New York Dynasty
From our UK edition
So it's official: Caroline Kennedy does want to be the next Senator from New York. A shocking development. I mean it's not as though the departing Senator traded on a famous name to snare the seat herself, is it?
Alex Massie
Monday
Sunday
The Spirit of the Season
From our UK edition
Time for another occasional series. And since it's Christmas, how better to honour the true spirit of the season than by recalling some classic TV advertisements from the past? Come to think of it, that's what Gordon Brown and his cronies would want you to do: nothing like a spot of stimulus spending is there? This being so, I think this classic - two minutes long! We had an attention span back then! - McEwan's Lager ad from 1988 rather sums up the way plenty of people are feeling at the moment, don't you?
Department of “But That Was Then! This Is Different!”
From our UK edition
Gordon Brown in 1995: "A weak currency is the sign of a weak economy which is the sign of a weak government." Today: on the commercial exchange rates, one pound will, at best, purchase you one euro. The Prime Minister insists Britain is better placed than other countries to weather the financial storms of the coming year. It wouldn't be a bad thing if that were true. But if it is true, why doesn't anyone outside Downing Street seem to believe it to be true? I mean the currency markets aren't like a bunch of churlish, chippy, cynical bloggers are they?
Saturday
The Ingenuity of the British Journalist
From our UK edition
Is such that, as you know, there's no need to bribe the fellow. From Simon Hoggart's Guardian column today: A colleague of the late Raymond Jackson, "Jak" of the London Evening Standard, had an interesting tale. Jak was famous for including the names of firms - restaurants, pubs, even skip hire companies - in his cartoons. He would then sell the originals to the people mentioned, so getting two substantial fees for each drawing. What I hadn't realised is that he used to pre-sell the slot. He'd ring up Knight, Frank & Rutley, for instance, and ask if they wanted to appear as the estate agent that day. Then he'd call Strutt & Parker and see if they offered more. Only when the auction was over would he start on the drawing.
Thursday
Would You Trust Anyone Named Kevin?
From our UK edition
Kevin Drum crunches the numbers and comes to some worrying (for him) conclusions...
Economic Policy Trust Test: Labour or the Germans?
From our UK edition
A good old-fashoned rumpus is developing. Seems as though the Germans, fed up with being sneered at by Godron Brown and irritated by the Prime Minister's pretensions to have "saved the world" have decided to poke the PM in the eye. As Peer Steinbruck, the SPD Finance Minister told Newsweek: We have a bidding war where everyone in politics believes they have to top up every spending program that's been put to discussion. I say we should be honest to our citizens. Policies can take some of the sharpness out of it, but no matter how much any government does, the recession we are in now is unavoidable.
Tobacco Futures
From our UK edition
Courtesy of the Daily Mash: SMOKERS BANNED FROM LOOKING AT CIGARETTES WHILE SMOKING SMOKERS will have to hold a large piece of card over their face so they cannot look at the cigarette they are smoking, ministers said last night. The 'smoking mask' will include a small mouth hole and a handle though later models may be fitted with elasticated straps... The mask will also carry a warning which reads: "Lighting a Cigarette While Wearing This Mask May Cause You to Set Fire to the Mask Instead of the Cigarette and Burn Your Face Off." Health secretary, Alan Johnson, said: "If you can't see nicotine, it can't see you. And, as any scientist will tell you, if something can't see you, it has no way of knowing you exist.
Wednesday
No! Not the Bore Worms…
From our UK edition
You remember the line don't you? "Flash, Flash, I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the earth." And you'll remember the Labour posters promising "Not Flash, Just Gordon"? Well, they ditched that idea today. Or at least the Prime Minister did as this unfortunate slip at Prime Ministers' Questions demonstrates: Now Labour's approach to the financial maelstrom is pretty simple: find something to do, do it and then accuse anyone who asks any questions of adopting a "do-nothing" approach. Never mind that do-nothing might be preferable to punting everything on black or, rather, red.
Delaying Detroit’s Death
From our UK edition
Now as it happens, American cars are, generally speaking, much better than they used to be. And Ford and GM have demonstrated that, in europe at least, they know how to build small cars capable of doing more than 20 miles to the gallon. Even in the United States, the Big Three have greatly improved reliability, build-quality and, at least in some of their plants, productivity. The best American cars really aren't all that different, or poorer than their Japanese rivals. But though Detroit has responded to Japanese quality, carbuyers haven't updated their perceptions. Hence this mock-ad: Harsh? Only partially. But this is a sentiment shared by millions of car-owners. The perception that GM and Ford and Chrysler build crappy cars is just another obstacle to recovery.
Tales from Modern Britain
From our UK edition
When the spooks think matters have got out of hand then, you know, they've probably gotten out of hand. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) was passed in 2000 to regulate the way that public bodies such as the police and the security services carry out surveillance. Originally only a handful of authorities were able to use RIPA but its scope has been expanded enormously and now there are at least 792 organisations using it, including hundreds of local councils. This has generated dozens of complaints about anti-terrorism legislation being used to spy on, for example, a nursery suspected of selling pot plants unlawfully, a family suspected of lying about living in a school catchment area, and paperboys suspected of not having the right paperwork.
Michael Gerson Cares More Than You Do
From our UK edition
Michael Gerson, formerly George W Bush's chief speechwriter, has been to the Congo. As you might imagine, it's pretty grim there. So, naturally, Gerson has this to say: Security in eastern Congo is the prerequisite for political progress. Nkunda will continue to push until someone effectively pushes back. The Congolese army is incapable of defeating him. While the U.N. peacekeeping force is the reason that Goma was not taken, it does not have the political will and the capabilities to contain Nkunda. It lacks rapid-reaction forces and night-fighting capabilities.
Got vs Gotten
From our UK edition
I knew someone would call me out on this. And sure enough, commenting on this post, faithful reader Sam G writes: First paragraph: "gotten"? O tempora, O Mores indeed. To which I say: hooey. To begin with, there's much to be said for the vigour of American English. Plus, as you know, gotten is merely an ancient form that, though out of fashion in the old country, was preserved in the new world. As is so often the case, we turn to the Sage of Baltimore for guidance. Here's Mencken: Whatever the true cause of the substitution of the preterite for the perfect participle, it seems to be a tendency inherent in English, and during the age of Elizabeth it showed itself even in the most formal speech.
Department of Calumny
From our UK edition
Patrick Appel, standing in for Andrew while the Boss Man takes a break, has the audacity to nominate Terry Teachout for one of Mr Sullivan's "Poseur Alert Nominee" awards. Yikes! What has the urbane Mr Teachout written to deserve such teasing? Why only this: "I know how it feels to see the design for the dust jacket of a book that I've written, but that's different: the cover is not the book. An opera, on the other hand, truly exists only in performance, and must be created anew each time it is produced: the score is not the show. As I saw how Hildegard had transformed my libretto into a three-dimensional object, a Biblical phrase popped into my mind: Thus the word was made as flesh.
GOP Future Delayed? Maybe.
From our UK edition
Bobby Jindal has fast become the GOP's Great Brown Hope. He keeps demonstrating why. First he said he did not want to be considered as a potential running-mate for John McCain, now he says he won't be running for President in 2012. Sensible laddie. 2016 is time enough. Apart from anything else, he has to be re-elected Governor of Louisiana in 2011 first. Sure, he might change his mind and, sure, Obama may be a very unlucky President, but smart people won't be betting that way. At least, not yet.
Tuesday
Not just a soggy old cloth cat…
From our UK edition
You know you're getting old when the people who made the TV programmes you liked as a kid start dying. So, farewell, Oliver Postgate, creator of Ivor the Engine and, of course, the immortal Bagpuss. I suppose those of us born in the mid-1970s (post-Clangers then) were the last for whom Postgate's work was a central part of their childhood TV experience.I assume today's kids would be entraced by the subtle, wry joys of Bagpuss but I'm not sure I'd want to test that thesis. From the Telegraph's obituary: The worlds constructed by Postgate and his long-time collaborator Peter Firmin were the products of a kindlier age, informed by Postgate's own utopian longings and encapsulated in his mild, avuncular narration.
A Scandal in Springfield
From our UK edition
Sometimes it's useful to remember that, despite everything, British politics is, on the whole, markedly less corrupt than politics elsewhere. That, of course, explains why so many of our scandals are disappointingly third or fourth rate. They do things differently in America. Today' entertainment comes courtesy of Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois, who has been arrested on charges of, inter alia, conspiring to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat. Great stuff: Federal prosecutors have investigated Blagojevich's administration for at least three years. The governor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich also sought promises of campaign cash, as well as a cabinet post or ambassadorship in exchange for his Senate choice.
Chicago Hardball
From our UK edition
More from the Blagojevich indictment: [I]ntercepted phone conversations between ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others indicate that ROD BLAGOJEVICH is contemplating rescinding his commitment of state funds to benefit Children's Memorial Hospital because Hospital Executive 1 has not made a recent campaign contribution to ROD BLAGOJEVICH. Really, if you're not entertained by this then you probably need to rethink your interest in politics.
Monday
Annals of Chutzpah
From our UK edition
Hilarious stuff from Wall Street: Merrill Lynch & Co. chief John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million, but the battered securities firm's compensation committee is resisting his request, according to people familiar with the situation. As Patrick Appel observes Merrill lost $11 billion and its independence this year. And here's a fun snippet from Michael Lewis's terrific Portfolio piece on the sub-prime fiasco: Not long after that, FrontPoint had a visit from Sanford C. Bernstein’s Brad Hintz, a prominent analyst who covered Wall Street firms. Hintz wanted to know what Eisman was up to. “We just shorted Merrill Lynch,” Eisman told him. “Why?” asked Hintz.
Friday
DC a State? Why Not Hong Kong II?
From our UK edition
Yglesias supports the idea of DC becoming the 51st state. This would be great news for Democrats since the party would be rewarded with a brace of Senators and an additional Congressman. That's one reason why it will never happen. Still, DC's lack of voting representation in Congress is a boon for foreign correspondents needing an idea every so often. I reckon you can squeeze a piece out of the matter at least every 18 months. And it's true that foreigners are astonished to discover that residents of the US capital have no votes in Congress. So yes, it's nice that DC car license plates carry the slogan "Taxation Without Representation". But what about a grand bargain? In return for not having a vote in Congress, how about abolishing the federal income tax for DC residents?
Why will no-one support independence?
From our UK edition
Commenter Rab O'Ruglen doesn't have much sympathy for the crisis afflicting the Tartan press: While I have every sympathy for those who find themselves in employment difficulties through no fault of their own I cannot say I have any sympathy for the Scottish print medium whatsoever. If you are looking for an example of a people less well served by its press than Scotland's, you have to go to totalitarian states to find it.It is incredible that when the Independence movement has reached the stage of forming a government, all-be-it a minority one, that every single one of Scotland's public prints is pro-Union. Sometimes vitriolically so.