Coffee House The Spectator Blog
A healthy crunch
It seems the silly season is extending to financial markets. I have yet to hear a convincing explanation about how the credit crunch is supposed to be such a disaster… Continue reading
2 CommentsHow long can Brown have it both ways on relations with the US?
Gerard Baker has a great column in The Times this morning about how Gordon Brown is trying to play it both ways on relations with America. Baker dubs it the… Continue reading
1 CommentThe security charade
Going to Calais from Dover this morning on the Eurotunnel was a master class in the ineptitude and pointlessness of security. As my car approached Passport Control I handed over… Continue reading
3 CommentsWhat Bush almost said about Iraq
George W. Bush’s speech in May 2003 declaring major combat operations in Iraq over while a banner behind him proclaimed “mission accomplished” was, with the benefit of hindsight, unfortunate at… Continue reading
4 CommentsAre diversity and solidarity compatible?
Robert Putnam’s new work on diversity is sure to set the cat amongst the pigeons. The Boston Globe summarises the findings of The Bowling Alone author thus: “the greater the… Continue reading
3 CommentsLook who’s coming to dinner
The Bush clan will be gathering in their New England retreat this weekend and they will be joined, as Irwin Stelzer hinted they would be, by Nicolas Sarkozy, who is… Continue reading
1 CommentThe Iranians in Iraq
Do watch the opening segment from yesterday’s edition of Newsnight on what the Iranians are up to in southern Iraq. It gives you a very good idea of what the… Continue reading
1 CommentHold The Jaws Remake
It is safe to go back in the water in Cornwall. It turns out that the the great white shark that was supposedly seen off Newquay was actually photographed in… Continue reading
3 CommentsObama hits Hillary over Iraq
The contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is entering a decisive phase. The first primary is now only five months away and Hillary retains a commanding national lead, even… Continue reading
0 CommentsThe 2008 version of the Olympic Spirit
A small, but telling, example of the nature of the regime that will be hosting the 2008 Olympics comes in James Fallows’s latest missive from China. “CNN International began its… Continue reading
1 CommentWhen discrimination is good
Thank God for the Act of Settlement (1701). It keeps us focused. In the past week newspapers have been focusing on poor Peter Phillips, tenth in line to the throne,… Continue reading
13 CommentsWhat’s wrong with the right
Over at Conservative Home, Peter Franklin has written a hard-hitting piece setting out some ‘home truths for the right.’ He accuses various bits of it of being self-indulgent, hypocritical and living… Continue reading
7 CommentsHow emotional should politicians get?
Drew Westen, the super smart American political scientist who wrote for The Spectator a few weeks back, has extracts of his new book on why leaders need to connect on… Continue reading
1 CommentWhat is Mark Malloch Brown up to?
Further to James’s post, when the prospect of a Darfur deal at the UN was raised on the PM’s plane to Washington nine days ago, I asked British officials this… Continue reading
4 CommentsA period of silence on Malloch Brown’s part
This morning’s Today Programme had an item on the Foreign Office Minister Mark Malloch Brown that’s well worth listening to. Malloch Brown has quickly become the most controversial of Gordon’s… Continue reading
2 CommentsA Golden Opportunity for the GOP
A ballot initiative in California could have more impact on the 2008 presidential race than any of the back and forth that is going on between the candidates at present.… Continue reading
0 CommentsYou don’t want to say that
Here’s the Guardian’s website reporting William Hague’s defence of David Cameron today: “Speaking at a press conference in central London, Mr Hague also dismissed claims that Mr Cameron was failing to… Continue reading
4 CommentsWhy England industrialised first
Was the industrial revolution a product of downward social mobility? That’s the argument of a forthcoming book by the American historian Gregory Clark. His thesis is that as the rich… Continue reading
7 CommentsCameron shouldn’t be cowed by Cowie
Sir Tom Cowie is always great value for journalists. When I was a business hack, I would call him up when reporting the annual results of Cowie Plc, the car… Continue reading
5 CommentsThe state of Basra
The Washington Post this morning has a sobering account of the situation on the ground in Basra. The paper reveals that the US government has expressed concerns about the impact of… Continue reading
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