The AV referendum: it’s enough to make you long for the life to come. As James notes, this Easter Sunday has been shaken by the Lib Dems’ righteous fury over the conduct of the campaign. Many will think this anger synthetic, but its virulence is striking nonetheless. Gone, it seems, is the bonhomie of earlier
The scent of jasmine has just grown a little stronger in Arabia. The Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has agreed to stand down within 30 days, the Wall Street Journal reports. Saleh and his family will receive immunity in exchange for his momentous gesture. Saleh has been under growing pressure in recent months, as his
A row over internships has upset this unfeasibly perfect spring day. The Prime Minister has given an interview to the Telegraph in which he contradicts Nick Clegg’s view that internships should be open to more than “the Old Boys”. He says: “I’ve got my neighbour coming in for an internship. In the modern world, of course
Here’s a thing. What’s happened to Andy Burnham? The affable scouser’s leadership manifesto had an appealing tone: the red background enlivened by a blue streak on law and order, aspiration and tax reform. But Burnham lost the race and since then he has been matching Ed Balls for bellicosity, opposing each of Michael Gove’s education
The news that the European Union has decreed that its Budget be increased by 4.9 percent in 2012 ties a knot in the stomach, as I ponder an Easter weekend spent in Margate rather than Majorca due to austerity. As Tim Montgomerie notes, the government is taking this opportunity to assert its euroscepticism. Stern communiqués
Usually, I mistrust hype. But if you get the chance over this Bank Holiday Weekend and the next, grab a copy of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From The Goon Squad, which has just won the Pullitzer and would doubtless sweep the Grammies if it was eligible. I have just started it and it was immediately
Today, the Spectator has published an Easter Weekend and Royal Wedding double issue. It’s full of goodies from the finest writers. Subscribers can read it here or you can open a subscription from £1 an issue; or you can buy it off the shelf of any discerning newsagent for £3.95. Meanwhile, here is a brief
At last, Beryl Bainbridge has won the Booker Prize. What a pity it is won posthumously, because she deserved recognition in her lifetime. The Booker Prize, either out of sentimentality, self-promotion or a combination of the two, urged readers to pick the Best of Beryl to mark an influential author who had been overlooked by
There’s a fantastic post by Nicholas Timmins at the FT’s Westminster blog. Using the example of Enfield Council, which has just blocked moves to close failing wards in a local hospital, Timmins argues that councils commissioning healthcare is a recipe for disaster: ‘The reason council commissioning of care is a not a good idea is
William Hague let the cat out of the bag on Sky News earlier, arguing that military advisors sent to aid the rebels in Libya did not constitute ‘British boots on the ground’. He said: “This is an expansion of the diplomatic presence we have in Benghazi…It’s not boots on the ground. I stress it’s not
Tuition fees are lowering in the distance, threatening the stability of the coalition. A straw poll by the BBC suggests that a majority (two-thirds) of institutions are planning to charge the full whack of £9,000 a year. It’s unclear which universities the BBC contacted, but the results follow a developing trend. 39 universities have stated
Is Andrew Lansley hearing rather than listening? Dame Barbara Hakin, one of the Department of Health’s national managing directors, has written a letter to some GPs that suggests the pace of health reform will not be affected by the ‘legislative pause’. Hakin writes: ‘Everyone within the Department of Health is very aware of the support
An ICM/Guardian poll suggests that 58 percent of those likely to vote will back the No campaign. The Guardian reports: ‘Three-quarters of Conservatives are planning to vote will vote against, as will a small majority of Labour supporters. Only Lib Dem voters are firmly in favour, with more than two-thirds saying they will vote for
A mute, almost disbelieving response (except on the Markets) has met Standard & Poor’s announcement that the US government’s fiscal profile may become ‘measurably weaker’. The credit rating agency has put a ‘negative outlook’ on the US’s AAA rating; the accompanying report said: “We believe there is a material risk that U.S. policy makers
Here is David Cameron at this morning’s event, arguing that FPTP produces decisive results, even in the event of a hung parliament. He argues that Gordon Brown’s denuded Labour Party could have remained in office after the last election had AV had been used. Perhaps, but I’d point out that Brown could easily have remained
It must be Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau season at the Commons’ film club. A string of odd political couples has stalked stages across the land this morning, supposedly pronouncing the merits or demerits of the alternative vote. David Cameron and John Reid were the oddest: the Prime Minister’s well-heeled insouciance contrasting with his lordship’s
The Desert News, Utah, reports on the discovery of a 600 year old travel book, The Nuremburg Chronicle: ‘Rare-book dealer Ken Sanders has seen more than his share of old books. But he’s never seen one in Utah quite like ancient tome that made his jaw drop last weekend. “It’s a real thrill and a
Eric Pickles has been fighting councils who publish newspapers to celebrate their exploits. The government has used a combination of political pressure and legislation to curtail these ‘Pravdas’. Most offending councils have maintained their resistance, but Lambeth has relented. Its freesheet, Lambeth Life, cost £500,000 to produce last year. The Spectator submitted freedom of information
As James Kirkup says, David Cameron’s appearance on Sky News this morning was intriguing. In addition to trying to reassure the massing media doubters that the coalition “remains strong” despite its differences, the PM was keen to discuss the military mission in Libya. The letter that he authored with Sarkozy and Obama on Friday asserted
For weeks now, the genteel coalition has been getting grubbier. Today the Deputy Prime Minister cut loose and went into campaign mode as the leader of the Liberal Democrats. With both eyes on preserving his party’s loosening roots in local government, he assaulted (£) Conservative and Labour councils for cutting services. Clegg was not assisted
