Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Thursday

Alex Massie

Department of Government Gobbledygook

From our UK edition

Bill Jamieson has been having some fun with the ghastly nonsense that is Government-Speak. Some favourites: BENCHMARKING - Clipboard activity suggesting that measuring a problem is the same as doing something about it. Gives illusion of purposeful action, as in David Milliband: "A diversity of approach allows us to spread risks, to test out different ways of working, and to benchmark best practice." COMMUNITY GROUP - Special interest group with a grievance, or group of people a politician wants to flatter or appease. Participation in community not relevant. CUSTOMER - Someone who has no choice over the public service he or she is obliged to use. ECO - Three letters to attach to any development seeking a fast track through the planning system. ECO-HOME - A house made with planks.

Alex Massie

Desperately Seeking a Tartan Sarko?

From our UK edition

One of the most kenspeckled British political anecdotes of the last half century recounts the occasion when it was said of Herbert Morrison that he was "his own worst enemy", his great rival Ernie Bevin was quick to interject: "Not while I'm alive, he ain't!". So when, courtesy of Art Goldhammer, I read that Pierre Lellouche, a conservative member of the UMP from Paris, had condemned the French right in these terms: "La droite française, malgré la magie sarkozyenne à l'UMP, serait-elle redevenue, Sarkozy parti à l'Elysée, la plus bête et la plus lâche du monde", se demande le député de Paris. my immediate thought was, no, that ain't possible.

Alex Massie

Oddly, “significant” America overlaps exactly with states Hillary wins…

From our UK edition

The Clinton campaign appears to be staffed by morons. To wit: Mark Penn: "Could we possibly have a nominee who hasn't won any of the significant states -- outside of Illinois?” Chief Strategist Mark Penn said. “That raises some serious questions about Sen. Obama.” Oh dear. This is so obviously absurd that it scarcely requires refutation. Still, it's tiresome that so many people seem to think performance in a Democratic-primary is any indicator for likely performance in a November general election. Let me make a bold prediction however: if Barack Obama is the nominee he will win "significant" states such as New York and California.

Alex Massie

The myth of progress, Victoria

From our UK edition

Foreign Policy on a splendid Greek sex scandal: Now, it's Greece's turn, and it may be the most fascinating one yet. Here's the story: A young woman slept with the general secretary of the culture ministry in the hopes of obtaining a permanent job (judging by his photo, left, that had to be the only reason). When he didn't follow through, she recorded her encounters with him on a DVD, allegedly to blackmail him, and ended up taking it to the press. Most journalists wouldn't work with her, but a copy of the DVD somehow found its way to the prime minister's office. Once the official being blackmailed got wind of this, he resigned and jumped from his balcony in a suicide attempt.

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Tales of modern Britain

From our UK edition

Like the redoubtable Mr Eugenides (from whom I pilfer this item), I find myself outraged by this. Alas, merely chucking out the cretins in charge is unlikely to be enough since the Tories will find ways of being just as appallingly intrusive and idiotic. A commuter was arrested at gunpoint and had his DNA and fingerprints taken simply for listening to his MP3 player while waiting for a bus. Darren Nixon was surrounded by armed police after his music player was mistaken for a gun. When a passer-by saw the 28-year-old get out his black Philips machine to change tracks, she panicked and dialled 999. Police tracked Mr Nixon using CCTV. As he got off the bus home from work he was surrounded by a firearms unit, who bundled him into a van.

Alex Massie

Obama’s Deep Impact

From our UK edition

The best argument against Barack Obama? Have we learned nothing from the tragic events of 1998, when, under the watch of President Morgan Freeman, this nation was plunged into chaos, and hundreds of millions of people died at the hands of the deadly Wolf-Beiderman space rock? The mere fact that this country is even considering putting another black man, Barack Obama, in the Oval Office proves that we have not. We can't deny the facts, people. All we will get by electing an African-American is Texas-size space particles crashing into the Earth's surface, mega-tsunamis that barrel into the Appalachian Mountains, and 6.6 billion dead people. I'm not suggesting that President Freeman was directly responsible for the creation of the Wolf-Beiderman comet or its Earth-bound path.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Media narratives

From our UK edition

On Christmas day 2007 in Washington DC I participated in a "Who will be contesting the presidential election?" parlour game and said that Barack Obama would beat John McCain. Admittedly the sole American had retreated to have a nap while half a dozen Brits confidently prognosticated upon all this... But still... Nonetheless, here's young Yglesias: I think the college educated men who dominate punditland have spent a lot of time missing the fact that there actually are enthusiastic Clinton fans out there -- they're just mostly working class women and thus mostly not in the room when this CW gets hashed out. On top of that, I think Clinton's succeeded in managing the expectations savvily.

Alex Massie

Who needs TV writers anyway?

From our UK edition

At last! A new TV "reality" show worth watching:                                                                                       Move over American Idol and make room for Rockstar Curling, a reality television show that may indeed have a rock-star connection. NBC confirmed yesterday it has an exclusive option to air a 10-episode sports reality show that will give the winners a shot at competing in the U.S. championships and even going to the 2010 Olympics.

Alex Massie

Clinton’s latest straw-clutching

From our UK edition

Dan Drezner asks whether the Clinton campaign's arguments can be reconciled logically: Over the past few days, the Clinton campaign has made the following two arguments:  a)  Caucuses don't really count as much as primaries because, "the caucus system is undemocratic and caters mostly to party activists." b)  The superdelegates -- which consist only of party activists -- should not follow the primary results but instead, "should make an independent decision based on who they thought would be the strongest candidate and president."  Well, no, they can't. More interesting than the obvious contradictions at play here, is the fact that these arguments are even being made. It's another sign, I think, of the Clinton campaign's increasing desperation.

Alex Massie

Depends upon what you mean by “polluter pays”…

From our UK edition

Good grief: THE Scottish Government is preparing to take on supermarkets and off-licences in the battle against alcohol abuse, forcing them to pay a levy under new plans to make retailers meet the social cost of the country's "bevvy culture". Proposals for a "polluter pays" charge have been extended from pubs and clubs to include every shop that sells alcohol in Scotland, amid a growing perception among ministers and senior officials that retailers are fuelling crime and anti-social behaviour by selling liquor... Details of the proposed levy will be announced in the spring and will be subject to public consultation, but Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, yesterday made it clear that off-licences and supermarkets were now in the firing line for the new measure.

Alex Massie

Department of Taxing Questions

From our UK edition

I agree with Ezra that it would be grand if all politicians asked themselves these sorts of question: I want a Democrat willing to say that the question is, "what are we paying for? And what do we need to pay for?"... The Republicans have succeeded in moving the tax debate onto grounds of "who pays," and "how much." Democrats need to remember to ask, "what for," and "what if we don't?" Granted, the answers Ezra would like to hear are rather different from those I would be encouraged by. But they're the right questions. Asking similar questions of proposed legislation - whether at Holyrood, Westminster or, for that matter, in Washington - would be no bad thing either. Well, one may dream, no?

Monday

Alex Massie

Will ye no’ come back again?

From our UK edition

Should Berwick leave England and return to Scotland? An unofficial vote is taking place in the English borders town asking locals whether they want to switch from England to being part of Scotland. The town, which is near the Scottish border, has changed hands between the two countries at least 13 times... A television debate and vote is being held for the ITV Tonight show to gauge local views on becoming part of Scotland again. Fair enough. But in a spirit of conciliation, perhaps we could give england some town in Scotland as compensation for the loss of Berwick. I'm tempted to suggest Galashiels but am conscious there are many more deserving - ie, places we would be well shot of - towns in the west of Scotland.

Alex Massie

Regrets, I’ve had a few…

From our UK edition

Jonah Goldberg: One thing I would like to know is what it says about Matthew Dowd (a perfectly likable fellow) that he eagerly signed up to work for Bush but now thinks the man's a moron. Makes you wonder about the guy's judgment, to say the least. OK. I was, perhaps mistakenly, somewhat impressed by Bush when I covered the 2000 Republican convention in Philadelphia. In 2004 I could not stand the idea of John Kerry being on our TV screens every day for four (and it would only have been four) years so, faute de mieux, I suppose I was glad Bush won... But, really, is it not possible - even sensible - tohave changed one's mind since then? And shouldn't it actually speak well of Mr Dowd that he has, apparently, been prepared to do so?

Alex Massie

Them’s the breaks…

From our UK edition

Matt Yglesias calls it like it is: Back in October 2007, Clinton was beating Obama in Maine by a hilarious 47 to 10 margin, but it seems he's carried the state today, once again by a large margin. My understanding, though, is that this doesn't really count because it's a small state, much as Utah doesn't count because there aren't many Democrats there, DC doesn't count because there are too many black people, Washington doesn't count because it's a caucus, Illinois doesn't count because Obama represents it in the Senate even though Hillary was born there, Hawaii won't count because Obama was born there. I'm not sure why Delaware and Connecticut don't count, but they definitely don't.

Sunday

Alex Massie

Today’s picture

From our UK edition

If I could bring myself to contemplate the wreckage - nay, the horror - of Scotland's Six Nations campaign I might blog about it.

Alex Massie

Department of English/British Conflation

From our UK edition

Radley, Radley... Please. This isn't the "British Olympic soccer team" giving the Nazi salute in 1938, it's the English soccer team. You may think this a minor matter, but I assure you it makes all the difference in the world. But yes, it's rotten that the British Olympic Association should be wanting to gag athletes who might - albeit improbably - feel like protesting China's, er, mixed human rights record from doing so.

Saturday

Alex Massie

Caucusing amidst the Coloradoans*

From our UK edition

Caucuses really are a pretty loopy way to choose a Presidential candidate. At least, caucuses run the way they are across the USA are. On the other hand, that permits entertaining pieces such as this one by Paul Campos, who reports for The New Republic on his experience in Colorado: February 1: I email Barack Obama's Colorado campaign site, asking for information on which caucus I should attend. Although I write a syndicated column that often deals with presidential politics, I've never been to a caucus, or for that matter participated in a political campaign. And my lifetime financial contributions to politicians consist of writing a $50 check to John Kerry in the summer of 2004.

Alex Massie

Department of Niche

From our UK edition

Alan Jacobs at the always-splendid American Scene: Here’s my Little Surprise of the Day: I was reading this blog post about the proposed Microsoft purchase of Yahoo, and saw in the chart at the bottom of the post that Yahoo Mail has over fifty percent of the American email market while Gmail has less than six percent. Less than six percent? Are you kidding? Three-quarters of the people I correspond with (or so it feels) use Gmail. How did my experience get so skewed from the norm? Are we Gmail users a bunch of weirdos? And, if so, just what kind of weirdos? (And, whole we’re at it, how could anyone prefer the hideously ad-strewn UI of Yahoo Mail?) Count me both not-surprised and surprised. Almost everyone I email has gmail as their non-work address.

Friday

Alex Massie

Sego and Barack and the press

From our UK edition

Since the British press have been having all sorts of fun over the "snub"*  Gordon Brown thanks to a canceled meeting with John McCain it's worth noting that press sillyness is not confined to the anglosphere by any means. Art Goldhammer has the details: Le Figaro has a perfidious piece on Ségolène Royal's visit to the US. It leads with the insinuation that she was somehow snubbed by Barack Obama because she attended his rally without obtaining a picture of herself with the candidate. I said yesterday that I would not share my private impressions of Mme Royal, but in this case I will make an exception, because I had a conversation with her about the Obama rally.