BLOGS
Exclusive: Clement Attlee backs Michael Gove’s free schools
Great news for all progressives: a private school has been effectively been nationalised. Queen Elizabeth Grammar in Blackburn, founded in 1509, is to enter the state sector as one of… Continue reading
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Summer party season begins
Lord Bell opened the summer party season last night, with martinis on the back lawn of Lancaster House. It was a reception for the marriage of money and power. Norman… Continue reading
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The West wants chunks of Apple
Apple, the world’s friendliest technology company, stands accused of tax avoidance. The fashionable corners of Fleet Street, bless them, are appalled. Isn’t Apple supposed to be in the good business?… Continue reading
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Michael Sandel interview: the marketization of everything is undermining democracy
Michael Sandel is a political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for his ‘Justice’ course, which he has taught for over two decades. Sandel first… Continue reading
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Scottish independence: it’s still (almost) all about oil.
The Scottish government published a paper on the national economy today that, according to Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, makes the case for independence. You can read the pamphlet here… Continue reading
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Swivel-eyed loons are a feature of British democracy
I’d just like to point out, having been a journalist for many years and having met these people, and also having been a member of the Labour Party for more… Continue reading
32 Comments
Writers in a state of fear
A State of Fear, Joseph Clyde’s new thriller*, stands out for many reasons. Thrillers only work if they are thrilling, and Clyde’s description of the search for the terrorist who… Continue reading
28 Comments
Will Nigel Farage and UKIP help ditch Alex Salmond?
Yesterday’s Survation poll reported that UKIP (22%) are, for the moment, just two points behind the Tories (24%) and therefore and given the margin of error in these things possibly… Continue reading
129 Comments
Dangerous romance – Clever Girl by Tessa Hadley
‘The bus company’s yellow tin sign on its concrete post seemed for a long while a forlorn flag announcing nothing,’ notes Stella, the narrator of Tessa Hadley’s new novel Clever… Continue reading
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A point of order, Your Royal Highness
The Duke of Cambridge joined forces with Prince Harry this morning to open Tedworth House Recovery Centre, the military hospital run by Help for Heroes. All power to the duke’s… Continue reading
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UKIP, Pierre Poujade and a political class that’s seen to be “out-of-touch”.
Parliament is a “brothel”. The state is an enterprise of “thieves” engaged in a conspiracy against “the good little people” and the “humble housewife”. Time, then, for a party that… Continue reading
30 Comments
Edmund Burke – a writer one should always read
I thought readers might be interested in this piece in the current print edition of the magazine. It is my review of a very interesting new book on Edmund Burke,… Continue reading
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Tan Twan Eng interview: ‘I have no alternative but to write in English’
Tan Twan Eng’s first novel was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, his second was shortlisted and then won the Man Asian Literary Prize. To say that his work over… Continue reading
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Eurovision was as hilarious as ever
Only in The Guardian could Britain’s humorous disdain for the Eurovision Song Contest be linked to the rise of UKIP and the decline of the British Empire: ‘I think Eurovision-bashing… Continue reading
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The swivel-eyed loons in the Conservative party are revolting. And they are right to revolt.
Clearly it is not a good idea for the Prime Minister’s chums to call members of the Conservative party “swivel-eyed loons“. No, not even at a “private dinner party”. I… Continue reading
26 Comments
Some anti-fascists are very fascistic
Nigel Farage has just met one of the most fascinating aspects of modern politics. He was surrounded in Edinburgh by left-wing ‘anti-fascists’ shouting ‘Racist scum. Go back to England’. The… Continue reading
230 Comments
God, guns and America
While training as a playwright, I was taught that any gun brought onstage must go off. Anton Chekhov said, ‘One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no… Continue reading
3 Comments Nigel Farage Comes to the Brave New Scotland
I am not quite sure I understand why Nigel Farage opted to launch UKIP’s Aberdeen by-election campaign in Edinburgh. Then again, UKIP are a puzzling party. In any event, it… Continue reading
239 Comments
Nate Silver interview: ‘Politics is uniquely full of bullshit’
Nate Silver doesn’t suffer fools gladly — especially fools who pass themselves off as experts. In the second chapter of his book, The Signal and the Noise: The Art and… Continue reading
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Blue Label for the blue lady
Sir David Tang and friends packed out the Dorchester Hotel last night to taste Johnnie Walker Blue Label. I last tasted Blue Label in an airport departure lounge, where the… Continue reading
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