Yes, he’s been a disaster – yet I feel sorry for George Osborne
It's not a failure of personality, it's a failure of ideology. And that spreads much further than the Chancellor.Dare I say a word in defence of Gideon George Osborne, the Bullingdon Club...
View ArticleCameron's promise of more austerity is an election trap for Labour
Miliband must not let austerity define the next election. The economic significance of David Cameron's suggestion that austerity will last until 2020 is far outweighed by the political significance....
View ArticleCreationism's far from unintelligent design on our schools
The real problem with "creationist schools" is not their attitude to science, says Nelson Jones. I knew a creationist once. He believed in a literal Adam and Eve and in the Tower of Babel, yet...
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Fox News shows you how to bury a poll
Who's leading the election? Fox News would rather not sayFox News, like many American news organisations, commissions twice-monthly polls of the US election. This week's shows a four-point lead for...
View ArticleEditing the "Staggers": "That we are still here after 99 years speaks for...
Interview with New Statesman editor Jason Cowley.Known affectionately as The Staggers, left-of-centre weekly the New Statesman has acquired a reputation for "staggering on" as is it were. The last...
View Article'Sun journalist' arrested in computer hacking probe
Seventh person to be arrested as part of Operation Tuleta.A man has been arrested by police investigating alleged computer hacking. The Guardian is reporting that the man is a journalist from The Sun....
View ArticleMiliband keeps up the pressure on Stephen Green
Former HSBC head and Tory trade minister should answer questions in the Lords, says Labour leader. In the Q&A session following his speech on policing this morning, Ed Miliband intensified the...
View ArticleUS shock jock Rush Limbaugh thinks The Dark Knight Rises is an anti-Romney...
When you name your company "a source of ruin, harm or trouble", these things will happen.Media Matters has a transcript of some interesting (?) comments made by US shock jock Rush Limbaugh on Monday:...
View ArticleRio Ferdinand seems to think his "choc-ice banter" is a private conversation
Footballers, freed from the clutches of their media advisers, can become alarmingly interesting online.Last week, Rio Ferdinand seemed to endorse the term "choc-ice" on Twitter in reference to fellow...
View ArticleIn the Critics this week
Geoffrey Wheatcroft on the crisis of Zionism, Stuart Maconie on the Smiths, Helen Lewis on Fifty Shades, Kate Mossman on pop music's nerds and John Sutherland on English studies.The leader in this...
View ArticleMaking the best of shareholder activism
Navigating the shareholder spring. Imagine the scene. You’re ready to sleepwalk your way through the yearly AGM ritual, you’re expecting a few shareholders to show up purely for the sarnies and the...
View ArticleSooner or later, the Olympics patriotism will kick in for curmudgeonly Britain
Gold! Medals! Wenlock! Mandeville! Rings! Official sponsors! Unofficial sponsors! Running! Jumping! Throwing things!Sometime over the coming week, the tide will turn. There won't be a bat signal to let...
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Chart of the day: Land and Freedom
Supporters of a two-state solution must confront a stark question: is there enough land left for a viable Palestinian state? The maps below, from this week's issue of the New Statesman, indicate how...
View ArticleThe gypsies who lost their homes to make way for the Olympics
The construction of the athletes' village broke up a community that had been on the site legally since 1972.As athletes settle in to the Olympic Village in East London, a “home away from home” for...
View ArticleOsborne is set to break his golden debt rule
The IMF's warning that Osborne will miss his debt target spells trouble for the Chancellor. After slashing its forecasts for UK growth earlier this week, the IMF has just delivered its full verdict on...
View ArticleNational Portrait Gallery adds Dame Kelly Holmes to its contemporary idols
Dame Kelly joins the "heroes" in the NPG's range of celebrities.A portrait of Dame Kelly Holmes is the latest addition to the National Portrait Gallery as part of the BP Portrait award competition. The...
View ArticleCameron's EU stance is unsustainable and the sceptics know it
The EU-lite deal he imagines to keep the best of both worlds can't be done.David Cameron would not campaign for a “No” vote if the British people were asked in a referendum if they wanted to stay in...
View ArticleA police thug and an unlawful killing
Simon Harwood has been acquitted of manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson but questions remain, says David Allen Green.PC Simon Harwood, a thug, has today been found not guilty by a jury of the manslaughter of...
View ArticleQuote of the day
Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg on the problem with private schools.Labour's shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg sounds a decidedly un-Blairite note on private schools. Without doubt, a...
View ArticleMorning Call: pick of the papers
The ten must-read comment pieces from this morning's papers. 1. Cap private rent and build more council homes (Guardian) The government's response to the housing crisis has been to attack the exploited...
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