Friday September 5, 2008 Labour falls apart
Of course Gordon Brown should be replaced yesterday at the latest, writes Matthew Norman. Of course anyone – Miliband, Johnson, Straw, Jon Cruddas, Kerry Katona, the late Arthur Mullard; even Charles Clarke – would limit the scale of defeat. This much we know. All it would take to remove Gordon now is a delegation of six cabinet ministers, or four if they were the right quartet. "You go or we go" is all they need say. Five words, and Sarah would be on to Pickfords within the hour. Five syllables to save, 60, 100, 150 seats. It isn't cojones that are required here, merely the human instinct for survival. But even that has been squashed out of them by a decade of bartering their political souls for chauffered Rovers and the run of John Lewis white electricals. Matthew Norman The Independent
Full article: Anyone would be better than Brown – even Kerry Katona 
Charles Clarke has compared Brownites and Blairites trading insults to the squabbles between children in Richmal Crompton's Just William series, writes John Crace. But if you're looking for fictional metaphors to describe the present-day Labour party, then surely The Lord of the Flies – the story of a bunch of squabbling, murderous British school kids stranded on an island – is much nearer the mark. Yet even Golding doesn't get that close to the sense of futility, desperation and backstabbing with which the government is now riven. The only real parallel would surely have to be Downfall: Hitler's Berlin bunker in 1945, where an increasingly deranged and isolated leader stares unbelievingly at the inevitability of his defeat while his sidekicks tip-toe around him trying to put the best possible spin on news that gets worse by the hour. John Crace The Guardian
Full article: Just William is the wrong metaphor for Labour's Downfall
Sarah Palin defies the doubters
The general expectation was that Mrs Palin would stumble on to the stage in high heels, clutching her sprawling, slightly odd family (five children! how weird), mispronounce the name of the Russian Prime Minister, mutter a few platitudes about God, and disappear for ever to a deafening chorus of sniggers, says Gerard Baker. No one paid much attention to the fact that she had been elected governor of a state. Or that she got to that office not because, unlike some politicians I could mention, her husband had been there before her, or because she bleated continuously about glass ceilings, but by challenging the entrenched interests in her own party and beating them. In almost two years as Governor she has cleaned out the Augean stables of Alaskan Government. Gerard Baker The Times
Full article: Sarah Palin: it's go west, towards the future of conservatism
McCain bids to change the mantle of change from Barack Obama
How to squeeze Putin
To squeeze the Russians, we should hold a public inquest into the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, writes Dominic Lawson. The real beauty of this is that such an inquest will have to – as our lawyer friends might put it – go to motive. Mr Litvinenko persistently claimed that FSB agents, and not Chechen rebels, had been behind the bombing of Moscow apartment blocks in 1999, which was used to justify the attack on Chechnya, and which in turn was so helpful to Putin in his campaign to be elected Russian president. Naturally the inquest will not be able to establish as a fact that Putin had Mr Litvinenko murdered; but his standing among his own people – which is what matters most to him – would be deeply damaged by a prolonged and legal public examination into the events behind the Moscow bombings. Dominic Lawson The Independent
Full article: How to squeeze the Russians
People: Boris Berezovsky faces costly divorce
The Maverick Don, a media myth
Pervasive silences or gaps in knowledge around difficult issues of race, class and difference may be periodically breached by the Maverick Don, that mythologised figure to whom the media seem irresistibly drawn. Rather than a thoughtful intervention, this apparently eccentric academic or writer will toss out a provocative and authoritative pronouncement that appears to fly delightfully in the face of "political correctness". Such putatively daring truth claims ("Islam is the problem", "Racism is natural", "Men are being emasculated by women") allow for silences to be broken dramatically and temporarily, while closing off the possibility of sustained and knowledgable debate. Pronouncement, outcry, apology - so unfolds the soap opera after which we return to business as usual. Meanwhile truly substantial and necessary scholarship on race and culture, at Cambridge included, simply drops off the radar. Priyamvada Gopal The Guardian
Full article: Maverick dons inspire only those who hate, not think
People: George Steiner walks into race row
Labour falls apart
Of course Gordon Brown should be replaced yesterday at the latest, writes Matthew Norman. Of course anyone – Miliband, Johnson, Straw, Jon Cruddas, Kerry Katona, the late Arthur Mullard; even Charles Clarke – would limit the scale of defeat. This much we know. All it would take to remove Gordon now is a delegation of six cabinet ministers, or four if they were the right quartet. "You go or we go" is all they need say. Five words, and Sarah would be on to Pickfords within the hour. Five syllables to save, 60, 100, 150 seats. It isn't cojones that are required here, merely the human instinct for survival. But even that has been squashed out of them by a decade of bartering their political souls for chauffered Rovers and the run of John Lewis white electricals. Matthew Norman The Independent
Full article: Anyone would be better than Brown – even Kerry Katona
Charles Clarke has compared Brownites and Blairites trading insults to the squabbles between children in Richmal Crompton's Just William series, writes John Crace. But if you're looking for fictional metaphors to describe the present-day Labour party, then surely The Lord of the Flies – the story of a bunch of squabbling, murderous British school kids stranded on an island – is much nearer the mark. Yet even Golding doesn't get that close to the sense of futility, desperation and backstabbing with which the government is now riven. The only real parallel would surely have to be Downfall: Hitler's Berlin bunker in 1945, where an increasingly deranged and isolated leader stares unbelievingly at the inevitability of his defeat while his sidekicks tip-toe around him trying to put the best possible spin on news that gets worse by the hour. John Crace The Guardian
Full article: Just William is the wrong metaphor for Labour's Downfall
Sarah Palin defies the doubters
The general expectation was that Mrs Palin would stumble on to the stage in high heels, clutching her sprawling, slightly odd family (five children! how weird), mispronounce the name of the Russian Prime Minister, mutter a few platitudes about God, and disappear for ever to a deafening chorus of sniggers, says Gerard Baker. No one paid much attention to the fact that she had been elected governor of a state. Or that she got to that office not because, unlike some politicians I could mention, her husband had been there before her, or because she bleated continuously about glass ceilings, but by challenging the entrenched interests in her own party and beating them. In almost two years as Governor she has cleaned out the Augean stables of Alaskan Government. Gerard Baker The Times
Full article: Sarah Palin: it's go west, towards the future of conservatism
McCain bids to change the mantle of change from Barack Obama
How to squeeze Putin
To squeeze the Russians, we should hold a public inquest into the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, writes Dominic Lawson. The real beauty of this is that such an inquest will have to – as our lawyer friends might put it – go to motive. Mr Litvinenko persistently claimed that FSB agents, and not Chechen rebels, had been behind the bombing of Moscow apartment blocks in 1999, which was used to justify the attack on Chechnya, and which in turn was so helpful to Putin in his campaign to be elected Russian president. Naturally the inquest will not be able to establish as a fact that Putin had Mr Litvinenko murdered; but his standing among his own people – which is what matters most to him – would be deeply damaged by a prolonged and legal public examination into the events behind the Moscow bombings. Dominic Lawson The Independent
Full article: How to squeeze the Russians
People: Boris Berezovsky faces costly divorce
The Maverick Don, a media myth
Pervasive silences or gaps in knowledge around difficult issues of race, class and difference may be periodically breached by the Maverick Don, that mythologised figure to whom the media seem irresistibly drawn. Rather than a thoughtful intervention, this apparently eccentric academic or writer will toss out a provocative and authoritative pronouncement that appears to fly delightfully in the face of "political correctness". Such putatively daring truth claims ("Islam is the problem", "Racism is natural", "Men are being emasculated by women") allow for silences to be broken dramatically and temporarily, while closing off the possibility of sustained and knowledgable debate. Pronouncement, outcry, apology - so unfolds the soap opera after which we return to business as usual. Meanwhile truly substantial and necessary scholarship on race and culture, at Cambridge included, simply drops off the radar. Priyamvada Gopal The Guardian
Full article: Maverick dons inspire only those who hate, not think
People: George Steiner walks into race row
Brown rules out cash handouts
Gordon Brown has ruled out the possibility of a one-off cash handout to households who are struggling with the cost of rising energy bills. In a speech to the Scottish CBI in Glasgow on Thursday night, the Prime Minister said ministers were focusing on long-term proposals such as working with... [continued]
Why does Charles Clarke keep putting the boot in?
‘Maverick’ McCain promises change
John McCain accepted the Republican presidential nomination last night, using his sometimes turgid 50-minute speech to promise to shake up Washington - an attempt to convince those voters disillusioned with George Bush's presidency. McCain tried to steal the theme of change from his rival Barack Obama but the Arizona senator,... [continued]
US election: McCain bids to steal the mantle of change from Obama
In pictures: the Republican convention
Alexander Cockburn: Sarah Palin, Boadicea of the backwoods
Media dilemma over National Enquirer's 'Palin affair' allegation
Cheney: Georgia to join Nato
US Vice-President Dick Cheney has pledged support for Georgia to join Nato, condemning Russia's "illegitimate" invasion. During his one-day visit to Georgia, Cheney held talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili and promised that the US would stand by Georgia. "As you work to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory and... [continued]
Georgia's troubled history
In pictures: the Russian-Georgian conflict
A symphony for Tskhinvali
Haiti faces catastrophe, says UN
The United Nations has warned that Haiti is facing a catastrophe, after three storms killed more than 200 people and left thousands homeless in less than three weeks. Haiti was first hit by tropical storm Fay three weeks ago before Hurricane Gustav killed dozens after wreaking havoc with floods and... [continued]
In pictures: Thousands flee Louisiana as Hurricane Gustav nears
Ian Blair denies job rumours
The Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair has denied that there is a plot to oust him from his role before his contract runs out in February 2010. Outside Scotland Yard yesterday he dismissed reports that ministers, officials and senior police chiefs have met to discuss how to remove him.... [continued]
In Brief
Reading a bit too much
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger has - in the case of John Lennon's assassin - tipped an unbalanced mind towards murder. Hardy's Jude The Obscure could plant the idea of suicide in a troubled head. But any such text becomes less dangerous when read at school, because a perverse interpretation of the work can be challenged. Mark Lawson The Guardian
Full article: A lesson in verse
Books, a review of reviews: Dirk Bogarde, Alpha Dogs, The Lazarus Project
Don't go to school
The return to school is a well-established part of the journey of life. It seems normal, right and inevitable. But actually it is none of these things. Yes, it is normal in the early 21st century. But if modern civilisation started about 10,000 years ago, this way of treating children has been “normal” only for the last 2 per cent of the time. It is a new, artificial construct designed to provide education at low cost. James Bartholomew The Times
Full article: Down wiv school: children are best educated at home
How not to hunt moose
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game advises that you should avoid shooting a moose if you are more than a mile from your vehicle. The reason for this is that you will have as much as 700lb of meat to lug away with you and that will take many round trips with a full backpack over rough terrain. Damian Whitworth The Times
Full article: Sarah Palin's wilderness, where the cops don't bother you
Too many party conferences
Every now and then, someone makes a speech that ambushes the nation's attention: David Cameron's vote-for-me, look-no-autocue speech in 2005; Tony Blair's goodnight-and-good-luck swansong in 2006; also his historic decoupling from Clause Four in 1994; Neil Kinnock's Militant-mashing vitriol of 1985; David Steel's endearing prepare-for-government call to Liberals in 1981. Notice anything? That's right, such moments come around, on average, once every four years: that is, about as frequently as US conventions. Leader The Times
Full article: Less jaw-jaw, more awe-awe
Britain loves bad food
The French Paradox is that the people in south-western France have a low rate of coronary disease, though they eat lots of duck and goose fat and drink rough red wine. The British Paradox is that everybody watches cookery and food programmes and we buy lots of books about food, but nobody seems to cook or eat better at home. Paul Levy Daily Telegraph
Full article: Good food is something we watch
Recipe of the week: Creme Renversee au Cafe
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