If a party can be judged by its parties, then the Conservatives are heading for office. Last night’s Black and White party, masterminded by the brilliant Anya Hindmarch, was a triumph. Michael Spencer, the Tory treasurer, looked understandably pleased with the money flowing into the party’s coffers (all legit: the auction programme included stern extracts
There is an important interview with Martin Amis by Johann Hari in today’s Independent. Read it and make your own mind up: it is a serious piece, and Johann has the intellectual firepower to take on the great novelist. They spar over demographic change, the proper limits of state retaliation to terrorist atrocity and the
Black Wednesday exercises such a grip over our imagination that we sometimes forget that governments collapse because of the slow erosion that precedes the big storms. It is the drip-drip, not the tsunami, that does for them. In John Major’s case, it was the daily farce of Back to Basics and the never-ending saga of
The always-incisive Martin Kettle has a fascinating piece in today’s Guardian, in which he assesses Peter Hain’s exit not as a “sleaze” story or a test of Gordon’s moral fibre, but as a generational punctuation mark. Hain, Martin writes, is the last of the Sixties era politicians in the Cabinet – apart from the rather
THEATRE I can strongly recommend God of Carnage, the new play by Yasmina Reza, which tracks the descent into madness of a meeting between two couples to discuss an altercation between their respective sons. All starts with impeccable manners, stilted conversation and discussion of recipes. And then, in a sort of Moulinex blend of Abigail’s
I have three books on the go at the moment: Charles Leadbeater’s brilliant analysis of web-world, We-Think, The Craftsman, by the Spectator’s own in-house magus, Richard Sennett (another masterpiece), and Marcus Du Sautoy’s intriguing exploration of symmetry, Finding Moonshine. I have known Marcus since we are at All Souls together and as well as being
Matthew d’Ancona on Paul Morley’s latest book In 1980, the Manchester pop impresario, Tony Wilson, showed Paul Morley the dead body of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, who had hanged himself. Wilson hoped that Morley would one day write the definitive account of the band and Curtis’s martyrdom. He also knew that Morley’s
At the risk of trivialising a tragic death, I have been musing over Heath Ledger’s now-posthumous performance as the Joker (see my earlier post as well as this article detailing the potential fate of Ledger’s incomplete film projects) and the impact that death can have upon the reception of art, literature and entertainment. Here is my thumbnail
As this is the last week of my thirties, I feel entitled to indulge in a spot of pop culture nostalgia (or more than usual, at any rate). In tomorrow’s Spectator, I review Paul Morley’s masterly book on Joy Division, which I recommend to anyone who is interested in the music, ideas and social currents
“Why so serious?” say the teaser posters for the forthcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight. This slogan acquired a bleak subtext last night when 28-year-old Heath Ledger – who plays the Joker in the new film – was found dead in his New York apartment, apparently as the result of a drug overdose (the autopsy is
A must-read this morning is Anatole Kaletsky’s damning assessment of the yesterday’s developments in the Northern Rock saga. Kaletsky is one of the most respected economic commentators in the world and – as a former colleague – I know that he does not make such sweeping statements lightly. He was, moreover, well disposed to Gordon
Excellent news for the Spectator’s mayoral candidate in today’s Standard. A YouGovStone poll of 533 influential Londoners shows Boris well ahead of Ken on voting intention (44 to Livingstone’s 38), and with a narrower lead as the candidate who “will do most to enhance London’s reputation”. Boris trails Ken on the issue of trustworthiness in
I took Peter’s advice and went to see No Country for Old Men over the weekend. This is indeed the Coen brothers at their absolute best (which is saying something), as well as a welcome return to the bleak terrain of Blood Simple, the film that made their name in 1984. The core of the
Is there anything more depressing in an age of prosperity, choice and freedom than the spectacle of an old fashioned public sector rationing system doing its bleak work? The criticisms levelled by Jim Knight, the schools minister, at the best schools over the implementation of the statutory admissions code are a horrible revival of the
Mulling over the organ donations row, and the fascinating posts by Coffee Housers, I went back to the last time the Commons debated the issue properly – which was on an amendment to the Human Tissue Bill in June 2004 calling for “presumed consent”. I recommend the debate to anyone interested in the forthcoming controversy
Anyone who is interested in the wonderful world of Web 2.0 or simply likes great writing – or both – should read Rory Sutherland’s new technology column starting in tomorrow’s Spectator. As well as being Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy Group UK, and generally regarded as the best writer in his highly competitive business, Rory is a
There are interesting pieces on the organ donation row by Libby Purves and Polly Toynbee today. Polly seethes that “rightwing commentators are sharpening their pencils for what they see as an excellent ideological dividing line…here we have an important battle of ideas – and the Conservatives have just instinctively plonked themselves on the wrong side.”
Peter Hain is toast. Gordon Brown’s defence of him in The Sun today is not so much luke warm as broken-boiler Arctic. On Friday, the PM’s spokesman said that Gordon had “full confidence” in the Work and Pensions Secretary – always a bad sign. This has now been down-graded even further to a statement of
I find Gordon Brown’s notion of ‘presumed consent’ for organ transplants, unveiled in the Sunday Telegraph, morally repugnant. It goes without saying that those who choose to give their organs after their death, and carry Donor Card to ensure this happens, are behaving commendably. They take a clear, proactive, individual decision about the fate of
I spent the morning at the LSE, listening to Nick Clegg’s first big speech at Lib Dem leader and then participating in a panel on the issues he had raised. After a scrappy campaign, this was Clegg back to his formidable best. All comparisons with Blair’s Clause Four moment are flawed in one way or
