The Alistair Darling story just keeps on rolling. The latest comes courtesy of Benedict Brogan, who writes on his excellent blog that “relations between Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown remain remarkably good … Talk of rows and explosions since the Guardian hit the streets on Friday night are wide of the mark”. So might the limelight now
Expect more furious nail-chewing in Downing Street today, after the leak of a pessimistic memo from Jacqui Smith to Gordon Brown. The picture that the Home Secretary paints, of the effect the economic downturn will have on crime, is a bleak one. Here are some extracts: “[A downturn] would place significant upward pressure on acquisitive crime (theft, robbery and
There’s a comment piece by Gordon Brown in today’s Observer, and one by David Miliband in the Mail on Sunday. The subject of both? Russia and the Georgian crisis. Our Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary’s words on the matter are familiar by now – all about how Russian aggression is “unacceptable” and how they must recognise Georgian “territorial
Has Alistair Darling just earned himself the chop? In an interview with the Guardian this morning, he claims that the current economic downturn could be the worst we’ve faced for over 60 years, and that voters are “pissed off” with the Government. Frank admissions both. But – as they depart completely from Gordon Brown’s alleged belief that
On Americano James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson have been reporting from Denver, Colorado, on the Democratic National Conference. James thinks McCain has rolled the dice with his VP pick and the Democrat electoral challenge. Fraser thinks Obama is too triumphalist and Hilary Clinton is positioning for 2012 Peter Hoskin asks if Brown has bought more
It’s been a week since we asked CoffeeHousers to put forward their questions for Dominic Grieve. We’ve since picked out the best five, which have now been put to the shadow home secretary. He’ll get back to us at the start of next week. The CoffeeHousers whose questions were chosen can e-mail me on phoskin@ spectator.co.uk to claim their
Earlier this week, Russia formally recognised South Ossetia’s “independence”. And now, as the Telegraph reports: Znaur Gassiyev, the Speaker of South Ossetia’s parliament, said the enclave would formally join Russia “in several years” or possible earlier. This had been “firmly stated by both leaders” during their meeting in Moscow. Tarzan Kokoiti, the deputy Speaker, predicted:
Hardly a day goes by now without a new set of grim economic forecasts in the papers. But some stand out more than others, such as the prediction made by David Blanchflower today that 300,000 more people will be unemployed by Christmas – putting overall unemployment at over 2 million. If Blanchflower’s correct, it would be the most dramatic – and sorry
As I wrote a couple of days ago, Brown’s close involvement in the Glenrothes by-election is a high risk strategy – after all, he’ll be regarded as even more reponsible should Labour be defeated. But the strategy may just have bought him more time in his role. Recently, the story was that the leadership challenges would kick off
Here’s full footage of Barack Obama’s DNC speech last night. Do check out James and Fraser’s reviews of it here and here:
Does the latest YouGov poll for the Telegraph have the Tories 19 or 20 points ahead of Labour? The reported numbers have the Tories on 46 percent, Labour on 26 percent and the Lib Dems on 16 percent – so a 20 point lead for Cameron & Co. But, writing in the Telegraph, both Andrew
Ok, so Tesco’s announcement that they’re dropping plans to construct an eco-town at Hanley Grange, Cambridgeshire, was couched in diplomatic terms (“We think the proposal had very good prospects of succeeding under the government’s Eco Town initiative”, they said). But it’s hard not to regard their actions as a sign that confidence in eco-towns is
…Martin Luther King delivered his ‘I have a dream’ speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC. Here it is in full:
Do read John Retoul’s excellent article in the Independent today. In it, he picks up on how the leadership speculation surrounding Brown has slowly fizzled out over the past few weeks. Things are certainly quieter than those heady days in late July, when David Miliband was plastering his ambitions all over the comment pages of the Guardian. There
A couple of days ago, we asked CoffeeHousers whether the Tories should pledge to cut public spending. Many thanks to all those who voted. The results are now in… Yes, but they should wait until nearer a general election to make the pledge — 49.5 percent Yes, they should make the pledge over the next
One of the things about Cameron on Cameron is that it provides journos with a bank of quotes from the Tory leader, on more topics than you could care to think of. Accordingly, then, I flicked through it, looking for some words on Andrew Lansley, whilst writing my earlier post. There’s only one relevant entry in the index and it took me
In a speech to the think tank Reform earlier today, Andrew Lansley outlined a few potential measures to tackle obesity in the UK. You can find a good summary of those measures here, and we’ll have more about them on Coffee House later. In the meantime, a controversy is brewing over one of Lansley’s suggestions
Here’s footage of Hillary Clinton’s speech to the Democratic convention last night. Do check out James and Fraser’s reviews of it here and here.
The Daily Record reports that Gordon Brown is to take personal charge of the Labour campaign in the forthcoming Glenrothes by-election, presumably on the basis that he’s well acquainted with the area. It’s a high risk strategy. Of course, should Labour triumph he’ll be able to claim greater credit than would otherwise be the case, and his
The Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has a comment piece in today’s FT in which he defends his decision to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by drawing parallels with the West’s recognition of an independent Kosovo. But whatever the rights and wrongs on that front, it’s hard to read Russia’s defiance of the