Coffee House The Spectator Blog
The joy of the Bolshoi
A new swathe of Russians has hit town – dancing ones this time. The Bolshoi Ballet opened in swaggering style last night at the Coliseum with the full three-act version… Continue reading
0 CommentsTony’s last act or Gordon’s first triumph
Tony Blair will not take a bow for this one, and you can bet Gordon Brown won’t give him credit. But it looks like his plan for a peacekeeping operation… Continue reading
3 CommentsBrown’s poverty of thought
I simply disagree with those who criticised Gordon Brown’s Camp David performance in this morning’s press. He struck me as assured, and eloquent. But he has just let himself down… Continue reading
4 CommentsJust as far as we can
"We’ll have as much spine as we possibly can, under the circumstances." This response by Hillary Clinton to an activist calling on her to show some spine by endorsing federal… Continue reading
1 CommentBush’s banter
Nick Robinson has a funny little blog post up on the ongoing needle between him and President Bush. Back in December 2006, Robinson asked Bush if he was in denial… Continue reading
2 CommentsWhere Brown agrees and disagrees with the neo-cons
Rachel Sylvester has a typically astute piece in today’s Telegraph on how Brown differs from both Blair and Bush. Here’s the key section: “Mr Brown is different – not just… Continue reading
0 CommentsCameron hits back
Criticism from Ali Miraj, a Tory activist who was an early supporter of David Cameron and sits on two of the party’s policy review groups, of the Tory party’s lack… Continue reading
6 CommentsBaby talk
I was struck by the fact James plucked out of that Newsweek article – that “every second child in London is born to an immigrant mother.” Could it really be… Continue reading
4 CommentsThe George and Gordon show
Gordon Brown will be pleased by how his first press conference with George W. Bush went. There were no disasters even if Bush’s ragging of the press and boast that… Continue reading
1 CommentFinish that thought
“I really want the Conservatives to win the next election because…” A few CoffeeHousers have offered some endings to the above sentence, and I’d like to offer the bribe of a… Continue reading
44 CommentsSearching for an identity
This week’s Newsweek has a piece on what it calls “Britain’s post-Blair identity crisis.” Most of the article is about Gordon Brown’s current obsession with Britishness but this fact in it… Continue reading
3 CommentsSigns of progress in Iraq
Ken Pollack and Mike O’Hanlon—neither of whom could be called a neo-conservative, a Bush supporter, or a Republican—have a must read op-ed in the New York Times this morning on… Continue reading
2 CommentsIngmar Bergman RIP
The death of Ingmar Bergman coincides with the re-release of his greatest film, The Seventh Seal (1957), a meditation upon death and the fear of godlessness set in the middle… Continue reading
0 CommentsBrown hits all the right notes
Gordon Brown’s op-ed in the Washington Post this morning shows how fluent he is in the language of the special relationship. (Although, Brown speaks it with a less emotional and… Continue reading
3 CommentsGordon Brown’s American tour
Gordon Brown’s first Prime Ministerial visit to the United States is working well so far. He has kept his personal distance by wearing a suit and not bringing along his… Continue reading
0 CommentsTime for Cameron to reflect
Perhaps the best outcome of these torrid last few weeks is that the Cameron project has been brought down to earth. After winning the party leadership against all the odds,… Continue reading
17 CommentsAs Brown heads to America, Cameron hits out at Iraq policy
With Gordon Brown en route to Camp David, David Cameron has chosen to deliver his sharpest criticism of Iraq to date; telling the Sunday Times that we must “Learn the… Continue reading
1 CommentWhy Dave needs David
David Davis’s warning to his party to show discipline and stick to the centre ground in today’s Sunday Telegraph is the best news for the other David in a while.… Continue reading
2 CommentsThe world after Bush
This review essay by Samantha Power, a Harvard professor who is close to Obama, on where the Bush presidency is leaving the war on terror is well worth reading. Her… Continue reading
3 CommentsHow bad is it for the Tories?
There is some very astute commentary in the papers this morning about the situation that the Tory party finds itself in. Do read Charles Moore in the Telegraph on how… Continue reading
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