Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Thursday

Alex Massie

EU Shocker: The United States agrees with the British Government! – Spectator Blogs

Good grief. Are we supposed to be surprised that senior officials at the US State Department take the view that Britain should, all things considered, remain a member of the European Union? Of course not. Are, however, we supposed to be shocked by Foggy Bottom's impertinence in saying so? Apparently so. Of course, if the Obama administration were to say that it's in America's interests for Britain to leave the EU then I hazard many of those pretending - for surely it must only be a pretence? - to be outraged by this damned interference in our own affairs would instead welcome the Americans' intervention in the debate and use it as yet more evidence the EU is a busted flush and that the future lies in some grand Churchillian alliance of the English-speaking peoples. Well, fine.

Wednesday

Alex Massie

2013: Can the SNP move beyond preaching to the already converted? – Spectator Blogs

Alex Salmond is back in Bute House, refreshed and chippered by a much-needed holiday. If 2012 was a year in which the Referendum Guns were first deployed it was still, in the end, something of a phoney war. At the risk of exhausting an easily-exhausted electorate, 2013 should see more action. This week's column at Think Scotland argues that the SNP need to broaden their vision and approach the campaign with a greater sense of generosity than is sometimes seen. At present they depend too heavily - in my view - on the idea that independence is a way to Tory-proof Scotland. That's a negative, not a positive, case. Moreover it's one that muddles a short-term inconvenience (A Tory-led government with little support in Scotland) with a long-term reality: independence is for life, not Christmas.

Alex Massie

Barack Obama & Chuck Hagel: The Era of Big Foreign Policy is Over

Republicans objecting to Chuck Hagel's nomination to serve as the new US Defense Secretary have only themselves to blame. Having run Susan Rice out of the running to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, there's no way President Obama could stomach losing a second high-profile nomination before he's even formally accepted his second term. That's a trivial detail. More importantly, the objections to Hagel's nomination are a useful reminder why, at least in terms of foreign policy, this present bunch of Democrats is preferable to their Republican opponents. According to the feverish GOP reaction against Hagel, the Nebraskan is an anti-semite whose views lie outside the Washington "mainstream".

Saturday

Alex Massie

Lance Armstrong, the Greatest Cheat in the History of Sport, Prepares to Admit His Sins – Spectator Blogs

The news, reported by the New York Times, that Lance Armstrong is preparing to confess his sins reminds me of this passage from the Book of Daniel: Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Remember, however, that golden-sunned afternoon in Paris in the summer of 2005. On the Champs-Elysees Lance Armstrong, the undisputed titan of his era, stands atop a podium to deliver a message to the masses thronged before him: "I'll say to the people who don't believe, the cynics and the sceptics, I'm sorry for you.

Alex Massie

Let Them Eat Gruel: The Government-Health-Security Complex Invades Your Kitchen – Spectator Blogs

Addressing the American people for the final time as President, Dwight Eisenhower warned that: This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

Friday

Alex Massie

Irish Newspapers Attempt to Kill the Internet – Spectator Blogs

If Andrew Sullivan offers one example of how to thrive in the confusing, difficult, exciting new media world then, by god, the Irish newspaper industry offers another. The Irish newspaper industry has hit upon an innovative means of survival in these troubled times for the ink-trade: charge folk money for linking to your copy. Yes, for linking. Not for copying or ripping off or excerpting far beyond any fair use standard but for linking. Like, for instance, this link. Or this one. Or this one. Or this one. Or this one. Or this one. For linking to these six randomly selected stories from today's Irish papers the industry suggests it be paid 500 euros. Good luck screwing that from the sensibly-prudent Spectator accounts department.

Alex Massie

Andrew Sullivan’s Declaration of Independence – Spectator Blogs

The big news of the new year - for those of us in the online world anyway - is that Andrew Sullivan is leaving Tina Brown's Daily Beast and taking his blog independent again. I'm not sure anyone should be surprised by this. Although Sullivan's site has been hosted by a succession of media "brands" his own "brand" has become steadily stronger than those of his hosts. You weren't reading Time or the Atlantic or the Daily Beast you were reading Andrew Sullivan and it just happened that these other organisations were kind enough to host Sullivan and his team. They may have helped Andrew's audience increase but it was increasing anyway. They have now served their purpose and Andrew is returning to the independent world. I suspect that being his own boss suits him better anyway.

Alex Massie

Happy New Year | 4 January 2013

I hope you all had a splendid Christmas and New Year. Mine was, if you care about these things, more eventful and hectic than I'd planned or otherwise anticipated. Each January I tend to have a Wodehouse Week, returning to the great man for cheery sustenance in the bleak midwinter.  It will be a rum thing, reading Wodehouse while engaged to be married. Anyway, back on the grid now and the great thing about writing and blogging is that it's a commendable distraction from wedding planning. The grindstone never seemed so appealing. Time too, I suppose, to post the answers to my Christmas Quiz. So here they are. Hope you had some fun with it. 1.

Saturday

Alex Massie

Christmas Quiz 2012! – Spectator Blogs

It's that time of year again! I'm away to Jura for Christmas tomorrow so posting - indeed internet access - is likely to be light. I trust all readers will enjoy a splendid Christmas. Best wishes to you all. To tide you over, here's this year's edition of my now annual Christmas Quiz. As with previous editions - 2009, 2010 and 2011 - it's not meant to be simple but there's more glory in attempting it without recourse to Mr Google. Answers will be published in the New Year but are also available on request (alexmassieATgmail.com). You might also catch me on twitter (@alexmassie) where you can ask for hints or whatnot. 1. In what sense might the road to Rome, a vernal American composition and the location of the South’s surrender each be found on your phone? 2.

Friday

Alex Massie

The National Rifle Association Disgraces Itself. Again. – Spectator Blogs

Earlier this week I suggested that America's gun owners have often been let down by the leadership of the gun-rights movement. I don't know if that has ever been more obvious than it is today. The press conference - well, a statement really, since there were no questions permitted - held by the NRA's Wayne LaPierre is quite extraordinary. Reading the transcript I thought at first that it must be a parody written by gun-control activists determined to discredit the National Rifle Association. Turns out there's no need to attempt that, not when the NRA is prepared to do the job itself. I don't know if I can recall a performance quite as stupid, bone-headed, ill-judged, morally obtuse, tone-deaf, politically obnoxious and emotionally unintelligent as this. Heckuva job, NRA.

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Is this the nastiest Conservative MP in Britain? – Spectator Blogs

Despite strong competition, Alec Shelbrooke is the new front-runner for the coveted title of Nastiest, Most Stupid Tory MP 2012. Here's what he proposes: Mr Shelbrooke has drafted a Bill that would change the law to allow welfare payments to be made on a new “welfare cash card” whose use could be restricted by the Government. "Introducing a welfare cash card on which benefits will be paid, claimants will only be able to make priority payments such as food, clothing, energy, travel and housing. The purchase of luxury goods such as cigarettes, alcohol, Sky television and gambling will be prohibited,” Mr Shelbrooke told MPs. I wonder how many poor people, far less people on welfare, Mr Shelbrooke encounters. Some, presumably.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Newtown, Connecticut: A Very American Tragedy – Spectator Blogs

I've not written anything for a few days because, well, I've been trying to organise what I think about the awfulness of the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Trying, also, to find a way of writing about it that seems appropriate. There are moments, I think, when a too-polished piece of prose risks seeming distastefully narcissistic, too close to being from the School of Martin Amis. I remember Amis describing the "sharking" trajectory of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center more than a decade ago and thinking that, as apt and vivid as the image was, there was something unpleasant about it. Something that suggested the author was too admiring of his own imagery. The event made self-consciously fine writing seem superfluous and even oddly obscene.

Thursday

Alex Massie

The History Kids

Martin Kettle has a column in today's Guardian lamenting the inadequacy of the teaching of English history in schools today. He suggests that "the English people are increasingly cut off from their own history." Is this so? Possibly! But then he makes the mistake of presuming the English are unusually unfortunate in this respect. To wit: It is a fair bet that today's young Scots know more about Scotland's history, today's young Welsh more about Wales, and today's young Irish more about Ireland than today's young English know about England. In fact the nature of their own historical experiences may mean that the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish also know more about England's history than the English do. I suspect most of this is pretty unlikely.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Today’s easy question: Why won’t minorities support right-wing parties? – Spectator Blogs

I'm afraid that I can't help but feel some of the comments left responding to this post go some way towards answering a question Daniel Hannan asked recently: why do right-wing parties struggle to win support from immigrants? After all, and as Mr Hannan notes, emigration is an entrepreneurial act and immigrants tend to be thrifty, hard-working types. This should, all things being equal, be fertile territory for conservatives. Except, as we know, not all things are equal and they're certainly not equal in this case. The truth of the matter is that the conservative movement - whether in the United Kingdom or the United States - still has a race problem.

Alex Massie

The Census demonstrates the importance – and benefits – of immigration – Spectator Blogs

I suppose the confirmation that 13 per cent of the present population of England and Wales were born overseas will be the cause of some eye-brow raising and much spluttering from the usual suspects. It's too late to repel the foreign hordes. They are inside the castle already. Some 7.5 million people born overseas now live in England and Wales (but mainly England). Lucky old England, says I. Immigrants are drawn to and then help create economic prosperity. It is not, I suspect, a coincidence that depressed parts of northern England are also often those parts with the fewest numbers of foreign-born inhabitants. This makes sense: why would you leave Poland to claim benefits in Sunderland? No, you go where the work is.

Alex Massie

Scottish Independence and Europe: Who does this Barroso guy think he is? – Spectator Blogs

Today's Think Scotland column takes a gander at the rumpus over an independent Scotland's accession to the EU. Until recently the SNP promised that said accession would be automatic. Now it's simply "common-sense".  This is because Jose Manuel Barroso, the Spanish Iberian agent* at the heart of the EU Commission, has made an awkward intervention. Scotland would, he says, not be an automatic member of the club at all. Intuitively this is obvious just as Scotland would not be an automatic member of the United Nations. It would have to apply. Once it applied it's application would most probably be accepted. There are few plausible grounds upon which to reject it. With regard to Brussels, however, the truth is that no-one quite knows precisely what would happen.

Monday

Alex Massie

The War on Drugs is as pointless as it is immoral; obviously it must continue. – Spectator Blogs

Like Tom Chivers I'd not planned to write anything about the latest suggestion our drug laws are sufficiently confused, antiquated and beyond parody that at some point it might be worth reconsidering them. It's not that I've tired of reform, rather that I've pretty much tired of making the case for reform. I have precisely zero expectation that this Prime Minister, who once seemed unusually sane on drug issues, will fulfill the naive and youthful promise he showed on the opposition benches. But then, like the redoubtable Mr Chivers, I saw Thomas Pascoe's views on the matter and found myself sufficiently provoked by his argument that I was stirred to action once more.

Alex Massie

A storm of nonsense: gay marriage opponents lose their wits – Spectator Blogs

My word, the latest kerfuffle over gay marriage runs the gamut from dumb to dumber. Here, for instance, is Cristina Odone: He may get away with bullying a great many – perhaps the majority – into accepting his proposals. But in doing so Cameron will create a less liberal and tolerant society. Those who have held fast to their principles, will have to accept what the majority wants. But will the majority respect what the minority believes in? Not in Cameron's Britain, they won't. The moment the vicar or priest refuses to celebrate a gay marriage in their church, the aggrieved couple will see them in court — in Strasbourg.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Nicola Sturgeon is ready for her close-up – Spectator Blogs

In the rabid hamster-eating-hamster world of Scottish politics Nicola Sturgeon is a rarity: a politician of obvious competence who's respected by her peers regardless of their own political allegiances. There are not so many folk at Holyrood of whom that could be said. The Deputy First Minister is not a flashy politician but she's quietly become almost as important to the SNP as Alex Salmond. This, according to one sagacious owl, makes her one of the ten most interesting politicians in Britain. Hard though it is to imagine this, there are voters immune to the First Minister's charms. Part of Nicola's remit is to reach those parts of Scotland that are disgracefully reluctant to trust Mr Salmond. So Unionists should take Sturgeon seriously.

Alex Massie

Ricky Ponting’s Recessional – Spectator Blogs

With the Don at three and Keith Miller inked for the all-rounder's role at six there are only two open spots in Australia's all-time middle order. It is a measure of Ricky Ponting's greatness that no-one doubts he's a sensible, worthy contender for one of those places. You may prefer the claims of Clem Hill, Charlie McCartney, Stan McCabe, Neil Harvey or Greg Chappell, but Punter is undoubtedly part of the conversation and only a fool would scoff at including him in this Fantasy XI. That's how good he was. In England I fancy there's sometimes a tendency to forget how fine a batsman Ponting was and instead place a little too much emphasis upon his captaincy. We sometimes forget how important luck is in cricket.