So Gordon Brown, having brought forward his trip to Iraq, says that more than 1,000 troops will be home by Christmas. Is this the same Gordon Brown who said at Camp David that no announcement on troop drawdown would be made until he delivered his Commons statement, set for next week? What encouraged the PM
Politicians like to talk about ‘non-electoral milestones’—the big symbols, endorsements and Clause 4 moments that pave the way for a party’s return to power. But what about the much smaller signs—let’s call them ‘micro-runes’ –that might or might not reflect political recovery? Here are three: 1. The Sun is depicting David Cameron this week as
Fans of Larry David’s deeply wonderful US comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm will be familiar with the social angst of the “Stop-and-Chat”. This is Larry’s description of the social obligation to stop walking where you’re going and to talk to anyone you happen to bump into whom you know. Larry hates the duty to “Stop-and-Chat”.
The psychology of this conference is like no other I’ve experienced. Having mastered walking, the Cameron Conservative Party believed it had a couple of years in which to get on top of this running business. No such luck. Gordon Brown’s very public toying with a snap election has compelled the party to unveil a larger
There are certain gentleman’s conventions that govern British politics. One is that party leaders do not trash each other while overseas. Another is that, while one of the main parties is holding its annual conference, the other more or less keeps quiet: why, after all, waste a good policy proposal when the political press pack
Where the Conservative Party goes, the spirit of enterprise follows. Resourcefully, the local cinema in Blackpool is showing a mini-season of Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbusters to compensate for the Governator’s physical absence from this week’s conference. Which means that delegates who can’t face Dave’s big speech on Wednesday can enjoy Terminator 3 instead. One will be
Amid all the polls, hoopla and election prognostications as the Tories gather in Blackpool, don’t miss this interview in today’s Sindy with Sayeeda Warsi, the shadow minister for social cohesion. She speaks about the incapacity of modern Government to cope with modern population mobility, a subject I also address in today’s Sunday Telegraph. Much more
The longing for the girl snapped in Morocco to be Madeleine McCann rippled round the world. This story has taken so many twists and turns, many of them savage, but it has always been underpinned by a hope, however remote, that the child may still be alive. So it is heart-breaking to learn that the
It was the Spec wot won it….well, not quite. But I like to think that our ferocious, implacable support for Boris played a small part in persuading London voters to choose him as their Tory mayoral candidate by an overwhelming margin (75 per cent of the 20,019 votes). Then again, what else were they going
The news that Ed Balls is to scrap the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and replace it with an independent body prompts two thoughts. First, Mr Balls is showing real promise as the man in charge of the nation’s schools, and will be kept on his toes by his splendid Tory Shadow, Michael Gove. This is
An interview with Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s chief strategist If Hillary Clinton is sworn in as 44th President of the United States in January 2009, the man sitting opposite me in the bar of the Dorchester will become one of the most powerful people in the world. Mark Penn, pollster extraordinaire, adviser to Tony Blair
The breaking news is that the BBC Blue Peter cat-naming scandal was even murkier than it first appeared. As the Beeb fessed up today, the true result of a viewer competition to choose the name of the cat – ‘Cookie’ was the people’s choice – was over-ridden by heartless Corporation executives who imposed the name
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But not with Sir Elton John, who last week brought the Red Piano Show that has thrilled audiences at Caesar’s Palace for two years to London’s O2 Centre. While not yet etched in legend quite as deeply as Sinatra’s residency at the Sands, or Elvis’s performances at the
The Spectator’s new partnership with the debating forum Civilised debate is the essence of The Spectator: it is what animated ‘the little Committee of Politicks’ that Joseph Addison encountered in the St James’s Coffee-house and described in the magazine in March 1711. Three centuries on, it is the desire for a cheerful rhetorical punch-up, in
As a Northern Rock mortgage holder, I naturally went to the bank’s website when I heard the news about the Bank of England’s extraordinary intervention, providing emergency funding for the troubled lender. There, I was sure, I would find a reassuring Q&A for customers, explaining – or trying to explain – why there was nothing
Take a look at the Guardian’s report this morning on a new study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies on the current strength of al Qaeda. So much energy has been expended on denying the very existence of a war on terror and, in recent days, on attacking Petraeus – all you need to
Imagine actually meeting Thomas Edison, or the Wright Brothers, or Newton, or Archimedes, or whichever Sumerian it was who invented the wheel in the fifth millennium bc. That, when you think about it, is what it’s like to have a conversation with Vint Cerf. Few people in the history of humanity can say with confidence
I have a piece in today’s Independent on the downfall of Amy Winehouse, an extended version of my post earlier this week. Which just goes to show that where Coffee House leads, the press follows.
Tomorrow’s editorial in The Spectator praises David Cameron for taking on board one of the many lessons to be learned from the his old boss at the Home Office, Michael Howard: prison works. One of the other conclusions that Mr Howard reached during his remarkable spell as Home Secretary – during which crime fell by
If you didn’t hear it, don’t miss John Humphrys interviewing Jeremy Paxman on this morning’s Today programme (you can hear it online). Paxman has issued a resounding critique of British broadcasting generally and the BBC specifically which will – given the power of his brand – probably have more impact than any attack on the Corporation