More riffing on Nelson! Fraser, that is. His Telegraph article and subsequent Coffee House post on future spending cuts argue that the Tories are, defensively, planning to leave the NHS budget untouched (and international development!) and that doing so will require 10% cuts across every other department. Including defence. Since most people would, I think,
Fraser’s piece on the BNP is well worth your time. Parts of it were eerily familiar as I had the feeling that I’d been down this road before. That’s because I have: the BNP’s strategy is pretty much the same as that employed by Sinn Fein in the Republic of Ireland. There wasn’t much talk
I’ll give Lance Armstrong’s fans this: they know how to count to seven. Beyond that, however, they’re rather like members of a cult who refuse to accept that there could even be such a thing as another way of looking at matters, let alone the idea that there might be some merit to that alternative
Responding to today’s Telegraph story which quotes Major-General Antonio Taguba as saying that the unreleased interrogation photos show “torture, abuse, rape and every indecency” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs had this to say: “I want to speak generally about some reports I’ve witnessed over the past few years in the British media. And in some
Carol Sarler may be correct to argue, as she does in this week’s edition of the magazine, that we have an unhealthy fascination with sex crimes that is both prurient and puritanical. But I’d suggest that, whatever the merits of her wider argument, she doesn’t know very much about Ireland: In Ireland, some 2,000 adults
It is the very ordinariness of this case that makes it worth mentioning. From this week’s edition of our local paper, the Southern Reporter: Unhappy with conventional treatments, Jean Sherlow turned to cannabis in a bid to relieve her pain, Selkirk Sheriff Court heard on Tuesday. The 59-year-old decided to cultivate her own supply at
The Giro d’Italia isn’t the only cycling story around right now. Not by a long shot! Consider this: Close to 200 prisoners will cycle around France next month, watched by scores of guards on bicycles, in the first penal version of the Tour de France. The 196 prisoners will cycle in a pack and breakaway
Like any sensible person, I shall be supporting Barcelona this evening, even if that does also require one to endorse the insufferable Thierry Henry. Nonetheless, give me wee Lionel Messi over Christiano Ronaldo any and every day. Alas, I fear the worst and suspect that Manchester United will prevail and that they may do so
I suppose one ought not to be surprised that there remain some folk for whom the Cuban revolutionaries remain unblemished heroes. Equally, there is, alas, no great reason to be too astonished that the Guardian still publishes panegyrics saluting the brilliance and ineffable wisdom of Castro and Guevara. Nevertheless, Simon Reid-Henry’s* article today may take
Has anyone at the Republican National Committee actually watched Goldfinger? Apparently not. My friend Garance Franke-Ruta picked up on a web video posted on Youtube by the RNC which compared Nancy Pelosi with Pussy Galore. And this is supposed ot be an attack ad? Sheesh, when did being compared to Honor Blackman become a bad
I have no idea whether Sonia Sotomayor is qualified to sit on the United States Supreme Court. But, unlike Harriet Miers, she’s not obviously unqualified. Having been appointed to the bench by George HW Bush is no bad thing; having been recommended by Daniel Patrick Moynihan a considerable advantage. Presuming that no scandalous relevation from
Given the nature of his own work there was something delightfully, shall we say, mischievous about David Brooks’ review of Simon Schama’s (absurdly titled) The American Future: A History. The into was especially good: Some people collect stamps, and others butterflies, but I have a thing for Brilliant Books. The Brilliant Book is the sort
Nadine Dorries is at the end of her tether: Does the DT [Daily Telegraph] have an agenda other than the desire to perform a public service? Why would they expose this fiasco at the start of an election campaign if the priority was not to destabilise the main political parties and to drive votes towards
That’s the question Dan Drezner asks, riffing on this frankly dubious Toronto Star survey of North American cities. The Star bases its criteria upon winning percentage which is a rum, if typically North American, way of looking at these matters, and comes up with the rather surprising verdict that Indianapolis is the best sports city
It’s hard to be certain of these things but, like Peter Suderman, I rather think that (video after the jump) this is the best edition of Auto-Tuning the News yet. And it comes with a dollop of Ron Paul goodness too! Plus, Hamid Karzai, Hillary Clinton, Dick Cheney and Katie Couric. What more could you
This just in from the Lone Star State: Mayor quits job for gay illegal immigrant he loves Thank god he loves him. Me, I love Texas. Read the story too, if only for the great comparison to Wallis Simpson in the intro. [Hat-tip: Democracy in America]
Watch this one run and run. First up is Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings: “If we have transparency and accountability, than you can leave Gitmo just like it is,” he said. “The physical plant of Guantanamo is built to hold people. And therefore I argue and will pursue the administration to give a look at legislation
The theatre of yesterday’s speeches from Barack Obama and Dick Cheney was irresistible. And phoney. That is, this was a pretty strange “duel” given that the matter was decided long ago and not just as recently as last November’s election. Or, to put it another way, Dick Cheney might have given a largely and substantively
More on today’s Obama and Cheney speeches in due course, but first another bout: Dick Cheney vs David Petraeus. Cheney argued today that: If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field. And when they see the American government
Time’s Swampland blog pokes some fun at Britons getting “in a tizzy” over the apparent news that Obama is, like his predecessor, going to reward one of his fund-raisers by appointing Lou Susman to be the United States’ Ambassador to the Court of St James. Apparently, Susman shouldn’t worry. Once the Brits get over their