Britannia Radio

Buried in its dismal catalogue of the way in which the People's Republic of China is extending its use of punitive administrative detention –
officially described as "Re-education through Labour" – Amnesty International does manage to find one example of a recent move towards a less harsh system of justice, writes Dominic Lawson. Its report observes that: "In January 2008 the authorities declared an intention to promote and extend the use of lethal injection as a more 'humane' method of execution across China." Somehow, I don't think that's what Jacques Rogge would have had in mind when he declared that the Chinese would act to improve its human rights as a result of being declared Olympic hosts. Dominic Lawson
The Independent
Full article: The clash of civilisations at Beijing
China's Olympic plan to topple America
Filed under: Dominic Lawson, China, Human Rights, Olympics, Death penalty

Free trade is not fair trade

How do poor countries turn into rich countries, asks Johann Hari? The World Trade Organisation (WTO) – has a simple answer: all markets, all the time. There's just one problem: every rich country got rich by ignoring the advice we now so aggressively offer. Look at the most startling eradication of poverty in the 20th century: South Korea. In 1963, the average South Korean earned just $179 a year, less than half the income of a Ghanaian. Its main export was wigs made of human hair, and Samsung was a fishmonger's. Today, it is one of the richest countries on earth. How? South Korea did everything we were pressing the poor at Doha not to do. The state controlled and guided the economy to the international marketplace. Johann Hari
The Independent
Full article: Do you want free trade – or fair trade that helps the poor?

Filed under: Johann Hari, Free Trade, South Korea



Blair, the second coming

David Miliband is certainly presenting himself as a second Blair, writes Daniel Hannan. It was his posture, his jacketless informality, his affected glottal stop, the way he pushed both fists away from him to emphasise a point. Miliband has always hero-worshipped the man who brought him into Cabinet. And, indeed, there is a certain nostalgia for the raddled old crooner. But such nostalgia rarely survives a come-back. Faced with actual Blairism, rather than a wistful memory of it, people would soon remember how gimcrack the whole experience had been, how tawdry, with its Tuscan villas, its adulation of the super-rich, its dodgy donations, its Third Way platitudes, its goody-goody Europhilia, its fibs. And, indeed, its sneakiness. Daniel Hannan Daily Telegraph
Full article: David Miliband as Prime Minister?

Bring it on…
Daniel Hannan: What is Belgium actually for?
People: Tony Blair and his groovy friend
Filed under: Daniel Hannan, David Miliband, Tony Blair


When exactly was this golden age?

Pessimists are always looking back to a supposed golden age, says Mark Lawson. But when exactly was it? The 1930s experienced a credit crunch so far unequalled, while half of the 1940s were spent in a terrible war and the 1950s were an anaesthetised period in which, if you wanted to progress in most professions, it was wise to be male, white and posh. Are these really eras to envy? And in the 1960s there were, well, the Sixties, which are unlikely to be endorsed by many moralists. The problem with hunting social utopias in history is that the ledger always uses red and black ink. In cities with gun and knife crime, the streets in 2008 may be slightly less safe than they were in 1968; but the roads, following the introduction of seat belts and breathalysers, are infinitely less dangerous. Mark Lawson
The Guardian
That golden age? It never happened, except in the minds of pessimists

Filed under: Mark Lawson, Past

Sarkozy returns to reform

Just when he had been written off as a lightweight - perhaps precisely because he had been written off - Sarkozy the radical has made a dramatic reappearance, says Rosemary Righter. In a few weeks this summer, in volley after legislative volley, he has taken aim at some of the most sacred cows in French social and economic life. If he keeps up this pace, he will indeed change the face of France. The keystone is a law making it easier to set up in business, cutting red tape, freeing up the commercial sector by allowing retailers to negotiate directly with suppliers - which, incredibly, French law proscribed - and creating an independent competition authority. More flexible job contracts have been introduced to free up the labour market, and benefits curbed for jobseekers who reject more than two "reasonable" offers of work. Rosemary Righter
The Times
Full article: The return of Nicolas Sarkozy, the great reformer
People: Carla Bruni to play BBC show

Filed under: Rosemary Righter, Nicolas Sarkozy, France


In Brief
Jordan fights the snobs
Eliza Doolittle went to the races with Henry Higgins after a few elocution lessons. In Pretty Woman Julia Roberts went to the polo straight from Sunset Boulevard, but in the 21st century we have become even more class-ridden. Unless you are a toff or an aspiring actress, they don't want you. Polo should be for people who love horses, not a media charade. Katie Price The Times
Full article: Why was I snubbed by the polo snobs?
People: Jordan attacks snobs in The Times

Filed under: Katie Price, Class,

FilmLosing touch
Well into the 1980s there would routinely be appeals broadcast on the radio for "Mr Listener, believed to be travelling in Norfolk in a blue Hillman Imp, to contact Southampton General hospital, where his father is dangerously ill." There is now no technological reason for such distressing isolation; family upsets of this kind would result only from chosen ostracism. So which era was the golden age of community and communication? Mark Lawson The Guardian
That golden age? It never happened, except in the minds of pessimists

Filed under: Mark Lawson, Family, Technology

When Olmert goes
A real concern is that, just as in the past, everything will stalemate as the Palestinian issue turns into a political football during an Israeli election campaign. Then, Likud and rightist Kadima candidates will play populist by trumping on the Jerusalem card: united and Israeli. Such electioneering will likely tear apart any fragile trust that is still attached to the process. Rachel Shabi The Guardian
After Olmert: step forward 'Mrs Clean'?
Full article: As a lame duck, Olmert may be the best hope for peace

Filed under: Rachel Shabi, Israel

Silver syringes
Just as the disadvantaged buy Class A drugs to numb the pain of being poor, it appears that the very wealthy seek to numb the pain of being rich.

Frances Osborne in book about Idina Sackville, described how the ex-pat addicts in Hong Kong's Happy Valley would get their heroin flown on to their front lawns by biplanes, and then openly inject themselves with silver syringes in front of their friends.
Melanie Reid The Times
Full article: Blame the rich for feeding the drug industry


Filed under: Melanie Reid, Drugs, Wealth

Tough on crime
There may be much wrong with the British criminal justice system but, compared to the lottery that is the American judicial process, there are a number of sober differences. For a start, here you would not find yourself in jail for 50 years for stealing $160 worth of video tapes, or for 25 years for smoking marijuana. Duncan Campbell The Guardian
Full article: The cost of curiosity
Highs of a world where drugs are legal