Valhalla: Row H, Seat 9 It’s Wednesday, so it must be Rheingold. In an unlikely logistical triumph, I have managed to build my week around the second cycle of the Ring at the Royal Opera House — and quite something it is, too. As much as I might aspire to be George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Perfect
The magic of Pixar films – especially the Toy Story duet and The Incredibles – is that they appeal to adults as well as the children at whom they are primarily aimed. The latest creation of the CGI giant, Ratatouille, is arguably the best so far, and I certainly enjoyed it as much as my
Don’t miss the excellent Toby Harnden’s interview with Norman Podhoretz in today’s Daily Telegraph in which the US conservative guru – an adviser to, amongst many others Rudy Giuliani – calls unequivocally for military action against Iran. This bolsters the case made by James a few weeks back – that Iran is a problem that
BOOK Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek: The double biography is a genre that, in the hands of a master, can shed fresh light on the most familiar materials. Alan Bullock’s Hitler and Stalin is the example nonpareil and, more recently, Andrew Roberts has produced splendid volumes on (for example) Napoleon and
Around Westminster today plenty of normally hard-bitten folk have been saying to me how good Fraser was on Question Time. He’s far too modest to say it, so let me add my own congratulations, and here’s Tim at Conservative Home (who is a very nice guy but doesn’t dole out praise indiscriminately) doing the same.
Tony Blair has announced the name of the ghost writer for his forthcoming memoirs: Frank But-not-disloyal. Mr Blair and Frank go back a long way, and their laughter could often be heard echoing down the corridors of Number Ten from the Prime Ministerial den. I would imagine that Gordon Brown doesn’t find this announcement entirely
There is a long tradition of the pop intelligentsia getting involved with academe or publishing — Pete Townshend’s work as an editor for Faber being the obvious example, Jah Wobble’s labours over Blake’s poetry rather less so. Sir Paul McCartney was the driving force behind the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. The Spectator’s own Alex James
Four years ago I published a book set in the East End, about a troubled young woman who lives and works in the vibrant multiethnic community of Bethnal Green. It was fun to write, and reasonably well-reviewed. But just before publication I turned around and saw a magnificent tidal wave filling the literary horizon, and
Glutton for punishment that I am, I watched all of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee’s cross-examination of David Miliband on Tuesday (you can share my pain by going to the committee’s website). Most of the press coverage has focused on the angry exchanges between the Foreign Secretary and the MPs, and particularly his justified fury
I have just watched Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem President, tell his BBC interviewer that the downfall of Ming Campbell was the fault of “the press”. Even by Mr Hughes’s exacting standards, that is absolute nonsense. As Ming has faltered and cried out for support, the silence of his senior colleagues has been deafening. Truly,
Tony Blair, as I report in today’s Sunday Telegraph, is trying to rein in his supporters, keen that they not become to Gordon what the Eurosceptic ‘Bastards’ were to John Major. The former PM is right that his own reputation will suffer if a neo-Blairite rump is perceived to be sabotaging Brown. Such considerations, however,
Andy Burnham is a talented minister but his interview in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph represents yet another ignominious U-turn by this Government in response to Conservative pressure. For almost two years, Labour’s unshakeable response to David Cameron’s belief that marriage should be recognised in the tax system has been to say, scornfully, that policy should help
A few weeks ago I was reliably informed by an adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger that the Governator, as a consummate “image man”, had cancelled his trip to the Tory Party conference partly because there is nothing worse than being photographed with a loser. Well, Arnie seems suddenly to have overcome his reservations. Whatever made him
I think I am right that Al Gore and George Bernard Shaw are the only two people ever to have won both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar. Can Coffee Housers confirm this?
The most important line was George Osborne’s: “From this day on let there be no doubt who is winning the battle of ideas.” That’s right. Darling was chasing the Tories in this statement in a way Gordon Brown never did – or had to – when he was Chancellor, although there was a hint of
At the risk of infuriating Coffee Housers (and Polly), I rather like Polly Toynbee. She’s good company and we chatted happily before appearing on Marr on Sunday. It’s just that she’s wrong, and particularly wrong about tax. See her article in today’s Guardian, calling on Gordon to open up clear red water between himself and
Just left the Andrew Marr Show, where I was on the sofa discussing the day’s big story before the full broadcast of Andrew’s pre-recorded interview with Gordon, in which the PM called off the snap election. As I argue in today’s Sunday Telegraph, it is only a fortnight since Brown was on the very same
Bookended by the soothing techno of Moby and a (perhaps unintended) reference to Jimmy Cliff’s “You Can Get It If You Really Want It”, David Cameron today gave a speech that – if nothing else – stretched the boundaries of virtuosity in political performance. To speak with grace and confidence, for more than an hour, with
Peter Ridell makes an excellent point in The Times today. Three months ago, in a Green Paper Gordon proposed a new convention that the PM should be ‘required to seek the approval of the House of Commons before asking the monarch for a dissolution.’ So: if he goes for an election announcement next week, will
I am on a Today Programme panel this week playing a prediction game modelled on the famous Doomsday Clock. The idea is for Michael Portillo, Jackie Ashley, John Curtice, Peter Kilfoyle and myself to guess how close we are to midnight—if 11:45 is the furthest away we can be, and midnight is the calling of
