Aux Armes, Citoyens
On the occasion of la fête nationale (not Bastille Day), here’s Yves Montand with his greatest hit: Prevert & Kosma’s wonderful Les Feuilles Mortes. Salutations to all French friends, readers and relatives today.
Alex Massie
Alex Massie is Scotland Editor of The Spectator.
Thursday
Wednesday
Cameron Cuts Himself Free
If memory serves, Gore Vidal liked to stress the point that he was always the bugger, never the buggered. Something similar might be said of Rupert Murdoch’s approach to his business dealings. The Dirty Digger – and bugger, for that matter – is not accustomed to failure. And yet, inside just seven days, he has
Tuesday
Blog-bashers and Other Curmudgeons
As an exercise in provoking bloggers Jonathan Rauch’s suggestion that the internet is, like, totally hopeless is splendid. So there’s that. But as a plausible critique? Not so much. For instance, Mr Rauch – with whom I am guest-blogging for Andrew Sullivan this week – writes: For people who want to read and think, which
Monday
Biography of A Nobody
Hats-off to Simon Heffer for his review of a new biography of Ed Miliband: A biography of Ed Miliband has to try hard not to be the sort of thing one buys as a present for someone one avidly dislikes. This effort, the first in what its authors seem (perhaps optimistically) to imagine may be
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know
There’s much thumb-sucking on the question of whether Rupert Murdoch is a “fit and proper person” to purchase the 61% of BSkyB he does not already own. I’ve defended Murdoch’s interest in the past (without, shockingly, ever being asked to write for any of his papers) and still see little reason why the deal should
Sunday
Sunday Morning Country: Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Sorry for the lack of posts here lately. That’s what a trip to London, an 11 hour journey home and a weekend of cricket will do. Anyway, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have a new album out and it is as good as you might expect. Here’s a bootlegged clip from a recent gig that
Tuesday
Rebekah Brooks: I Am Not A Witch, I’m You
An exclusive look at a strategy memo prepared for Rebekah Brooks this afternoon: Rebekah, The Boss has sent word: this phone situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage. He’s asked us to formulate a strategy for you. It’s balls-out time. This is a go large or don’t go at all moment. Sticking your fingers
Reagan Would Raise the Debt Ceiling
Nevertheless if you are the type of Republican who feels the need to ask What would Reagan do? then you should probably read David Brooks’ column today: If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars
Rebekah Brooks: Don’t Blame Me, I’m A Victim Too!
That, I think, is what we are supposed to take away from the ridiculous statement News International’s Chief Executive has issued today. Surely the editor of the News of the World asks the occasional question about the provenance of the stories she chooses to publish? Apparently not. This being so a reasonable person might just
Remembering Ronald Wilson Reagan
The beatification of Ronald Wilson Reagan by American conservatives is itself a grisly affair but at least he was their President. The tendency of some on the British right to elevate Reagan to saintly status is just embarrassing. This does not mean he was not a fine President – in many ways he was –
In Praise of Dan Hodges
It is important to praise Dan Hodges. He should be nurtured and honoured and bathed with tender affection by the right. Hug him close my friends, otherwise there’s a risk the left might start to listen to him. Since they would be wise to do so he should be cultivated by Tories so much the
Monday
A New Tabloid Low
Even by the debased standards of the tabloid press this Guardian account of how the News of the World intercepted and deleted messages left on Milly Dowler’s mobile phone days after the 13 year-old’s disappearance in 2002 must represent a new low. That’s assuming the Guardian story is accurate, of course, but there seems little
Saturday
Saturday Morning Country: Dwight Yoakam
Been a while since the standard-bearer of the modern Bakersfield sound was featured here. Time to make amends for that prolonged absence. So here’s the man himself with a fine rendition of his lovely, mournful song I Sang Dixie. Pure class.
Friday
The American Way of Justice
If the New York Times or the Washington Post had a proper measure of imagination one or other of them would have asked Radley Balko to write a criminal justice column for their op-ed pages. Their loss has been the Huffington Post’s gain. Before he moved to HuffPo Balko was a stalwart figure at Reason.
Miliband’s Viral Moment: Fame At Last!
Nice to see that American political bloggers, including Adam Sorensen and Kevin Drum, have picked up on Ed Miliband’s absurd robot-interview. I think this must be just about the first time he’s made any kind of impression beyond this sceptered isle. So he’s got that going for him. Meanwhile, Duncan Stephen wins the day with
Small Election in Inverclyde; Not Many Bothered
Sorry Pete, but I don’t think there’s anything hugely ambiguous about the result from the Inverclyde by-election. This was a pretty solid victory for Labour and another reminder – if these things are needed – that Westminster and Holyrood elections are played by different rules. Labour and the SNP ran neck-and-neck in the gibberish spin
Thursday
Photo of the Day | 30 June 2011
Meanwhile, disturbing evidence is found of an ancient Dalek hill-top settlement in southern Scotland…
The Cute Hoors of County Kerry
Speaking of yokels, the Healy-Rae dynasty – pictured right, and the pride of South Kerry don’t you know – deserve to be thanked for providing some comic relief in these dark Irish days. As retail sales fall for the 39th consecutive month it’s reassuring that gombeen politics and cute hoorism remain as dependable as ever.
All American Politics is Yokel?
You shouldn’t really go wrong asking Christopher Hitchens to write about Michelle Bachmann. Nevertheless this part of his most recent Slate column is, though reprising a familiar complaint, unusually unreflective: Where does it come from, this silly and feigned idea that it’s good to be able to claim a small-town background? It was once said
Wednesday
Tim Pawlenty: Generic Republican
Tim Pawlenty’s Presidential campaign may be stranger than any of his rivals’. For some candidates – Gingrich, Cain – running for the Republican nomination is an outlet for excess egomania. For others – Johnson, Paul – it’s an opportunity to raise issues and a style of conservatism that’s notably unfashionable. Others – Bachmann, Palin, Huntsman