Sunday Morning Country: Merle Haggard
Townes van Zandt and Johnny Cash are dead but, man, I wanna see the Hagg play live before either of us dies. In the meantime the one fever it’s ok to have is that ol’ Ramblin’ Fever…
Alex Massie
Alex Massie is Scotland Editor of The Spectator.
Sunday
Salmond Derangement Syndrome
The main sufferers of this admittedly rare condition are London-based Scots. Fraser, I’m afraid, seems to have come down with a case of SDS if this post is anything to go by. The murder of Linda Norgrove is a ghastly, horrid business that might, one would think, be considered sufficiently awful to be above or
Friday
Don’t Over-Estimate Ed Miliband
In the grand scheme of things there are few less important things than the Shadow Cabinet. Nevertheless it’s the only toy in town today and so must be chewed until something fresh and shinier comes along. Poor Ed Miliband, however, was in a lose-lose situation. Appoint Ed Balls to the Treasury brief and risk looking
Thursday
The Death of Rasputin, Daily Mail Style
I’m reading Keith Jeffrey’s history of the Secret Intelligence Service at the moment. There’s plenty of good stuff in it. Including Our Man in Moscow’s account of the death of Rasputin which, Samuel Hoare explained, was “a question…so sensational that one cannot describe it as one would if it were an ordinary episode of the
Jim Murphy for Shadow Chancellor?
Good stuff from Iain Martin: [Ed Miliband will] have to deal with Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper. Balls is an impressively robust “big beast” who wants to be shadow Chancellor, but Ed Miliband may not fancy sub-contracting his economic policy to someone so tricky to control. Subverting Lyndon Johnson’s famous rule, keeping Ed Balls inside
Wednesday
Cameron Challenges Britain: Is Britain Up To It?
There were moments, I confess, when David Cameron’s speech to the Conservative party conference this afternoon was oddly, disconcertingly reminiscent of George W Bush’s second inauguration speech. Each address was soaring, passionate and heroically optimistic. Bush foresaw a world transformed; at least Cameron’s ambitions are limited to remaking this sceptered isle. If Bush serves as
Obama-Clinton 2012?
Ah! Ticket speculation, how we’ve missed you! Or not, as the case may be. According to Bob Woodward Hillary Clinton could be drafted in to replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket in 2012. (Biden would be moved to Secretary of State, apparently). The Stenographic Sage muses that “It’s on the table”. I’m going to
Were the Conservative Reformers Wrong? (American Edition)
Did the (American) conservative reformers get everything wrong? That’s the question Dave Weigel asks in a pleasingly mischievous Slate piece. You remember: all those books written by chaps such as David Frum, Ross Douthat, Reihan Salam etc warning that the GOP must change or face years in the wilderness. How do you explain the looming
Tuesday
Aunt Annabel Gets AV Right
David, while one should never discount incompetence as the guiding force behind anything the Scottish Conservative & Unionist party proposes in this instance I fancy indifference – rather than self-interest or incompetence – is behind Aunt Annabel’s apparent admission that the party won’t take a view on the Alternative Vote. At present elections in Scotland
I Am Not A Witch
This week’s top campaign ad comes from Christine O’Donnell, GOP Senatorial candidate in Delaware: I don’t think she’s a witch either! But doesn’t this remind you of Nixon’s “I am not a crook”? Perhaps not. Anyway Fred Davis, who made the ad, explains the concept here. UPDATE: See Toby Harnden for more. I agree with
The Big Society vs The Small State
Rachel Sylvester’s Times column (£) today concentrates on the philosophical divide at the heart of the government: [E]ven as ministers go to the wire in their negotiations over the “what” of the Comprehensive Spending Review that will be published in two weeks’ time, the Conservatives in the Cabinet are divided on the crucial issue of
The Daily Mail and F Scott Fitzgerald
Top spot by Amol Rajan: Daily Mail, p5: “Being slim ‘makes a woman happier than any man could’”. Daily Mail, p11: “Having a big bottom and thighs could shape up to a longer life, claim researchers”. As Amol says, living long and being happy ain’t necessarily the same. But what this means, I think, is
The Child Benefit Rumpus Cont.
The case against George Osborne’s plan to eliminate Child Benefit for higher-rate taxpayers runs roughly like this: We work hard, we’re successful – in fact we pay most of the income tax collected in this country – and we produce the children who will help pay for everyone’s pensions and now we’re the ones targetted
Monday
Andy Coulson Will (Probably, Maybe) Be In Court Soon
There’s lots of good stuff in Peter Oborne’s* Dispatches programme on the News of the World phone-hacking story even if, in the end and like many TV documentaries it over-reaches and tries too hard to build too large a conspiracy when simply laying out the established facts would seem enough. Nevertheless, it certainly deserves your
14.5 vs 13.5
A great effort from the Americans today but when it came to the final match you knew Europe could rely upon that tough little Ulsterman, Graeme McDowell. Not a chance he was going to let Hunter Mahan get a grip on their match. Great drama, mind you and pleasing too that every member of the
Osborne vs Upper-Class* Subsidy Junkies
Fraser is quite right: it is absurd that higher-rate tax-payers are paid child benefit. Ben Brogan is also right to note – though of course he uses some pretty extreme examples – that some people will lose from this measure. But this is not the case of the “squeezed middle”, it’s removing an upper-class benefit.
Sunday
Shocking Tory Development in Scotland
Blimey. Here’s a turn-up for the books: in a bid to avoid being thought Europe’s Most Useless Political Party the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party has done something sensible. They have decided that running an election campaign with the unofficial slogan Vote for Us, We’re Only Interested in Opposition is a dumb idea. Hence, as
Saturday
Saturday Morning Country: Iris DeMent
My word, that Ozark twang is something magnificent...Sweet is the Melody indeed. I’m inclined to think Iris could be Emmylou’s successor. If, that is, she wants or wanted to be. I hope she does.
It Can Be Brave to be Gay
The bravest person in my school days was the only chap who, aged 16, told the rest of our boys-only (at that time) school that he was gay. It took some guts to be the only openly-gay boy at a rural boarding-school at which being called faggot was akin to being handed the black spot.
Friday
Global Warming Fail
Long-time and recent readers alike will have noticed that I almost never write about climate-change or global warming or whatever you want to call it. That’s because I think it an unusually tedious subject about which I lack both the ability and the interest to either care or make an informed judgement. Like many people,