Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Nicola Sturgeon: We Must Kill Britain to Save Britain

It is often said that the case for the United Kingdom needs to be made in a positive fashion. This is reasonable. Less remarked upon is the SNP's cheerful use of negative arguments for independence. Today, for example, there is the sillyness of Joan McAlpine's suggestion Scotland is somehow analagous to some ill-treated wife and, rather more importantly, Nicola Sturgeon's assertion that the Union is a threat to the welfare state. So here's another Scotch Irony: the advocates of change are the fiercest defenders of the status quo. Speaking last night, the Deputy First Minister promised there would be none of that reforming-the-NHS nonsense in Scotland and, no, there'll be no tinkering with welfare either. Not at all.

Alex Massie

Yes, Gay Marriage is a Conservative Cause

Melanie McDonagh makes a decent small-c conservative case against gay marriage based on a traditional procreation-based definition of marriage. This is fine as far as it goes but it doesn't go quite as far as she, or other defenders of "traditional" marriage suggest it does. In the first place, as Stephen Hough reminds us in an admirable piece at the Telegraph, the Catholic Church itself has altered its views on marriage: One problem is that the argument about the meaning and ends of marriage has changed. The Church altered its teaching from the mid-20th century onwards away from the traditional 'procreation first, relationship second' to an equal billing for the two.

Monday

Alex Massie

Is Northwich, Cheshire the Worst Place in Britain?

This letter to the Daily Mail suggests all is not well in deepest, darkest Cheshire: Can this really be real? I am assured it is. Perhaps it is part of a contest to get the most Daily Mail letter published by the Daily Mail. Doubtless similar contests could be held at other papers. That said: most of the things to which poor Mr Simpson objects really are objectionable.

Alex Massie

This Troublesome, Ludicrous Priest

If Cardinal Keith O'Brien objects to being considered an intolerant bigot then he should perhaps cease making arguments that are a) intolerant and b) bigoted. Then again, he's a member of the College of Cardinals and this is part of the price of membership*. His diatribe against gay marriage is an excellent example of this. I suppose some people are exercised by the precise status of homosexual relationships but the Cardinal's spittle-flecked prose still seems excessive, even by his church's standards. It is doubtless a cheap observation to note that neither this Cardinal nor any of his colleagues wrote such furious opeds denouncing their church's willingness to protect child abusers and other perverts. Cheap but no cheaper than the Cardinal's own article.

Saturday

Alex Massie

Dinosaur Labour Is Back

Considering the audience to which it was aimed, I suppose one could say that Johann Lamont's first leaders' speech to the Scottish Labour party conference was a success. Expectations for Ms Lamont were not quite at Obama-levels. I suspect Labour types will have been pleased by it. Which means, naturally, it should terrify everyone else. It was, naturally, a Unionist speech largely because it reminded one that Scottish Labour would be a powerful force in an independent Scotland and, by god, that's enough to make one wary of the entire enterprise. England and Wales and Northern Ireland offer some protection, minimising the amount of damage Labour can do in Scotland.

Friday

Alex Massie

Remember The Alamo!

March 2nd is the anniversary of the Texan Declaration of Independence in 1836. Some of my more left-wing American chums rather wish Texas were still either a part of Mexico or an independent state of its own. Be that as it may, the Declaration is a grand thing that both beats anything the Scottish National Party has yet produced and, for that matter, like most declarations of independence, is a reminder that the differences between the constituent parts of this island are tiny in the grander sweep of things. Anyway: happy birthday Texas! Here, for those of you unfamiliar with the document, is the original Texas charter arguing that The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now decrees our eternal political separation.

Wednesday

Alex Massie

When Rupert Met Alex

So Rupert Murdoch had lunch with Alex Salmond at Bute House today. At a time when politicians are scurrying to distance themselves from the Dirty Digger he is still welcome in Edinburgh. This annoys, even angers, many of Salmond's own supporters (see Kate Higgins for example) and, I daresay or if Gerry Hassan is a useful indicator, most of the rest of public Scotland too. Anyone but Rupert! Well, fine. The important thing here is not what Salmond thinks of Murdoch but what Rupert thinks of Alex. Their chumminess is another indicator that Salmond, whatever the SNP's leftwing think or hope, has no intention of turning an independent Scotland into a socialist basketcase. Granted, this has been obvious for some time but it is always useful to have more evidence to support this notion.

Alex Massie

Mitt Romney: The Man From Nowhere

In as much as it is possible to feel sympathy for a man seeking the American presidency while possessing a $250m fortune, Mitt Romney is an unusually pitiful figure. He may yet win the Michigan primary tonight and he remains the most probable eventual nominee but there is a sense, right now anyway, in which whatever happens next Romney will leave Michigan a diminished figure. Whatever happens tonight he will retain a hefty lead in the delegate count (and he will have won Arizona too) but Michigan, no matter how rightly-sized its trees may be, has hurt Romney. It's no way to treat a man who calls the Wolverine state his home. But is it really his home? Where is he from? What is his hinterland?

Tuesday

Alex Massie

The Irish Ask Another Brussels Question

And, as we know, Brussels has a habit of changing the answer any time anyone offers the wrong inconvenient answer. Nevertheless, the Irish government's decision - made on the advice of the Attorney General - to hold a referendum on the latest EU "Stability Pact" is not, I hazard, likely to please everyone: "I am very confident that when the importance and merit are communicated to the Irish people that they will endorse it emphatically by voting yes to continuing economic stability and recovery,” the Taoiseach [Enda Kenny] said. The compact, agreed at special EU summit earlier this month, proposes tough new budgetary discipline on each euro zone state, including near-zero public deficits. It has already been approved by 25 of the EU’s 27 members.

Alex Massie

Good News for Switzerland!

From France, that is: The Socialist favourite in France's presidential election, Francois Hollande, has said top earners should pay 75% of their income in tax. "Above 1m euros [£847,000; $1.3m], the tax rate should be 75% because it's not possible to have that level of income," he said. Speaking on prime time TV, he promised that if elected, he would undo tax breaks enacted by Nicolas Sarkozy. [...] Mr Hollande himself renewed his call on Tuesday, saying the 75% rate on people earning more than one million euros a year was "a patriotic act". "It's a signal that has been sent, a message of social cohesion, there is an effort to be made," he explained. "It is patriotic to agree to pay a supplementary tax to get the country back on its feet.

Alex Massie

Osborne, Laffer & the Cost of Black Gold Populism

As you'd expect, Brother Hoskin offers a fair summary of George Osborne's difficulties with fuel duty. Osborne, backed it should be said by Danny Alexander, decided to pay for his fuel policies by levying additional taxes on North Sea oil production. How's that worked out? Entirely predictably: North Sea Oil production fell by 18% last year* - the biggest fall ever. By some estimates, this cost the Treasury more than £2bn in lost oil revenues and thus, probably, rather more cash than Osborne planned to raise from his increased taxes on oil and gas. Moreover, there was just half as much new exploration in 2011 as there was in 2010 as companies scampered away from Osborne's penalising new taxes.

Alex Massie

2012: Last Chance Republicanism?

How large are the stakes in this year's American presidential election? Pretty huge if you're a Republican. Jon Chait has an excellent piece in New York magazine explaining how the GOP, in its present form, has mortgaged its future in a bet that Barack Obama will be a one-term President. Defeat, he suggests, will mark the end of the Republican party as we've known it since Nixon won. Time and, more importantly, demography is not on its side. Right-wing warnings of impending tyranny express, in hyperbolic form, well-grounded dread: that conservative America will soon come to be dominated, in a semi-permanent fashion, by an ascendant Democratic coalition hostile to its outlook and interests.

Monday

Alex Massie

Lockerbie: Megrahi Publishes His Defence

The Lockerbie case is back in the news with the publication of Megrahi: You Are My Jury by John Ashton, a member of Abdelbaset ali al-Megrahi's defence team. That Megrahi remains alive, if only just, two and a half years after he was released on compassionate grounds is, plainly, an embarassment and all the evidence required to demonstrate that Kenny Mackaskill's decision to release him on license was mistaken. It has been contradicted by events. Worse for Mr MacAskill, however, is Megrahi's suggestion that MacAskill advised him that his chances of being released on compassionate grounds would be enhanced if he dropped his appeal against his conviction for the bombing.

Alex Massie

Tasers: When Non-Lethal Force is Actually Surprisingly Lethal

Meanwhile, in other emergency service news: a milestone has been reached in the United States. 500 people, most of them unarmed and unthreatening, have been killed* by police officers using Tasers: According to data collected by Amnesty International, at least 500 people in the United States have died since 2001 after being shocked with Tasers either during their arrest or while in jail. Amnesty International recorded the largest number of deaths following the use of Tasers in California (92), followed by Florida (65), and Texas (37). The Oklahoma City Police Department led all law enforcement agencies in deaths (7) following by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Harris County Sheriff’s (Tx), Phoenix, Az and San Jose, Ca., all with six deaths.

Alex Massie

Red-Tape Britain Costs Lives

Via Bagehot, an enraging story from the Mail on Sunday: [O]n an overcast lunchtime last March when no fewer than 25 members of the emergency services, including a press officer, descended on a 3½ft-deep model boating lake minutes after Simon Burgess, 41, fell into the water when he suffered a seizure. But as an inquest heard last week, he lay floating face-down for more than half an hour while firemen, police and paramedics watched and did nothing. The reason? Even though they could all swim, the first fire crew to arrive hadn’t been ‘trained’ to enter water higher than ankle-deep. Instead they waited for ‘specialists’ to arrive to retrieve his body. They had decided Mr Burgess must surely be dead because he had been in the water for ten minutes.

Alex Massie

Mitt Romney: Man of the People

One thing to be said about Mitt Romney: there's an artless quality to his campaign and there are times when he seems just a goof. For a man who is accused of parsing and pandering all the time, he's sometimes shows no idea of how his remarks will be perceived by, you know, normal people. So, unfortuately, his visit to the Daytona 500 proved more memorable than Romney's handlers will like: Romney was at Daytona last year and said he also has been to the track in New Hampshire. Does he follow the sport? "Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans,'' he said. "But I have some friends who are NASCAR team owners.'' That's the common touch! I suppose Romney deserves credit for honesty which, in turn, demonstrates how the game is actually rigged against honesty.

Saturday

Friday

Alex Massie

Your Latest Santorum: Education Indoctrinates Kids

This is one reason - among many - why it is a bad idea to agree to be interviewed by Glenn Beck: Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Thursday that President Obama wants more young adults to go to college so they can undergo “indoctrination” to a secular world view. In an hour-long interview with conservative television host Glenn Beck, Santorum also defended his record on abortion and his vote in favor of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind education law.

Alex Massie

Sean Penn: A Kissinger For Our Time

One of Henry Kissinger's great gifts is the ability to write op-eds that are clear as petrol. I recall one such piece, published by the Washington Post (his favoured venue for ex cathedra announcements), that left opponents and supporters of tougher measures against Saddam Hussein believing the old man was on their side. Kissinger had, still has I assume, the ability to inject complexity into a coin-toss. He baffles with nuance. Though I suspect their politics differ, Sean Penn evidently fancies himself a Kissinger for our times. The great man has space in the Guardian today, revealing his thoughts on the future of the Falkland Islands. For this we should, I suppose, thank the Guardian even if publishing this twaddle is plainly a hit-hookering ploy.