Coffee House The Spectator Blog
John Howard stumbles in Australian election debate
John Howard and Kevin Rudd went head-to-head tonight in the only leader’s debate of the Australian election. Most commentators are giving it to Rudd. His opening was upbeat, talking about… Continue reading
2 CommentsWhy we need to look again at our abortion laws
Anyone who thinks that our abortion laws–or to be more precise, how they are interpreted—don’t need looking at should read this article from The Sunday Times. Here’s how it starts:… Continue reading
5 CommentsBacks against the wall stuff
Does politics imitate rugby? I just heard Martin Corry on Sky saying how England pulled itself together midway through the tournament. Heading for defeat, the players brainstormed with the coach,… Continue reading
7 CommentsNeighbours
Hilarious insights from Anthony Seldon, a Blair biographer, in his new book which looks at the tumultuous final year of Blair’s tenure. Ed Balls referred to Blair as a "moron"… Continue reading
2 CommentsPay them and they will come
A perennial problem in politics is whether you pay miscreants to behave if the cost of treating them is higher. Why not pay drug addicts to go clean, given that… Continue reading
3 CommentsA moral nation?
Under the arresting headline “Wanted: a national culture”, The Times carries an extract from the Chief Rabbi’s new book. Here’s the key section of Jonathan Sack’s argument: “In 1961, suicide… Continue reading
11 CommentsOpera lives
Anyone tempted to think that opera might be a dying art only had to be at the Grand Theatre in Leeds on Tuesday night or the Royal Opera House, Covent… Continue reading
0 CommentsA brewing Clinton scandal
The gloves are coming off in the US presidential race. Today, Rudy Giuliani’s team labelled Mitt Romney a Hillary Clinton clone, which is like a Labour politician calling one of… Continue reading
6 CommentsAlan Coren RIP
Alan Coren, who has just died after a long illness, was one of the finest comic writers of the past 40 years. He was very, very funny. That’s rare. I’d… Continue reading
8 CommentsIt’s official: Elder children are smarter
Time magazine has a very fun story in this week’s issue about the importance of birth order. Apparently, elder children are smarter and earn more while younger ones are funnier… Continue reading
6 CommentsWhy can’t the people have their say?
On the Today programme this morning David Miliband contended that there was no need for the referendum that Labour promised in its 2005 manifesto as “the constitution is dead, last… Continue reading
7 CommentsThen there were nine
As the New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucuses grow ever closer, the 2008 nominating contests are heating up. Today, word came that Sam Brownback—a standard bearer for religious conservatives—is… Continue reading
2 CommentsCan John Howard pull it out?
John Howard has been trailing in the polls for months and time finally seemed to be up for the Australian PM. But under the headline ‘Lazarus Stirs’ the Sydney Morning… Continue reading
5 CommentsHow independent is The Independent?
With wearying predictability The Independent splashes today on “10 Myths about the EU Treaty” – and prints a rebuttal of those eurosceptic “myths” on page three. They looked curiously familiar… Continue reading
12 CommentsWe can’t go on like this
Last Friday, I was invited on the radio to have a go at Kelvin MacKenzie who attacked Scotland’s welfare dependency on Question Time. I had to drop the bombshell: I… Continue reading
32 CommentsThe Independent–surely shome mistake?
With wearying predictability The Independent splashes today on “10 Myths about the Reform Treaty” – and prints a rebuttal of those eurosceptic “myths” on page three. They looked curiously familiar… Continue reading
0 CommentsMore signs of progress in Iraq
Obviously, the vote in the Turkish Parliament yesterday authorising incursions into northern Iraq to combat Kurdish terrorists threatens to undercut much of the progress that has been made in Iraq… Continue reading
1 CommentThey haven’t gone away
David Ignatius’s column today on the dangers of a nuclear attack by al Qaeda is absolutely essential reading. Ignatius, who is neither a scaremonger nor a shrill but an experienced… Continue reading
2 CommentsAnd they’re off
Nick Clegg scores the endorsement of the most impressive Lib Dem in public life, Paddy Ashdown, this morning. Writing in The Guardian, Ashdown argues that Clegg is the man to… Continue reading
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