Alex Massie is Scotland Editor of The Spectator.
St Patrick’s Day is often pretty grim, not least on account of the American habit of suggesting the poor old boy is actually the patron saint of uncooked hamburgers. It is St Patrick’s Day or Paddy’s Day and “Patty’s Day” is an abomination. True, the pubs tend to be stuffed with insufferable amateurs today but
You will notice that the little girl pictured here is a) in a park and b) skipping merrily through the daffodils. Being a well-brought-up type she is not c) pulling up daffodils just for fun. She is not, that is to say, one of Jane Errington’s children. Miss Errington, a resident of Poole, is most
To be fair to Gary Gibbon, he’s not the only member of the lobby to have lost the plot when it comes to David Cameron, Libya and Washington. Ben Brogan has a sadly-fatuous piece today asking “Does Anyone in Washington Listen to David Cameron?” He writes: Robert Gates was far from flattering when he dismissed
With all the attention on Libya and the rest of the middle east at present, it’s easy to forget (again) about Afghanistan. so I think Ben Smith is right to argue that Haley Barbour’s call to bring American troops home from the Hindu Kush is interesting and, possibly, telling. Barbour, the Boss Hogg governor of
Amidst tough competition it is possible that Channel 4’s Gary Gibbon has written the stupidest thing yet about the Libyan civil war: Wherever this ends, those close to David Cameron will be hoping that he has done enough to avoid the blame if there is more carnage in Libya. I think even demented Guardianistas might
If we were not permitted to report parliamentary proceedings we would not be able to observe that, protected by parliamentary privilege, the Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming revealed the existence of a superinjunction taken out by Goodwin to prevent reporting on, well, who knows what? But for Mr Hemming’s actions, revealling the existence of this
A stunt on Spanish TV goes horribly wrong and ends in tragedy as the innocent party here bites off more than it can chew and perishes in short order. The snake makes the mistake of feasting upon one of Israeli model Orit Fox’s improbable breasts only to discover that where once lurked flesh there’s now
It took place, as James Kirkup reminds us, on this day in 1757. As James puts it: To this day, his family argue – with considerable justification — that he was wrongly treated and should be pardoned. Every year on the anniversary of his death, bells sound in Southill, Bedfordshire, where his descendents still live.
Plenty of folk have posted this video of the Japanese tsunami but if you haven’t seen it yet then check it out. It’s not gruesome but it is extraordinary and, to use the word properly for once, awesome. Make sure you watch right to the end. UPDATE: Ooops. Should be the right link now.
Obvious John Rentoul bait as this may be, the answer is still a definite No. Actually that’s not quite fair. Nick Clegg and at least some of his parliamentary colleagues are serious; much of the party membership and, above all, the people who often vote Lib Dem are not. That’s one thing to take from
I don’t know what we – that is Britain/NATO/the West/Whoever – should do about Libya. But while I think Brothers Korski and Nelson make many valid points I’m not sure that the case for any kind of military action has yet been made persuasively. That doesn’t mean one must be happy to see Gaddafi blitzing
Of course PJ Crowley, the State Department spokesman, had to go for his gaffe. That’s what happens when you tell an obvious truth in circumstances that embarrass and even shame your bosses: P.J. Crowley abruptly resigned Sunday as State Department spokesman over controversial comments he made about the Bradley Manning case. Sources close to the
She’s the broad of all broads and still terrific. If you doubt that then you probably lack heart and soul. Here is Patsy:
Spot the mistake the New York Times makes here. Unfortunate but amusing. This produced, as it would, a fine correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the new Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny as a female. Enda Kenny is a male. As I suspected this was New York’s fault, not Sarah Lyall’s
I think it perfectly reasonable for the state to deny prisoners the right to vote and that losing the franchise is one of the consequences of incarceration. But as far as I know no-one in this country has suggested denying ex-prisoners their voting rights. They do things differently in the United States. Over to Roger
As you all know, one may be a designer of ladies’ underwear or a great dictator. But not both. Similarly, one may have passed a healthcare reform that’s a mini-version of Obamacare or one may become the Republican party’s next presidential nominee. But not both. That, at least, is held to be Mitt Romney’s awful
Who benefits from school choice? Conventional wisdom claims it’s the sharp-elbowed, well-heeled middle-classes that do the best. That’s the same CW that thinks the Big Society is all very well and good for Hampstead but it can never work in Hackney. This has never seemed especially persuasive to me, not least because these ideas are
Lefties like to think the Laffer Curve never applies; righties are too fond of thinking it must apply to any tax in almost any circumstances. Both views are mistaken. Cutting tax does not always increase revenue, but sometimes it can. As this excellent piece by Donna Edmunds observes, at least 80% of the £6.63 it
Newt Gingrich’s campaign to secure the Republican party’s 2012 nomination doesn’t deserve to be taken as seriusly as plenty of serious people seem to be taking it. No-one thinks Newt can win but he receives vastly more coverage than other (and sane!) no-hopers such as Gary Johnson. Perhaps that’s explained by the fact that Newt
If only Britain had something comparable to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution then we’d enjoy greater freedoms than is currently the case. Three cheers, then, to Bagehot for defending liberalism and liberty from the predations of the law and, naturally, the Sun newspaper. The case? An easy one that might have been