Sir Max Hastings is an establishment man. Born in 1945 and educated at Charterhouse — the exclusive English private school founded in 1611 — then Oxford (for a year), he has edited two of Britain’s best known newspapers: the Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard. Like so many who rise to the top in British journalism, he was born into it. His father, Macdonald, was a celebrated war correspondent; his mother, Anne Eleanor Scott-James (or Lady Lancaster), edited the UK edition of Harper’s Bazaar. He writes columns for the Daily Mail, the Guardian and many others. He regularly appears on the BBC, for whom he was himself a celebrated war correspondent. He is President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and he is a fellow of The Royal Society of Literature, an elite institution founded by King George IV in 1820. Sir Max Hastings is an establishment man indeed. He despises the State of Israel.
In May 2009, he delievered a Leonard Stein Lecture on Israel and the Palestinians at Balliol College Oxford, extracts from which were used for an opinion piece in today’s Guardian. His writing is an almost parodical one-stop shop for every misconception, misreading of history and civilisational pathology in the mindset of Britain’s upper class, Arabist, right.
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May 8th, 2009When it comes to articles by Seumas Milne , the Guardian’s star, far-Left columnist, my usual line would be: “I read it so you didn’t have to”. But actually, that’s a cop out. Reading his columns opens a window into the neo-totalitarian mind. Know your enemy indeed. I bring this offering of half-truths and outright distortions to readers’ attention because it concerns a subject that is going to be much covered in the next few months. An anniversary is upon us. It is 30 years since Margaret Thatcher came to power in the most remarkable, peace-time premiership of 20th century Britain.
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May 2nd, 2009The BBC is reporting the hanging of a young Iranian woman even though she had been granted a stay of execution by the head of Iran’s judiciary. The heartwrenching story of Delara Darabi — who was 17 when she was alleged to have committed murder — came to its conclusion on Friday. The 23 year old artist, whose trial was described as a farce by rights groups, was said in the report to have made a frantic phone call to her mother early in the morning saying she could see the hangman’s noose from her cell. The awful drama of the situation was captured by the BBC in the following words:
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May 2nd, 2009This week saw the British army formally bring an end to its mission in Iraq. The occasion has been marked by the predictable round of denunciations about the “lies” and “misinformation” of the British and American governments, particularly as regards the initial reasons for invading. This piece from the British press stands out as typical of a genre which has now become the received wisdom. It is from Robert Fisk, the Independent’s Middle East “expert”.
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May 2nd, 2009The Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer is usually good value. And in his most recent column he takes on the vexed issue of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation” techniques practiced by the US security services.
“Torture is an impermissible evil. Except under two circumstances,” he says. ”The first is the ticking time bomb. An innocent’s life is at stake. The bad guy you have captured possesses information that could save this life. He refuses to divulge. In such a case, the choice is easy.”
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May 2nd, 2009Today marks another of this year’s milestones for the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in central and eastern Europe. On May 2, 1989 Hungarian border guards tore down an eight kilometre section of the “Iron Curtain” opening the way for thousands to flood across to the West. By September, Hungary had opened its borders completely. The BBC has an excellent page on its website flagging up key dates from a year which changed the world. Each date is accompanied by captions and reports, most of which are supported by video clips containing remarkable footage.
Click on the following link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7961732.stm
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May 1st, 2009Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, has delivered a blistering attack on the United Nations following what she rightly described as the “farce” of its recent anti-racism conference. The conference, which took place in Geneva last month, opened with an inaugural speech by none other than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust denying president of Iran. The event was boycotted by Israel, the United States, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Quoted by the Jerusalem Post today, Shalev said her country would continue to snub such UN events as long as they sought, “to attack Israel, the West, and the principles of freedom and human rights.” It is a pity that more Western countries (and the European Union in particular) cannot summon up a similar degree of moral clarity.
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May 1st, 2009It’s deja vu all over again. Russia and NATO come to blows in yet another spying row which has seen the alliance expel two Russian diplomats including the son of Moscow’s ambassador to the European Union. Always masters of fake indignation, the Russians are apopletic. For the full story see this link to the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/30/nato-expels-russian-diplomats
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April 28th, 2009Is Barak Obama going to be the liberal who was mugged by reality? Looking back on his first hundred days as the purveyor of a new pax Americana, it is certainly on the cards. Just take the major issues of the day, and go down the list:
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