Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
We’re on the last couple of days for collecting entries for the Gordon Brown’s book of fibs, but we haven’t quite decided what to call his embellishments. Many of you say he lies, and we should call a lie by its name. But Brown normally operates by the misleading presentation of a real fact. Unemployment
An early test of Nick Clegg’s credibility is at hand. Labour’s Ian Davidson has sent a letter to him proposing a solution: a two-question referendum on both the Lisbon Treaty and on EU membership – the “in our out” question which Clegg would have us believe he wants so badly. If the Tories back Davidson’s
To clarify my earlier blog, I certainly did not mean the murdered prostitutes in Suffolk were “victims” of the government’s failed war on drugs. They were born free and chose drugs. My point is how much cheaper and easier it has become in the last ten years to take such a choice. The point of
As the Suffolk Stranger was being sentenced, the Home Office slipped out this written answer on the street price of heroin. It’s almost halved from £74 a gram to £40 a gram. The symmetry was chilling: all the murdered women were addicts. As I write in the News of the World today the government is
Some people ask why we call this blog Coffee House. The principal reason is that this magazine’s founders, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, went around such places picking up gossip and scandal – coffee houses were the 18th century equivalent of blogs, hated by the establishment for irreverence. Reports from the coffee houses filled the
Does Daniel Day Lewis deserve an Oscar for There Will Be Blood? I’d say so, over Clooney anyway – who rarely differs the characters he plays. In a Hollywood era where stars basically play themselves, Day Lewis changes beyond recognition and always has – think Room with a View, My Beautiful Laundrette or My Left
I’m on the train back from Question Time (most of the panel stayed in Newcastle last night) and I am again sitting three seats down from a man who has come to personify the Tories’ problem. Vince Cable was lauded by Alan Duncan and Ruth Kelly for his leadership on Northern Rock – before, after
Anyone who was depressed by the powerful splash in the Daily Telegraph today about Britain’s brain drain had best sit down. I have worse news. It may be a new OECD report, but the data’s from the 2000/01 census (first served up on CoffeeHouse). So the picture today will be much, much worse. At the turn of
Anyone with a taste for schadenfreude can tune in to BBC1 Question Time tonight, where yours truly will be in Newcastle extolling the virtues of the free market in the home of Northern Rock. Other panellists are Ruth Kelly, Vince Cable and Alan Duncan.
CoffeeHouse has just been brought up in the Commons – Mark Harper has challenged Ed Davey to clarify what on earth Lembit Opik is on about. Is it true, he asked, that Lembit is not a rebel as he claims because the LibDems plan to abstain on the issue of a referendum on the Lisbon
Back refreshed from the recess, Cameron (41) starts off by wishing Brown a “happy 57th birthday” – when “happy birthday” would have done. Nothing groundbreaking in their exchange. Cameron had a few good lines responding to what Brown had just said. “There always is an inquiry with this government. Frequently a police inquiry.” And then
It’s our Dear Leader’s birthday today: Gordon Brown is 57 years young. He’s a famous bibliophile – and I figured we could send him a list of books. Here’s five to start with. 1) Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff – how to stop control freakery leading to misery 2) Wikinomics – why hierarchies are collapsing
The Tories had a head start on welfare reform, but Brown is fast catching up. When Chris Grayling launched his Wisconsin-style proposals last month, there were (typically) fears internally that they were too harsh. Yet there were two surprise factors: the overwhelmingly positive public reaction, and Brown’s inability to decide whether to accuse them of
Lembit Opik calls up to set me straight. Here was I portraying him as a principled rebel true to his manifesto by pledging to abstain, rather than vote against, the totemic issue of whether the British public should have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Au contraire, he says. ‘On this occasion, I am being
A cheeky little bird has leaked me this text, from a letter Lembit Opik sent to a constituent – saying he will defy Nick Clegg and abstain from a vote on a referendum for the Lisbon Treaty: “The question of a referendum on the Treaty itself is a hard question. As you well know, others
A few months ago, I rather unkindly suggested that Alistair Darling is no more a Chancellor than Captain Scarlett was an actor. This may now be his salvation. Reading Rachel Sylvester’s column, we learn that Brown watered down capital gains tax reform and made his volte-face on Scottish tax proposals without consulting his Chancellor. If
I interview Jim Murphy in tomorrow’s Spectator, in which he gives his endorsement to Tony Blair as EU president. For the first time, we’re running a longer version of the piece online (click here). I’ve always rated Murphy, ever since I saw him shout down Trots in my student days at Glasgow. Coffee Housers are
Fraser Nelson warms to Jim Murphy, the Minister for Europe, who is steering the Lisbon Treaty through parliament — and now promises that he would help Blair become EU President Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first tip for stardom. Throughout his twenties, Jim Murphy suffered this affliction. Before Tony Blair led the
If there is an award for a brass neck of 2008, George Osborne has just done enough to win in. First, he proposes a tax on the non-doms (which I critiqued at the time). Then, Darling nicks it in his infamous magpie budget. Then, it becomes clear this daft proposal will simply drive away the
As if to prove he’s still a left-winger, Frank Field today gives a lecture calling for an extra 10% tax on earnings over £150k that could be completely offset by charitable donations. In other words, “if you don’t give this to charity, we’ll tax you” – Field believes people spend their own money more wisely