Hillary clinton

It is hardly uncommon for politicians to lie, especially when their careers are threatened by a sexual transgression — John Profumo about Christine Keeler, for example, and Bill Clinton on not having had ‘sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky’. But there is a particular kind of distortion of the truth that is rare over here but almost routine among American presidential candidates; and this is the way they embellish their personal histories to maximise their appeal to voters. It’s been going on for ages among candidates of both main parties, but presently most scrutiny is directed at Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and Seventh-day Adventist — denier of global

Has feminism won the battle and is it time to move on? On the latest View from 22 podcast, Emily Hill and Charlotte Proudman debate this week’s cover feature on the decline of feminism. Instead of fighting for equal pay and rights, has feminism become about pointless attention seeking? Is Margaret Thatcher a role model for women to look up to? And is Proudman’s case of a fellow professional sending her messages on LinkedIn an example of how feminism has declined? James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and Fraser Nelson also discuss whether Theresa May will campaign for Britain to leave the EU and whether this makes her the most interesting figure in the Cabinet. With one of her key advisers going to

The Republican party is showing all the attention span of a hyperactive toddler this primary season, moving from one shiny toy to the next. Donald Trump still dominates the nursery, like some giant plastic fire engine. But the pieces are starting to look careworn and the battery is going on the siren. The former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, now tied with Trump in some polls, is the teddy bear dragged around the playground a few times and now slumped in a corner. Fresh out of the box though is Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett Packard, gleaming amidst the gaggle of tired rivals. At the most recent Republican debate,

I remember Sidney Blumenthal from my time in Washington in the late 1980s when I was there as the first American editor of the Independent. He was a smartly dressed, agreeable political journalist, handsome in a donnish kind of way, who had a gracious, dignified manner that seemed to put him a cut above most of his fellow hacks. He was also a liberal of strong political conviction, whose purpose was to help rebuild American liberalism so that it could take on and beat the New Right after its long ascendancy under Ronald Reagan and restore the Democrats to power. It was at around this time, in 1987, that Blumenthal

‘Gefilte fish,’ emailed Hillary Clinton to a pair of aides in March 2010, ‘where are we on this?’ That was it. Two words in the subject line, five more in the body. Nobody really knows what she was on about. Maybe it was code, maybe it was a reference to a new Israeli import duty slapped upon carp fillets from Illinois. Either way, in a 4,368-strong trove of emails sent and received by the former US Secretary of State, and just released by the State Department, this is the interesting bit. This was as good as it gets. OK, so I exaggerate. Or rather, under-exaggerate. There’s also some stuff from

Here’s a sentence I never thought I would write: I feel sorry for Hillary Clinton. Following months of scandal over her email shenanigans (in a nutshell: she’s been using a private email address rather than her government one) she’s just had to hand her email server to the FBI. And anyone who has so much as a smidgen of the DNA that makes up the empathy gene must surely be thinking to him or herself: ‘Oof. Poor Hillary.’ Imagine having to pass every email you’d ever written — whether in jest, anger or horniness — to the powers-that-be, knowing they could be pored over in public. I know what I’ll

Let’s not be too cynical. It is a touching thought that Beau Biden’s dying wish was that his father Joe, the Vice President, should have another tilt at the White House. We learn this nugget of intimate information thanks to the New York Times. The story is suspiciously well-timed to propel a Joe Biden run, coming as it does at precisely the moment when his rival Hillary Clinton looks weakest. Don’t be a cynic, I tell you. Stop it! But if you think Hillary will be rattled by the possibility of an emotionally charged challenge from Joe Biden, think again. She should be licking her lips. He may be more trusted than her, according

Lunatics with money are never ‘mad’, only eccentric. In America, they can also class as Republican presidential candidates. Hence Donald Trump – a barmy billionaire with a mouth bigger than his bank balance – is currently leading the race to be the party’s next nominee. It’s a sad indictment of the American political process. And it disguises how strong American conservatism could be if it only tried harder. So far, more than a dozen major Republicans have declared their candidacy. Jeb Bush stands out for his establishment support, Scott Walker for his credentials as a conservative governor who took on the unions, Marco Rubio for his charisma and ethnicity… and

For the last few months, young American liberals have been writing love letters to a white-haired 73-year-old former mayor from Vermont who supports gun owners and worries about the threat posed by mass immigration to ‘American kids’. Only now is it dawning on them that they may have been sending them to the wrong address. The love letters took the form of articles in Salon, Slate and dozens of other, like, really cool websites. The recipient was Bernie Sanders, the only US senator to declare himself a socialist. Which is also really cool, because it must mean he hates the Republicans and the One Per Cent. So what if he was born in

The last week in Gotham was exceptional fun. I saw a Broadway play, Finding Neverland, compliments of the producer, my NBF Harvey Weinstein.It had me clapping with one hand due to the operation, and standing with the packed theatre for the ovation. Shows how much the critics who panned it know. The audience loved it, as did I. It’s an uplifting, wonderful play about J.M. Barrie and the children. Then there was the blind black guy in Brooklyn who told me, ‘You’re too pale for this neighbourhood.’ Go figure, as they say in that part of town. I’m always sad to leave the city, especially with the end of spring.