Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Friday

Alex Massie

Rick Santorum’s Wilderness Years

Ever wondered what happened to Rick Santorum after he lost his Senate race in Pennsylvania last year? Fret not, Michael Brendan Dougherty has done the yeoman work of listening to the appalling codswallop Mr Man on Dog is peddling these days. The whole thing is worth reading, but really Mr Santorum's loony-tunes sing for themselves: For years, James Dobson, the Christian psychologist and popular radio talk-show host has been following Santorum’s efforts on behalf of socially conservative values. They both recently made Time’s list of the 25 most influential evangelicals, a true feat for a Catholic like Santorum. Like many evangelicals, Dobson’s interests now include foreign policy. In May, he dedicated two days of his show to broadcasting a Santorum stemwinder.

Alex Massie

High Noon in the War Against Cliche

Three cheers for Peter Suderman who is properly exasperated by this quotation from a WaPo piece: "It's just like the Wild West," said Frank O'Donnell of the group Clean Air Watch. "There are no controls, no standards." Yeah, 'cos, you know, chaps like Pat Garrett and Wyatt Earp and many, many others didn't ever live...

Alex Massie

Bleak House, being the matter of the interminable case of Blair vs Brown?

Tony Blair has engaged the same lawyer - Robert Barnett - that negotiated Bill and Hillary Clinton's respective books deals. Blair is reported to be wanting as much as £8m for them (please lord, let his book be better than either Bill or Hillary's). My mate James Forsyth asks readers to submit working titles for Blair's memoirs, here. Previous such Spectator contests have awarded bottles of champagne to the winner, so there's that too. Of course, leave your ideas for suitable titles in the comments here as well.

Alex Massie

Why don’t we just abolish the income tax?

Whew! In a bold statement of intent, the Tories said today they "will consider" cutting taxes. Wear them medals with pride, boys. You've earned them. Predictably Labour are calling proposals - mere proposals, not policy mark you -  to trim a mere £14bn from government spending a "lurch to the right" that would leave Britain in some kind of mysterious financial "black hole". Stuff and nonsense, of course, but the people - and much of the media - might just buy it. For more on John Redwood's plans - such as cutting regulation, offering tax relief on donations to universities and, hurrah!, Lifetime Savings Accounts, see the fine fellows at the Adam Smith Institute.

Alex Massie

Bill Deedes: off-stone for good now

Few journalists merit memorials; Bill Deedes, who died today aged 94, is an exception to that general rule. Most famously, he was the inspiration for Evelyn Waugh's William Boot in Scoop*, but Lord Deedes was more than that. A Telegraph institution, editor of the paper, former cabinet minister, roving reporter, winner of the Military Cross, Denis Thatcher's golf partner, and one hell of a journalist to, er, boot. He wrote about every Prime Minister from Ramsay Macdonald(!) to Tony Blair and continued to report until the end. Three years ago, aged 91, he was still on the road, travelling to Darfur - the subject of his final column for the paper, published just ten days ago.  And so another piece of Fleet Street history is gone. The Telegraph's obituary is properly affectionate.

Thursday

Alex Massie

Let’s re-engage with John Edwards foreign policy vision

PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, STRENGTH THROUGH JOY, JOY THROUGH WAR Apparently policing the world really is like cleaning up Gotham: "In this decade, for the first time in human history, half of the world's population will live in cities. I know from personal experience that when security is reliably established in a troubled part of a city, normal life rapidly reestablishes itself: shops open, people move back in, children start playing ball on the sidewalks again, and soon a decent and law-abiding community returns to life. The same is true in world affairs. Disorder in the world's bad neighborhoods tends to spread. Tolerating bad behavior breeds more bad behavior. But concerted action to uphold international standards will help peoples, economies, and states to thrive.

Alex Massie

Elvis: Still the King

This Tim Luckhurst piece for (who else?) The Guardian may be the dumbest thing even this professional contrarian has ever written. Apparently Elvis made "dull music for duller people" and "affection for Elvis is a workable predictor of anti-intellectual attitude". Mr Luckhurst concludes that: The only credible claim that can be made on Elvis Presley's behalf is that he helped introduce blues influences to a mass audience. But in a less bigoted era that would have been accomplished by authentic blues musicians. They expressed real emotions, despite origins at least as disadvantaged as his. But the world was not ready for their genius. It preferred to celebrate a dimwit instead. Aye, right. It's this sort of nonsense - trolling really - which gives punditry a bad name.

Alex Massie

Dumb Britain

The Assault on Reason continues: A-Level results are out today in the UK and, amazingly, our kids is learning even betterer - more than one in four papers is now given an "A", ensuring, natch, that everyone can have a prize. 96.9% of papers received a passing grade. The always excellent Burning Our Money has been on the case for some time. This handy chart shows just how much the system has been corrupted: on average, pupils are being marked two grades more charitably than was the case 15 years ago: NB: the rot really sets in after 1992 which, happily, was the year I took my A-Levels. This affords all manner of opportunities for immensely satisfying "When I were a lad..." grousing.

Alex Massie

Biden’s son to serve in Iraq

From the AP: The son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is preparing for deployment to Iraq next year. Capt. Beau Biden, a Judge Advocate General in the Delaware National Guard and the state's attorney general, is part of the 261st Signal Brigade that has been told to prepare for duty in Iraq in 2008. They have not been given a date of deployment yet. "I don't want him going," Delaware Sen. Joe Biden said from the campaign trail Wednesday, according to a report on Radio Iowa. "But I tell you what, I don't want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years and so how we leave makes a big difference." As GFR points out, that's a bit different from Mitt Romney's sons serving their country by selling Mormonism. But enough of policy... Biden named his son Beau?

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Salmond makes his move: l’audace, encore de l’audace, toujours de l’audace

UPDATE: Welcome, Ross's readers. Feel free to have a poke around. Should you be so interested, other stuff I've written about Scottish politics and the like can easily be found by clicking on "Scotland" in the categories column on the right. Meanwhile, in Scotland... It's been a startlingly successful first 100 days in office for Alex Salmond. His minority ministry has proved more stable - and more quietly effective - than many sceptics feared. That's quite an achievement, even if Salmond did arrive in office with a degree of goodwill. Yes, many voters remain unconvinced by the SNP but many others who voted Tory or Lib Dem were relieved to finally see Labour bundled out of Bute House.

Alex Massie

Comedy Republican Watch

Every political party has its share of clowns; still, it will be worth keeping an eye out for Idaho Republican Bill Sali. Here's what the Congressman had to say recently, objecting to, well, non Judeo-Christian faiths being heard in Washington: "We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes -- and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers," asserts Sali. Sali says America was built on Christian principles that were derived from scripture. He also says the only way the United States has been allowed to exist in a world that is so hostile to Christian principles is through "the protective hand of God.

Alex Massie

Barack Obama, narcissist?

By which I mean only this: is Barack Obama more of a narcissist than the average egotist running for the Presidency? Ryan Lizza's interesting GQ piece on Obama prompted Daniel Larison to suspect that "In other words, underneath the megalomaniac is a con-man, and underneath the con-man is the guy with the delusions of grandeur. Sounds like a great combination." I was struck by the conclusion to Ryan's thoughtful piece: It always comes back to this, Obama struggling not to let the campaign change who he is. He has a way of reflecting on his own campaign as an outside observer. “We’ll joke,” his wife told me, “when we’re sitting at home watching TV, on the rare quiet night, and something will come on the news, and it’s about Barack Obama.

Alex Massie

Stop press: Labour numpty* stumbles upon truth!

So, as expected Jack McConnell has resigned as leader of the Scottish Labour Party. A friend emails me the best, most accurate (albeit unintentionally so) reaction to this news: "Let's remember where he took this party from to where it is now and I think that's a great contribution not just for the Labour party but also for Scotland." Since McConnell inherited a party in power and leaves it in opposition, this is, for once, something Andy Kerr - Mr McConnell's Finance Minister - and I can agree on. Of course, the proof that Scotland needed a political revolution is found in the words "Finance Minister Andy Kerr". *A clown, a buffoon, someone who makes exasperating mistakes, misses open goals, shoots self in foot etc. Generally a clod and an idiot.

Alex Massie

We can’t turn them away (but we will unless you do something about it)

If you're a British resident or citizen (subject, surely?) might I suggest you add your name to the petition calling upon Her Majesty's Government to provide refuge in the United Kingdom for those Iraqi translators and other Iraqi civilians who have risked their lives working for the British armed forces in southern Iraq and who, consequently, have much to fear if left in Iraq. You might also want to write to your MP. This isn't a matter of whether one was for the war or against it. It's a matter of simple decency, honour and obligation: all of which makes one think that absent significant public and media pressure the government will, in traditional style, find a way to do the shabby thing. That is, after all, the current default position.

Alex Massie

White House does best to undermine public confidence in own strategy

I'm quite prepared to believe there has been some military progress in Iraq and that it might be possible for the US to move some troops from some areas to others where they could be more profitably engaged. But I'd be much more comfortable taking General David Petraeus's report at face value if the Los Angeles Times were not reporting that: Despite Bush's repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.

Alex Massie

Bring me your huddled, undocumented masses…

On the other hand, via K-Lo at the Corner, Giuliani did have some redeeming features: America is an immigrant nation with a long and proud tradition of inclusion and diversity. This tradition has helped our country to grow into the world's leading economic power. Forward-looking and enlightened Americans joined together to stop the "Know-Nothings" of the mid-nineteenth century. This allowed for an incredible expansion in the twentieth century. Now, we must do the same and stand up to today's isolationist movement to ensure that America's next century is as prosperous as the last. And: "Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens," Giuliani said in 1994.

Alex Massie

Resisting the exercise bullies

John Daly, Man of the People, Hero: [Tiger] Woods, who won the USPGA on Sunday, said his opponents could have combated Tulsa's heat better with a fitness regime like his. Daly, who weighs 100kgs and has had well-documented alcohol problems, briefly led at Southern Hills before fading to tie for 32nd place. But he said: "I did better than most players last week who do work out." Speaking on the eve of the European Tour's Scandinavian Masters in Sweden, Daly added: "I don't think it matters if you work out or if you don't work out." "I'm used to the heat. Fat boys like me can get through the heat." "I tried but every time I worked out I threw up and I thought to myself that you can get drunk and throw up, so it's just not for me.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Dick, Macdonald, Leonard (& Adam Gopnik too)

Readers with elephantine memories may recall a discussion on the merits of not-reading and on Oneupmanship. With regard to that latter cause, I present The New Yorker's Adam Gopnik, reviewing the Library of America's new and handsome edition of four Philip K Dick novels: While he served a fairly long apprenticeship—a series of almost unreadable realist working-class novels that he wrote in the fifties are now back in print—and struggled to make money, from the time “The Man in the High Castle” won a Hugo Award, in 1963, he was famous, admired, and read. He wasn’t reviewed on the front page of the Times Book Review, but so what?

Alex Massie

A view to a kill in the morning*

Ah, August. Season of twits and sillyness. How else would the papers ever be filled? Even so, I confess to being mildly startled to discover that a story headlined "'Chav Chasing' public schoolboys criticised" concerned my own dear old alma mater. But yes, as this video demonstrates, it seems some public spirited members of the college community been spending their time clearing vermin from the woods (home of many a fondly remembered smoking den back in the day). This will appeal most to the decent working class and the smugger elements of the state-educated middle classes who can have the pleasure of scoffing at the toffs and chavs alike... (Clive? Pootergeek?) Watch More Videos        Uploaded by www.bebo.

Alex Massie

Polly: adrift on a sea of ignorance. Who knew?

Sigh. I know we don't expect much from Polly Toynbee. But perhaps she should read some Irving Kristol before she starts referring to John Redwood as a neocon throwback to the Thatcher era. If she added some other books to her reading list she might remember that the Thatcherites were, to some extent at least, inspired by FA Hayek - a man not generally considered a neoconservative luminary. It's too delicious, of course, that in terms of policy towards work and families and other social matters La Toynbee deeply cares about, she has rather more in common with neoconservatives than she seems to understand. They, after all, are the proponents of the "Big Government Conservatism" she says David Cameron must embrace.