating agencies even warier of the UK economy – and, in turn, that could cause the situation to nosedive even further. Thing is, I doubt that will worry Brown; for whom short-term political gain generally trumps what’s right for the

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

In Praise of Mahmut Aygun

How did I miss this tragic news? The man who invented the donor [sic!] kebab has died. Mahmut Aygun, was suffering from cancer and died in Berlin at the age of 87. Known as the “kebab king” he was born in Turkey and moved to Germany at the age of 16 to open a snack stall. He invented the doner kebab nearly 40 years ago. Kebab meat, consisiting of roast lamb and spices, had traditionally been served with rice but in a moment of inspiration Mr Aygun saw that the future lay in putting the meat inside a pitta bread. That allowed customers who had been drinking to wander off

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Kidney Markets

Markets all-around: Across Asia, the going rate for a kidney is usually agreed in the backstreet surgery of some unscrupulous doctor but in Singapore the government will soon be setting the price for this much in-demand organ. A controversial amendment to legalize the payment of compensation to organ donors was put before the Singapore parliament this week and while the health ministry is yet to decide on the upper limit for reimbursement, it is expected to be at least S$50,000 (US$33,000). This is good news and it would be excellent if the authorities here considered following Singapore’s example. Regulation, not prohibition is a pretty useful rule of thumb. And not

Alex Massie Alex Massie

A Change to Believe In

Not a bad start for the new President: “For a long time now there has been too much secrecy in this city,” Obama said. “The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known… “The mere fact that you have the legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should use it,” Obama said. “The Freedom of

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why history will struggle with Bush

The Bush presidency can hardly be termed a success. But I suspect, historians will soon be boosting Bush’s standing. Why? Because Bush’s answer to the terrorism question is, basically, right. In the short term, you have to disrupt their networks, deny them safe haven and—if all else fails—kill them. But in the long term, you have to fight the causes of terrorism by creating democratic, prosperous societies where people control their own destinies: in such places, terrorists and their causes do not find support. But, ironically considering that Bush was the first MBA president, the execution of these ideas was appalling. There’s also a paradox when it comes to Bush

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Chirac’s Poodle

Sure it’s only January, but there’s already an obvious contender for the prized title of Headline of the Year: Former French President Chirac hospitalised after mauling by his clinically depressed poodle.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

You can bank on the shadow Cabinet’s second jobs causing problems for the Tories

It has long been clear that the shadow Cabinet’s second jobs are a vulnerability just waiting to be exploited. Today’s Evening Standard brings an example of this: “THE TORY shadow cabinet has been raking in thousands of pounds in cash and perks from failing banks. Three prominent shadow cabinet members–William Hague, Ken Clarke and Francis Maude–who have supported criticism of ‘irresponsible’ bankers, were paid large sums in the past year by institutions that have lost taxpayers billions of pounds.” Now, we can get into a long argument about the value of outside experience and all that. But there’s no denying that in PR terms there are huge risks associated with

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Obamamania Reaches the Borders

Seriously. You cannot escape Mr Obama. The splash in this week’s edition of The Southern Reporter, out today, is headlined “Hope and fear as Parker and Moore welcome Obama”. That’s David Parker, leader of Scottish Borders Council and Michael Moore MP. For good measure, the new president claims the main picture on the front page too. That said, Mr Parker has sensible things to say on trade: “A range of trade unions and economic experts in the US are advising Obama and his team to be more protectionist and there is a danger that this could happen – the Clinton administration previously had protectionist policies which did impact on the

Peter Hoskin

The Pickles approach

Over at ConservativeHome, Tim Montgomerie has an intriguing post on what Eric Pickles hopes to bring to the role of Tory party chairman.  Here’s a snippet: “An aide to the new Party Chairman tells me that this visit communicates two of the big themes that Eric Pickles wants to characterise his tenure at CCHQ: graft (he promises to match the sacrifice of volunteers) and a focus on the LibDems.  With opinion polls pointing towards a perhaps decisive increase in the Tory lead some party strategists are recommending a significant shift of battleground resources into unseating Liberal Democrat MPs.  Eric Pickles is a big advocate of the lovebombing tactic.” Tim goes onto describe