Coffee House The Spectator Blog
The MCB is back in with the government
This morning, Coffee House heard that the government’s policy of freezing out the Muslim Council of Britain was over and that Hazel Blears had met with representatives of the Muslim… Continue reading
6 CommentsBush’s literary gamble
Further to James’s post, Bush’s invocation of The Quiet American in his speech was either compellingly smart or astonishingly foolhardy: The argument that America’s presence in Indochina was dangerous had… Continue reading
1 CommentHow West Midlands Police undermines community cohesion
There is an important op-ed in today’s Times by Dean Godson on the latest developments in the Undercover Mosque saga, the sorry tale of the decision by West Midlands Police… Continue reading
1 CommentWhat Bush is up to
At first glance it seems bizarre that Bush invoked Vietnam in defence of his Iraq policy. After all, for years the Bush administration has argued that any parallel to Vietnam is… Continue reading
1 CommentWhere the Iraq debate now stands in the US
This brief Time magazine article is as good a summation as any of the current situation in Iraq and how the US feels about it. Essentially, the surge has made military… Continue reading
1 CommentCameron on crime
In his speech on youth crime today, David Cameron suggested that those who commit minor offences should have their driving licences delayed. This is a more sensible idea than marching… Continue reading
13 CommentsA Straw man of an argument
David Davis’s op-ed in the Telegraph today on immigration makes an absolutely crucial point about the Learco Chindamo case. As Davis writes, “On the Today programme yesterday, Jack Straw blamed… Continue reading
4 CommentsYour taxes paying for taxis
The Pandora column in today’s Independent report on just how much the Department of Health spent on transport last year, and the sums are quite staggering: £310,754 on taxis £463,723… Continue reading
4 CommentsFighting the bureaucratic enemy, not the real one
Perhaps, the most damning thing about the CIA Inspector General’s report into the Agency’s performance into the run up to 9/11 is that even after George Tent concluded that the… Continue reading
1 CommentWhat Sarko told Condi
Have we entered a post-American age in Europe? That’s the argument of this Adam Gopnik piece in the New Yorker. It argues that what Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and Nicolas… Continue reading
4 CommentsHold the front page: Boris Johnson more right-wing than Steve Norris
“Boris Johnson is by far the most right wing candidate ever to be presented by a major party for Mayor of London.” This is how the Compass dossier on Boris… Continue reading
5 CommentsUpdating Our Island Story
John Lloyd has a typically thoughtful op-ed in the FT today about how we should teach history in schools and how we can create a sense of nationhood that fits… Continue reading
7 CommentsThe trendiest political trends
Mark Penn is the pollster of choice for those politicians who still believe in the third way. He advised Tony Blair on how to win a third term in 2005,… Continue reading
2 CommentsLabelling Boris a bigot is pathetic
The Guardian reports today that Compass, the leftwing pressure group, has compiled a dossier accusing Boris of being “Norman Tebbit in a clown’s uniform”. Well, now: I admire Norman and… Continue reading
13 CommentsThe consequences of having a small army
The FT’s look at how the British deployment in Basra got to where it is today is well worth reading. As the FT notes, the reason the British force in… Continue reading
2 CommentsHow the Monarchy restored public affection for it
If you’re planning to listen to a Royal Recovery on Radio 4 this morning at nine, repeated this evening at half nine, about how the Royal family came back from… Continue reading
0 CommentsStripped down politics down under
Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd is hardly the first decent Christian family man visiting from out-of-town to find himself in a New York strip club. These things happen when… Continue reading
1 CommentRestoring the compact between the military and society
One of the things that has been strained to an intolerable extent since 9/11 is the compact between the British people, represented by their government, and the armed forces. We… Continue reading
7 CommentsWhose memoirs would you most like to read?
Michael White has a fun post up on which political memoirs really were worth the advances that their publishers paid for them. Which raises the question of which politician’s autobiography… Continue reading
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