Peter Hoskin

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

Beijing’s true face

From our UK edition

Many commentators were extremely impressed by the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. And many hoped it represented China showing a new, friendly face to the world. But now details are emerging that all may not have been as it seemed. The latest is that the 9 year old girl who charmed the audience with a performance of "Ode to the Motherland" was miming. The vocal line was actually sung by another girl behind-the-scenes, who was deemed to be less pretty by Chinese officials. Here's what the ceremony's musical director had to say: "The reason for this is that we must put our country's interest first ... The girl appearing on the picture must be flawless in terms of her facial expression and the great feeling she can give to people.

Peter Hoskin

Are the Key Stage 3 drops bigger than they first appear?

From our UK edition

So, the provisional Key Stage 3 results have been released, and much is already being made of the drop in reading standards from last year.  This drop is particularly marked among boys, whose performance in level 5 reading has fallen by 3 percent on 2007's results. However, if you look back further, the fall in standards is even more dramatic.  The boys who took Key Stage 3 tests this year took Key Stage 2 tests in 2005.  Back then, 82 percent of them reached the requisite level in reading.  But, of those same boys, only 62 percent managed to do the same in this year's Key Stage 3 tests.  In other words, the reading performance of the boys who took Key Stage 3 this year has fallen by 20 points since 2005.

Peter Hoskin

In a pickle?

From our UK edition

Iain Martin writes an important piece over at Three Line Whip, in which he reveals that the Cameroons may be turning against Eric Pickles.  According to Martin, their beef with the shadow communities secretary is that he took too much of the credit for the Crewe and Nantwich success, and that he's been "grandstanding" ever since.  That opinion may even be shared by David Cameron.  Here's the bottom line: "One Tory sage says Pickles may still become the Conservatives' chairman yet if he can get over this rough patch, but then his mood darkens: 'The problem is that when David (Cameron) has made up his mind about someone he rarely alters it.

Peter Hoskin

4.4 percent doesn’t cover it

From our UK edition

So the latest figures have annual CPI inflation - the Government's official measure - at 4.4 percent.  It's the highest figure since records began in 1997.  And, at 0.6 percent higher than last month's figure, the biggest monthly change as well.  The Government target of 2 percent has been well-and-truly smashed. But despite these grim records, it still signficantly undercuts the levels of inflation that the public will be facing.  The RPI figure for inflation - which includes mortgage repayments - is higher, at 5 percent (for more details on this, see Fraser's briefing on Brownie No1: Inflation).  But even that fails to capture the above-inflation rises in water bills, and energy price rises of 35 percent.

Monday

Peter Hoskin

Coffee House FC

From our UK edition

In the interests of maintaining a healthy competition between political blogs, Coffee House has entered a team into Iain Dale's Fantasy Football League.  Of course, it will be a sufficient reward to finish above 'Iain Dale's Hammers'.  But should we win the £100 worth of books and DVDs on offer (and we're quietly confident...), we'll use them as prizes in Coffee House competitions.   Anyway, here's Coffee House FC, as selected by James and myself: James (Portsmouth) Shorey (Aston Villa) Campbell (Portsmouth) Woodgate (Spurs) Evra (Man Utd) Bentley (Spurs) Barry (Aston Villa) Modric (Spurs) Gutierrez (Newcastle) Torres (Liverpool) Defoe (Portsmouth) If any CoffeeHousers want to join the league, just follow the instructions on Iain's blog.

Peter Hoskin

Would modern Olympians do the same?

From our UK edition

Exactly 80 years ago today: "At the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, Bobby Pearce, a third-generation sculling champion from the Sydney suburb of Double Bay, faced an unexpected challenge in the middle of his quarterfinal race against Victor Saurin of France: a family of ducks passed single-file in front of his boat. Pearce let them pass and then sculled to victory, much to the delight of the Dutch onlookers. In the final, Pearce defeated Kenneth Myers of the United States by the unusually large margin of 9.8 seconds.

Peter Hoskin

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 11 August – 17 August

From our UK edition

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers' Wall.  For those who haven't come across the Wall before, it's a post we put up each Monday, on which – provided your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there’s no need to stay ‘on topic’ – which means you’ll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There’s also no constraint on the length of what you write – so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything’s fair game – from political stories in your local paper, to chat about the latest football results.

Peter Hoskin

A debate on accountability is long overdue

From our UK edition

Ed Balls' article in today's Independent is yet more of the same accountability-dodging over the recent Sats scandal.  Rather than apologising, he returns to the tired "I share your frustration" mantra, as though that absolves him of any blame.  He does, though, let us know what we can hold him accountable for: "So when this newspaper calls for me to be held account, as it did last week, and demanded to know my plans to improve children's education, I say that test results are crucial to my accountability – as well as that of local authorities and individual governing bodies." Does anyone think we can actually hold Balls to this?

Peter Hoskin

Just what can the West do?

From our UK edition

Western policymakers are finally making their official statements on the crisis in South Ossetia.  Our own Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has said he "deplores" the Russian attacks on Georgia.  George Bush has called Russia's actions "disproportionate," and told Vladimir Putin that "this violence is unacceptable".  Whilst the most ominous warning comes from Dick Cheney, who stated that Russian aggression "must not go unanswered". But for all the pejorative languange, just what can the West do?  There are several factors counting against military intervention, whether by NATO forces, or by individual countries, such as the US or the UK.  Here are some brief outlines: 1) Fullscale war.

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

Will dithering Darling get the chop?

From our UK edition

For much of his time as Chancellor, it's been hard not to feel sorry for Alistair Darling.  He's been parachuted into what are rocky economic times, and has had to deal with - and often reverse - decisions made during Brown's Chancellorship. The recent stamp duty fiasco seems different though.  It was embarrassing enough that the idea of temporarily suspending stamp duty leaked from the Treasury in the first place (usually a sign of a minister not in control of his department).  But the uncertain response of Treasury officials - and Darling himself - has only compounded the situation.  How so?  Well, potential house-buyers have held back from purchases until the stamp duty situation is resolved.

Peter Hoskin

Britishness revisited

From our UK edition

I've just got around to watching some of Gordon Brown's appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday (you can see footage here).  It wasn't that bad, actually.  If anything, he came across as relaxed, confident and - shock, horror - fairly witty.  One can't help but view it all as a long message to David Miliband.  Something like "Look, you ungrateful upstart, I can do 'Man of the People'; I can do charming.  And I'm completely at ease with all your plotting". But there was more to it than that.  He dimissed claims that Britain is broken, and made reference to the general resolve and decency of the British public: "I don't think the British people have ever been broken by anything or anyone ...

Saturday

Peter Hoskin

What price oil?

From our UK edition

As Morus writes in an excellent post over at Political Betting, the escalation of the conflict in Georgia will cause more than a few headaches for Western policymakers.  Most of their worries will centre around the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline - a pipeline which carries oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, from where it is shipped out to Western Europe and the US.  Problem is, that pipeline runs through Georgia - at points, it's only 55km away from the South Ossetia region where much of the fighting is concentrated.  The Russians are certainly bombing in its vicinity, and the Georgians are claiming that the pipeline has been deliberately targeted, although not yet hit.

Peter Hoskin

What Toynbee doesn’t get

From our UK edition

For those who haven't leafed through a copy, or read the extracts in the Guardian this week, Polly Toynbee and David Walker's new book is effectively an extended diatribe against the Unjust Rewards of those who, say, work in the City, or who went to Oxbridge universities.  It's a one-note attack - with scant room for subtleties - and Giles Coren mercilessly lampoons it in today's Times.  Here's my favourite passage in the Coren piece, in which he takes on the book's description of Oxford: "Not only did the word 'spires' appear twice in the same short extract, but the lawns, bless them, were 'manicured'. Except they're not, Polly. They're just mown. Same as everywhere else. You don't have to be rich, or posh, or evil to mow the bloody lawn.

Peter Hoskin

Abnormal Miliband?

From our UK edition

Fun quote from William Hague in today's Times: "People want normal politicians and David Miliband is more geeky, more like me... David Cameron could wear a baseball cap, whereas Miliband would find it harder to appear normal. I must have a word with him and give him some advice - don't try to be normal when you aren't. As I never want to be leader of my party again, I don't have to try to be normal any more.

Friday

Peter Hoskin

The Cameroons do the environment (again)

From our UK edition

When Cameron first set about decontaminating the Conservative brand, the emphasis was on turning the Tories into the party of the environment - the Blue 'n' Greens, if you like.  But with the decontaminaion near enough over - and after the unmitigated disaster that was the Tories' last environment report - the emphasis has slowly shifted onto other areas.   But now green issues look set to return with a vengeance.  As Alex Singleton reports over at Three Line Whip, the think tank Policy Exchange have just begun a "programme revisiting environmental policy".  The focus, says Singleton, will be on practical environmentalism - such as how to deal with litter.

Peter Hoskin

Risk aversion therapy

From our UK edition

If you want some grisly reading for a Friday afternoon, I'd recommend the National Risk Register, released by the Cabinet Office today.  It outlines the "range of emergencies that might have a major impact on all, or significant parts of, the UK".  A welcome act of transparency - I've always thought it would be a good idea to know what our government's worrying about, and - by extension - what we should be worried about. Not that we should worry too much, mind.  The aim of the document is to make us more informed, rather than paranoid.  And, for that reason, it avoids providing a straighforward ranking of threats - a terror top-ten, so to speak.

Peter Hoskin

How long before the knives come out for Clegg?

From our UK edition

Nick Clegg can count himself lucky that there's so much leadership speculation whirling around Gordon Brown - it's probably deflected attention from his own less-than-stellar performance as Lib Dem leader.  How disappointing has it been?  Conservative Home's Poll of Polls has the Lib Dems on 16.6 percent, meaning that, in their words: "Mr Clegg has added just 0.4% to the LibDem rating since Ming was ousted.  Approximately 90% of the drop in Labour support has gone to the Conservatives."  And today there's another poll which will dismay Team Clegg.  Lib Dem Voice asked party members to rate the performances of the Lib Dem front-bench team during August.

Peter Hoskin

Brown/Nixon?

From our UK edition

The ever-readable Daniel Finkelstein wrote an entertaining piece on Comment Central last week, noting the parallels between Richard Nixon and our own beleagured premier, Gordon Brown.  And I weighed in with some Brown/Nixon notes of my own.  As a footnote to that, I thought I'd flag up that it's 34 years to the day since Nixon announced his resignation as US President.  Ok, ok, it's unlikely that our Prime Minister will go down the resignation/retirement route.  But, as Matt points out in this week's political column, there's certainly some pressure on him to do so.

Peter Hoskin

Gove demolishes Labour’s record on education

From our UK edition

Do take the time to read Michael Gove's report A Failed Generation: Educational Inequality Under Labour, out today.  Many of it findings have peppered his recent articles and speeches (including his speech on Monday, sadly overshadowed by the lads' mag row).  But gathered together as they are here, they amount to the most coherent - and shocking - denunciation of Labour's record on education.  Here are some of the headline statistics:  -- Last year, over 60 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals did not gain the 3Rs at Key Stage 2. -- 33,909 pupils eligible to receive free school meals did not attain any GCSE grades higher than a D in 2006/07 – 47 per cent of all FSM pupils.