Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Friday

Alex Massie

The 50% Tax Rate is Bad; Cutting it is Worse

The Guardian reports that George Osborne is going to cut the top rate on income tax from 50% to 40%. Cue much rejoicing on the Tory side of politics, especially from those who are likely to benefit from this tax cut. Assuming it happens, of course. Fraser makes the best case there is for this policy but it is still a terrible idea even if you admit the logic of Fraser's argument. And I do agree with Fraser's logic! The 50% rate of tax does not appear to increase government revenue. It is, in my view, wrong for the state to take 50% (or more) of any pound earned. Keeping the super-rich in Britain - the people Las Vegas casinos call "whales" - is, literally, a valuable objective. And this too, Fraser may be right to argue that it is better to lance this boil sooner rather than later.

Thursday

Alex Massie

Today in Stupidity: Who Lost Syria?

Perhaps I should apologise to Leon Wieseltier? His recent column is not a patch on Jennifer Rubin's latest screed which may be the most stupid and contemptible thing I've yet read today. Ms Rubin peers at Barack Obama's Syrian policy and does not like what she sees: Not unlike the Green Revolution in 2009, the president nearly three years later is willing to allow an opportunity — to undermine Iran, support democracy, reassert U.S. leadership — slip away. Every now and then the president talks a good game on human rights, but his heart is never in it. In this case, even when coupled with an obvious and compelling national security objective, passivity rules the day. Obama’s reelection objective, namely no more foreign conflicts, trumps decent policy.

Alex Massie

Liberal Unionism? In Ulster? Why Not?

On balance, theGood Friday Agreement was (forgive me) a Good Thing. It should be possible to welcome the Agreement yet recognise that it has not delivered everything it promised. Not the least of its troublesome consequences has been the manner in which the centre-ground of Northern Irish politics has been hollowed-out. Time passes, however, and the moment for a viable alternative to the Sinn Fein-DUP double-act cannot, surely, be delayed forever. At least that's what Robin Wilson suggests in the Belfast Telegraph today. This, perhaps unexpectedly, is the time for a New Ulster Unionism: [N]ow the UUP - otherwise on its political death-bed - has a huge choice to make.

Alex Massie

War Games: Syria & Iran Edition

The past is always a different, better place and never more so than when commentators dip into American history to salvage some justification for their favoured approach to any contemporary policy dilemma. Thus Leon Wieseltier has a point when he suggests Rachel Maddow's view that "disincentives to war" were "deliberately built into" the "American system of government" is really only proof that "originalism is just the search for a convenient past, a political sport played with key words". A shame, then, that he buttresses his argument with copious references to Thomas Jefferson! In truth, those disincentives withered with Andrew Jackson. But how many military interventions can one man countenance at a time?

Alex Massie

Surviving the Ides of March…

I'm indebted to Patrick Kidd for unearthing this terrific advertisement for Scotsh Whisky, published in the Western Morning News in 1927. These are indeed treacherous times so it is pleasing to be reminded that March winds hold no peril for those who are fortified with Scotch Whisky. As Patrick says, what a shame the liquor industry can no longer offer sage advice like Scotch Whisky can be taken at the strength and in the volume best suited to the individual constitution, the time and the climate. Good to be reassured, too, that whisky is The safest & best drink in any climate. That said, it seems a stretch to suggest even a dram or two would have been enough to save Caesar from the conspiracy...

Wednesday

Alex Massie

What’s Happened to Free Speech in Britain?

It's not just Scotland, however. Speech-restricting madness exists across the United Kingdom. Here's an extraordinary tale from West Yorkshire where a teenager has been arrested and "charged with a racially aggravated public order offence" for comments published on Facebook. According to Sunny Hundal, these are the remarks in question: These are not sentiments likely to command widespread support or earn Azhar Ahmed much sympathy. Nevertheless, it is hard to see how they really constitute a threat to public order or, for that matter, a threat that's "racially aggravated". Stupid or ugly as they may be, they are less revolting than the thought you can be arrested for writing this sort of thing. Clearly there are no Voltaires on the force in West Yorkshire. Whatever next?

Alex Massie

Scottish Sectarianism: No Evidence Required for a Conviction

The question to be asked of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communication (Scotland) Act 2012 is whether it is iniquitous, merely pointless or, perhaps paradoxically, both. I vote for both. Here's why: Two Hibernian fans caught chanting offensive songs on the train back from a cup quarter-final have become the first people convicted under controversial new anti-bigotry laws. [...] The pair were travelling home after watching Hibs beat Ayr United on Saturday, to progress to the Scottish Cup semi-finals*, when the incident happened. They had boarded the 6:13pm train from Ayr to Glasgow Central when they were seen by British Transport Police officers chanting and singing songs that were “of a racially derogative nature” and were arrested.

Alex Massie

Darth Vader 1 Goldman Sachs 0

Much twittering today about the New York Times op-ed in which a Goldman Sachs executive announces his resignation. Iain Martin, for instance, suggests it is "a devastating knee in the nuts" for the world's leading infamous financial institution. Perhaps so, though I rather suspect most people who think about these things are already pretty sceptical about Goldman Sachs and other insitutions of that ilk. Still, Greg Smith's article is unintentionally amusing. To wit: It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients.

Alex Massie

Song of the South

Consider these three propositions: 1. A Mormon, moderate conservative from Massachusetts won 30% of the vote in Alabama and Mississippi in Republican primaries in which 80% of voters were evangelical Christians. Not bad! 2. The Republican front-runner, armed with a massive advantages in cash, organisation and "establishment" support, was rejected by 70% of conservative voters in two of the most conservative states in the Union. Plainly he is weak, weak, weak. Not good! 3. Mitt Romney is still liable to be the Republican nominee. Each of these propositions benefits from being true. Rick Santorum's narrow victories in the Deep South are a credit to his dogged stickability and the suspicion with which conservative voters, not altogether unreasonably, view Mitt Romney.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Failing the Rushdie Test: Shirley Williams Edition

I was in Washington at the time so did not see the Question Time episode Nick Cohen mentions in his latest post. Those tempted to grant Shirley Williams some kind of "National Treasure" status should be reminded of her appalling views on the alleged "insensitivity" of awarding a kinghthood to Salman Rushdie: Her bad luck, I suppose, that one of Rushdie's greatest friends was also on the programme. And what a shame that he never will be again. As Christopher often said, the Rushdie case was a telling moment and a test that many people failed. I guess I should also mention that you should buy Nick Cohen's new book? Well you should.

Alex Massie

Rahul Dravid’s Exceptionalism

I wrote about the great man here, but cricket-minded readers should also scamper to Cricinfo to read Ed Smith's reflection on his former Kent team-mate. This is the telling passage: What a brilliant inversion of the usual myth told by professional sportsmen: that they had unexceptional talent and made it to the top only because they worked harder. Dravid spoke the truth. Yes, he worked hard. But the hard work was driven by the desire to give full expression to a God-given talent. Emphasis added. Smith could have gone further: this isn't just the "inversion of the usual myth told by professional sportsmen", it is, more importantly, unusually modest and even selfless.

Alex Massie

How Lobbying Works, Part XCII

Today's Independent has an interesting demonstration of the insidious influence of lobbying. This is how it's done, people: The independence of a Government adviser on red tape appointed by David Cameron has been called into question as details emerge of a possible covert attempt by the tobacco industry to undermine the proposed introduction of plain cigarette packets with no branding or company logos. Anti-smoking campaigners have voiced concerns that Mark Littlewood, the director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has been appointed as an "independent adviser" to the Government's Red Tape Challenge, which they believe might allow him to influence policy on plain cigarette packets. The horror of it!

Alex Massie

No More Heaves in Helmand

Rory Stewart's article on Afghanistan, published in yesterday's Evening Standard, makes a succinct case for speeding up the west's withdrawal from Helmand and the Hindu Kush. As he says, We are not obliged to stay till the last day. Did our mission go wrong because Nato had too few troops; or because it sent too many? Could a different strategy have fixed the situation; or was it always impossible? The reason no longer matters. Whatever the explanation, things will not improve: Nato will not “solve the relationship with Pakistan”; it will never create “an effective, credible, legitimate Afghan government”; and in most parts of the country it has already lost “the hearts and minds” of the Afghan people. The time for one more heave is long gone.

Alex Massie

Cameron & Obama Play Winston Churchill Bingo

If you thought Winston Churchill wouldn't be mentioned until the second sentence of today's "Obama-Cameron" op-ed in the Washington Post then, by gum, you're a mug. Of course the old boy makes it into the first line. What else would you expect from a puff piece published on DC's leading propaganda page? But the White House staffer responsible for this piece might still have done better: Seven decades ago, as our forces began to turn the tide of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill traveled to Washington to coordinate our joint efforts. Our victories on the battlefield proved “what can be achieved by British and Americans working together heart and hand,” he said.

Monday

Alex Massie

Shocker! Cameron Snubs Republicans!

Nile Gardiner is always good for a laugh and his latest contribution to the Telegraph is no exception. Apparently David Cameron, visiting the US this week, will rue the day he "snubbed" American conservatives. It is a short-sighted approach with significant long-term risks. David Cameron’s visit to the United States this week is a lost opportunity. In addition to meeting with the President, Cameron should be reaching out to Republican leaders and the American conservative movement. OK. So who should the Prime Minister meet?

Alex Massie

First, Liquidate the Teaching Unions

There are few sights more pitiful, more vexing or more predictable than the sight of teaching unions on the whinge. This time it is the EIS and the other unions representing teachers in Scotland. They are unhappy that the new Curriculum for Excellence - of which, for what little it may be worth I have, albeit anecdotally, heard some encouraging things - is being rushed into service too quickly. It has only been in development since 2004. Just as bad, apparently, the new National exams designed to replace the unfit Standard Grade are coming along too soon. Teachers are confused and unhappy and overworked and all the rest of it. The new exam, incidentally, won't be sat until 2014.

Alex Massie

Afghanistan Isn’t Working

For years now, Afghanistan policy has been governed by a simple question: Do the unknown costs of leaving Afghanistan trump the known costs of staying in Afghanistan? Until now the answer, at least officially, has always been Yes. But this is not a static question. The known price of remaining in Afghanistan increases all the time; the unknown consequences of withdrawal remain, at best, constant. Indeed, in as much as al-Qaeda's Afghan capability has been reduced, the costs of withdrawal may in fact be less than once they were. That scarcely means an Afghanistan without NATO troops is going to be a grand place. Nevertheless, it is clear that the American-led presence in Afghanistan is not working to prudce a sustainable political or military solution.

Alex Massie

Property Roulette: The Government’s Pursues a Losing Strategy

If you ever needed reminding that government is a series of swings and roundabouts ensuring that what you gain on one you lose on the other, consider the coalition's plans for something called the NewBuy Guarantee. This project is designed to assist househunters by providing 95% mortgages for houses costing as much as £500,000. The government says it will help 100,000 families onto the "property ladder". In itself, this is not an ignoble aim, though as always one is struck by the fact that the response to a period in which banks and building societies leant too recklessly is to ask them to lend more recklessly than they presently consider prudent. Certainly, times are tough for some people anxious to start purchasing property; it is their bad luck to do so at this particular time.

Saturday

Friday

Alex Massie

Farewell, Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid's retirement, announced with typical elegance today, is not just a sad business because it means we'll never see the great technician again but because it is the beginning of the end of India's greatest generation. I think it is possible to argue that Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman have been the finest batting trio since Worrell, Weekes and Walcott bestrode the West Indian stage in the 1950s. There have been other great batsman, of course, but few trios whose achievements are quite so inextricably linked or whose careers have overlapped quite so completely. Add, at various times, Saurav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag to the mix and you had, for more than 100 tests, as formidable a quartet as has played the game since, well, since Indian independence.