Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Wednesday

Alex Massie

America’s Che Guevara (Apparently)

Lord knows I am suspicious of Obama and the cult he inspires (just as, in fairness, all other candidates inspire such adulation), but when the likes of National Review's Bill Bennett writes this sort of nonsense about Obama one can't help but harbour a certain hope that he will win in November. Defeating clowns capable of writing nonsense such as this is, actually, quite important: the Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of George McGovern, albeit without McGovern’s military and political record. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far-left candidate in the tradition of Michael Dukakis, albeit without Dukakis’s executive experience as governor.

Alex Massie

Transatlantic Currents: Press Division

Dan Drezner thinks that the Clintons are probably right to suppose that the press has favoured Barack Obama this year. Still, he says, they probably shouldn't read the UK papers and cites this piece by the Times' Tim Reid which begins: Seventeen months after she sat regally in her New York living room and calmly declared: “I’m in and I’m in to win,” Hillary Clinton stands on a stage in a stifling hot shed in South Dakota, coughing and spluttering, as her daughter, Chelsea, grabs the microphone from her hand to take over the show. “A long campaign,” the former First Lady chokes out between sips of water.

Alex Massie

The Rhetoric of War

Breaking News: George W Bush is not Henry V. Shocking, I know. According to former General Ricardo Sanchez: Among the anecdotes in "Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story" is an arresting portrait of Bush after four contractors were killed in Fallujah in 2004, triggering a fierce U.S. response that was reportedly egged on by the president. During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a "confused" pep talk: "Kick ass!" he quotes the president as saying. "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Our Legislators at Work

An occasional series in which we dare to take a look at what's actually happening in the Scottish Parliament. Not, I warn you, for the faint of heart or the easily enraged. Now, yes, it's true that most MSPs are well-intentioned, even kindly, souls concerned with the public good. But this takes them to some strange places. Consider these questions from "Health and Wellbeing" questions last week (what an awful title for a government ministry incidentally, one that explicitly endorses the idea of nannying adults)...

Alex Massie

What will she do now?

All sorts of speculation as to what Hillary Clinton will do once the primary season ends this evening and even her doughtiest supporters might begin to realise it's unlikely she's going to be the Democratic party's nominee. Some of them doubtless want her to "fight on" all the way to the convention.For what little it's worth I'd hazard that this is unlikely. Self-interest demands that she concede this week and that she does so graciously. At the risk of looking too far down the road (why bother with this election when we can have fun with one to come?) let's just say that it's all about 2012. Assume that the Clintons are right that Obama can't defeat McCain this November. Assume too that Hillarys presidential ambitions aren't likely to fade away.

Alex Massie

OK, so maybe the lunch queue isn’t totalitarian, but…

Gene Healy draws attention to this Bill Clinton quotation from 1997*:And it’s hard when you’re not threatened by a foreign enemy to whip people up to a fever pitch of common, intense, sustained, disciplined endeavor. But that is what we must do, my fellow Americans. That is what we must do.I don't mean to pick on Bill Clinton here since, after all, Barack Obama and John McCain would each agree with the sentiment expressed by Clinton here. So too would George W Bush who, accepting his party's nomination in 2000, lamented the lack of "purpose" *Of course, many of the American right would say that the US was threatened in 1997 and that Clinton was culpable in not addressing this threat. Of course (again), that's not what they said then.

Alex Massie

Britishness parties? No thanks.

The government hasn't given up on plans to compell us to celebrate our Britishness. Immigration Minister Liam Byrne:is due to make the case for the August Bank Holiday to be a national British day in a wide ranging speech on national identity to New Labour think tank Progress.The immigration minister will say a "clear majority of people" support the idea of a national day of celebration, based upon his own discussions with voters in recent months.He will tell Progress there is a "strong sense that the time is right for Britain as a country to do more to celebrate the things we have in common"."And one way to do this is a day or two of celebration of what we like and love about living in this country," he will say.

Alex Massie

Adventures in Marketing

Lots of good things come from China, but this is magnificent. Perhaps James Fallows can do a series of posts on counterfeit Chinese whisky? Via, here, here, here, here and here.

Alex Massie

The Great British Sausage

The news that ASDA is selling sausages that are, alarmingly, just 34% pork for 2p each naturally brought this classic Yes, Minister moment to mind: [Hat-tip: The Corridor].

Alex Massie

Tobacco Futures | 3 June 2008

The boys at The Daily Mash have the gory details... 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.

Alex Massie

Tales from the Security State

Great. Travelling to the United States from western europe (and other countries that are part of the Visa Waiver Programme) just got made more complicated and more of a hassle than it already is. Brace yourselves for horror stories starting in August... Note too that toddlers will also have to register online 72 hours before boarding their plane: Accompanied and unaccompanied children, regardless of age, will be required to obtain an independent ESTA authorization and determination of eligibility. True, you only need do this once (they say now) every two years, but still... Tedious.

Monday

Alex Massie

Good news for Gordon!

At least one person thinks he can still win! This manis on much more comfortable ground discussing his work with overseas politicians, including his contributions to Blair's 2005 campaign, which include dreaming up the slogan "Forward Not Back"*. "Part of the reason I've been so successful in so many different foreign countries," he says, "has been that I'll come to people who are locked into a world that they see only from their political context ... and be able to say 'No, no, no - let's take a look at the numbers.'" He seems remarkably sanguine about the current prime minister's problems. "Look, obviously, Labour and Gordon Brown are in a tough spot," he says. "But these are situations that he has time to work out before a scheduled election ...

Alex Massie

The new kings of Western Swing?

Via Cato, comes this report from The Times: They turn out in their hundreds in Stetsons and boots as hits such as the Crazy Foot Mambo and the Cowboy Strut echo around their village halls. They are drawn by a love of American culture - although definitely not American politics - and a passion for line dancing... Now country and western has become so big in France that the country's bureaucrats have decided to bring the craze under state control. The French administration has moved to create an official country dancing diploma as part of a drive to regulate the fad. Authorised instructors who have been on publicly funded training courses will be put in charge of line dancing lessons and balls.

Thursday

Alex Massie

New Zealand Hookers

Meanwhile, there's happier news from New Zealand. Actually, there quite often is. Despite its sleepy reputation, New Zealand is an interesting, even innovative place. Though this is more Will Wilkinson's bailiwick than mine, NZ always scores well in measurements of global happiness and quality of life surveys. And, in part, I suppose, because of its isolated location, it's been forced to take a flexible approach to public policy. Thus, New Zealand scrapped agricultural subsidies and implemented a school choice programme vastly more adventurous than anything attempted in the UK, let alone Scotland. Now, on the social front, comes interesting news about the consequences of decriminalising prostitution (which is more Kerry Howley's domain than mine).

Alex Massie

Brown Healthwatch

Good god, this is insane. PR Week reports:Gordon Brown's latest comms offensive involves cold-calling members of the public who have written him letters, according to sources close to Downing Street.The initiative is said to be the brainchild of Downing Street chief of strategy Stephen Carter and is intended to 'humanise' the Prime Minister as his popularity continues to wane.'Carter thought it was a good idea to have Brown call people personally,' said one insider. 'Carter will choose a letter or email at random, have one of his team at Number 10 prepare a res­ponse, then get Brown to call.'The move is an attempt to spread positive word of mouth for the PM, especially in the ­regions.

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Not actually an April Fool

I waited until to check that it wasn't actually April 2nd today, before posting this. It's no great surprise to see a piece in the Telegraph begin:Politics is about both measures and men. Labour is over-obsessing about one man instead of asking whether our measures make sense. Any prime minister in office today would feel the voters' anger as they see their cherished plans to spend their own money as they see fit destroyed by rising prices combined with the insatiable greed of the state in all its manifestations to take the people's money for its own, often incompetent and counter-productive ends.But it's rather more surprising to see that the author is Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham. Now, it only the Tories could learn from the pugnacious Mr MacShane...

Alex Massie

On Sale Soon…

Via Swampland, comes news of this exciting contest to design a new t-shirt for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Personally, I'd say it's tough to beat the impact of a slogan such as "She was for universal health care before universal health care was cool" but then again, what the hell do I know? Then again, I do know that I wouldn't have let this shirt be a finalist: What's the problem? Well, as any fule kno, if you're "counted out" you can't then "refuse" to be "knocked out" for the simple reason that the referee has stopped the fight and, er, you've lost. By knock-out. Then again, perhaps failing to beat the count doesn't actually constitute a defeat in Hillaryland...

Alex Massie

Shadowing the GOP

Ezra Klein asks if Jim Webb is "too good for the Vice-Presidency". And perhaps he is. Or rather, he'd be more useful to Democrats if he remained in the Senate, uninhibited by the restrictions imposed by the Vice-Presidency. And perhaps that too is so. Nonetheless Ezra's piece also demonstrates the extent to which Webb is by some way the most interesting but also, perhaps, riskiest choice Obama could make. Still, here's another notion: Obama might consider naming some members of his cabinet this summer, creating a British-style shadow cabinet to act as spokesmen for his campaign during the general election.

Alex Massie

Department of Pretty Words

The Boston Globe:"Candidates Unite Against Darfur Genocide"Isn't it a bit late for that? "Today, we wish to make clear to the Sudanese government that on this moral issue of tremendous importance, there is no divide between us," the three candidates say. "We stand united and demand that the genocide and violence in Darfur be brought to an end and that the CPA be fully implemented. Even as we campaign for the presidency, we will use our standing as Senators to press for the steps needed to ensure that the United States honors, in practice and in deed, its commitment to the cause of peace and protection of Darfur's innocent citizenry. We will continue to keep a close watch on events in Sudan and speak out for its marginalized peoples.

Alex Massie

The Price of Petrol

Americans who despair at $4 a gallon petrol prices at the pump might be cheered by taking a peek at mattters in Britain where petrol now costs roughly £6 a gallon (or approximately $12). Gordon Brown did his best to produce a rabbit out of nowhere today, announcing "measures" to increase North Sea oil production from next year. But this is only going to fool credulous fools. This handy little graphic produced by the Automobile Association shows why Brown's gambit won't work: So, there you have it. If petrol is becoming hideously expensive, it's at least largely Gordon Brown's fault.