Palin, the new Thatcher
The viciousness of the attacks on Sarah Palin is a testimony to the degree of panic her appointment has generated in Leftist circles, writes Janet Daley. According to the official feminist sisterhood (which was taken over by the totalitarian Marxist tendency long ago) you can represent the views of Women only if you accept the tenets of their ideology. Ergo, Mrs Palin is not a Woman Candidate. Like Margaret Thatcher before her, Mrs Palin is coming in for both barrels of Left-wing contempt: misogyny and snobbery. Where Lady Thatcher was dismissed as a "grocer's daughter" by people who called themselves egalitarian, Mrs Palin is regarded as a small-town nobody by those who claim to represent "ordinary people". Janet Daley Daily Telegraph
Full article: Sarah Palin gets the spiteful Margaret Thatcher treatment 
Clumsy, reckless Gordon Brown
In his Prime Ministerial role Gordon Brown has become clumsy and reckless, says Steve Richards. In unveiling the government's housing package this week, was Brown seeking to revive the economy, rescue the housing market, or help a few victims of the credit crunch? Before the announcement, some people were expecting the first on this list. On the day the package was launched Brown implied the second. The reality was probably closer to the third. The blurred presentation, with its hint of rushed panic, is a vivid contrast with Brown's approach to policy-making when he was Chancellor and highlights what has gone wrong since he made the move to No 10. Steve Richards The Independent
Full article: Clumsy, reckless and a shadow of his former self
Google could hang us all
The company is like a friendly octopus: it started with search, and one by one, Google's tentacles have entangled us: news, maps, gmail, YouTube. Google's ability to use the success of its search engine to lure users to embrace its other features will make it a one-stop shop for many people using the internet. If it corners a larger share of the browsing market on top of what it knows about our search, video, writing and reading habits, it will know more about us than is healthy for any organisation. Cardinal Richelieu once said that if you gave him ten sentences written by the most honest man he would find something in them to hang him for. Google could do that in a fraction of a second. Vic Keegan The Guardian
Full article: Information masters of the universe
Darling's Braveheart moment
The interview was Alistair Darling's attempt to brand himself as Captain Lifestyle by inviting the Guardian to Braveheart-on-Sea, or whatever his Hebridean hideaway is called, says Mary Riddell. Navigating his boat through choppy waters, lifejacket flapping, Darling was enjoying his Sarah Palin moment. You could almost imagine him arm-wrestling the Loch Ness monster or planting a deck shoe on a felled Highland stag. Darling is lucky he is not already spending more time with his barnacle-scraper. For any Chancellor to destabilise the economy, as he did, is a cardinal sin. But, despite the initial fury at No 10, there is no mood to sack or, it seems, reshuffle Brown's old friend and close confidant. Mary Riddell Daily Telegraph
Full article: Alistair Darling's Braveheart act wouldn't make waves across the Atlantic
Should immigrants have equal rights?
There is no cast-iron reason why immigrants who have been here for five years should automatically acquire a permanent right to remain, writes Camilla Cavendish. Nor is it axiomatic that they should have the same entitlements as British citizens. Many countries with open borders refuse to give immigrants equal rights. When I lived in Bangladesh I met many families whose income came from guest worker relatives in Kuwait and Jordan. During the Gulf War, the sheer number of disgruntled returnees astonished me. For me, the term "guest worker" was flush with imperial exploitation. But these people were just grateful that they could earn. They did not expect additional benefits. They were keen to get back, even to Singapore - which expels guest workers if they become pregnant. Camilla Cavendish The Times
Full article: Britain 2028: we need ten new cities, please
Palin, the new Thatcher
The viciousness of the attacks on Sarah Palin is a testimony to the degree of panic her appointment has generated in Leftist circles, writes Janet Daley. According to the official feminist sisterhood (which was taken over by the totalitarian Marxist tendency long ago) you can represent the views of Women only if you accept the tenets of their ideology. Ergo, Mrs Palin is not a Woman Candidate. Like Margaret Thatcher before her, Mrs Palin is coming in for both barrels of Left-wing contempt: misogyny and snobbery. Where Lady Thatcher was dismissed as a "grocer's daughter" by people who called themselves egalitarian, Mrs Palin is regarded as a small-town nobody by those who claim to represent "ordinary people". Janet Daley Daily Telegraph
Full article: Sarah Palin gets the spiteful Margaret Thatcher treatment
Clumsy, reckless Gordon Brown
In his Prime Ministerial role Gordon Brown has become clumsy and reckless, says Steve Richards. In unveiling the government's housing package this week, was Brown seeking to revive the economy, rescue the housing market, or help a few victims of the credit crunch? Before the announcement, some people were expecting the first on this list. On the day the package was launched Brown implied the second. The reality was probably closer to the third. The blurred presentation, with its hint of rushed panic, is a vivid contrast with Brown's approach to policy-making when he was Chancellor and highlights what has gone wrong since he made the move to No 10. Steve Richards The Independent
Full article: Clumsy, reckless and a shadow of his former self
Google could hang us all
The company is like a friendly octopus: it started with search, and one by one, Google's tentacles have entangled us: news, maps, gmail, YouTube. Google's ability to use the success of its search engine to lure users to embrace its other features will make it a one-stop shop for many people using the internet. If it corners a larger share of the browsing market on top of what it knows about our search, video, writing and reading habits, it will know more about us than is healthy for any organisation. Cardinal Richelieu once said that if you gave him ten sentences written by the most honest man he would find something in them to hang him for. Google could do that in a fraction of a second. Vic Keegan The Guardian
Full article: Information masters of the universe
Darling's Braveheart moment
The interview was Alistair Darling's attempt to brand himself as Captain Lifestyle by inviting the Guardian to Braveheart-on-Sea, or whatever his Hebridean hideaway is called, says Mary Riddell. Navigating his boat through choppy waters, lifejacket flapping, Darling was enjoying his Sarah Palin moment. You could almost imagine him arm-wrestling the Loch Ness monster or planting a deck shoe on a felled Highland stag. Darling is lucky he is not already spending more time with his barnacle-scraper. For any Chancellor to destabilise the economy, as he did, is a cardinal sin. But, despite the initial fury at No 10, there is no mood to sack or, it seems, reshuffle Brown's old friend and close confidant. Mary Riddell Daily Telegraph
Full article: Alistair Darling's Braveheart act wouldn't make waves across the Atlantic
Should immigrants have equal rights?
There is no cast-iron reason why immigrants who have been here for five years should automatically acquire a permanent right to remain, writes Camilla Cavendish. Nor is it axiomatic that they should have the same entitlements as British citizens. Many countries with open borders refuse to give immigrants equal rights. When I lived in Bangladesh I met many families whose income came from guest worker relatives in Kuwait and Jordan. During the Gulf War, the sheer number of disgruntled returnees astonished me. For me, the term "guest worker" was flush with imperial exploitation. But these people were just grateful that they could earn. They did not expect additional benefits. They were keen to get back, even to Singapore - which expels guest workers if they become pregnant. Camilla Cavendish The Times
Full article: Britain 2028: we need ten new cities, please
Clarke: Brown ‘destroying’ Labour
Labour's fragile and short-lived leadership truce came to an end yesterday when Charles Clarke warned that Labour is heading for "utter destruction" under Gordon Brown. The former Home Secretary and long-time critic of Brown said in a magazine article that there was "deep and widely shared concern" within the party... [continued]
The Mole: Labour's 'reverse Midas touch' exposed by grim OECD forecast
After several days of intense scrutiny and scorn from press and rivals over her political experience and family background, Sarah Palin last night came out fighting as she took the stage in front of 20,000 at the Republican convention. The 44-year-old Governor of Alaska, who was little known beyond her... [continued]
Alexander Cockburn: Sarah Palin, Boadicea of the backwoods
Video: Palin's speech
In pictures: the Republican convention
Bristol Palin's 'redneck' boyfriend
Pakistan fury over ‘US attack’
The war in Afghanistan spilled over into Pakistan yesterday after a suprise attack by heavily armed commandos, believed to be US Special Forces, killed up to 20 people. Three houses were attacked in the village of Jala Khel, which is near a known Taliban and al-Qaeda stronghold. Pakistan swiftly condemned... [continued]
Musharraf's resignation leaves West a bleak option
Top women hit ‘concrete ceiling’
Iraq and Afghanistan have more female politicians than Britain does, a new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found. The number of women in senior roles in Britain dropped for the first time in recent years with fewer female MPs, police chiefs and senior judges than there... [continued]
Police plot to oust Sir Ian Blair
Leading police chiefs and government ministers have secretly discussed arrangements to oust Sir Ian Blair from his role as head of Scotland Yard in an attempt to restore morale in the Metropolitan Police. According to the Times, Sir Ian will be formally told this week that his contract will not... [continued]
House prices in record fall
UK house prices have fallen almost 13 per cent in the past year, making it the steepest decline in 25 years. According to the latest monthly report by Halifax, average prices dropped 1.8 per cent in August, forcing the annual rate of decline down to 12.7 per cent. Britain's... [continued]
In Brief
Mocking the weak
Christians, for example, are not oppressed, despite what some wannabe martyrs would have us believe. British Muslims, in contrast, are a somewhat beleaguered minority. We should think twice before mocking them because, while comedy speaking truth to power is funny, the powerful laughing at the weak is not.
Julian Baggini The Guardian
Full article: Cock and bull
Funereal route
The Nigerian road sign "Dead slow or dead — please yourself" is possibly trumped by a road sign on Grand Bahama island: "Undertakers love overtakers".
Letter The Times
Full article: Funereal route
Rightful inheritance
The "horror" of inheritance tax – introduced in the great progressive wave of the Edwardian era – will be over under David Cameron. This has been greeted with a gurgle of pleasure by Conservatives; why should anyone get in the way of wealth "cascading down the generations", as a Tory Prime Minister once put it?
Johann Hari The Independent
Full article: Oxbridge walls that can't be scaled
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