The Spectator

Not so special Sir: The only ‘disrespect’ Obama can really be accused of is a degree of indifference to the British delusion of a ‘special relationship’ with the USA (‘A special form of disrespect’, 21 November). One would have thought that after the con-trick of Lend-lease, the wholesale vacuuming-up of British nuclear and aviation technology, Roosevelt’s barely concealed desire to see the British empire dismantled and the Suez fiasco, scales might have dropped from post-Churchillian Britain’s eyes. Despite General McChrystal referring to two British Generals as ‘Jacko’ and ‘Lamby’, there is not and never has been a special relationship unless it suited Washington.

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson wonders if Britain's economy is turning Japanese. James Forsyth highlights the risk that a hung parliament poses to UK bond market, and makes the case for sending 40,000 troops to Afghanistan. Peter Hoskin spots Lord Mandelson making mischief, and urges caution over the rogue poll. David Blackburn says that President Obama has procrastinated his way to failure over Afghanistan, and asks if the Chilcot inquiry will be any different. Mark Bathgate cries out for the banks to be resolved. Lloyd Evans watches Clegg and Cameron spring a few surprises on Gordon Brown. Daniel Korski wonders who is to blame if the world is cooling. Martin Bright reveals the real broken Britain.

The latest issue of the Spectator is released today. If you are a subscriber you can view it here. If you have not subscribed, but would like to view this week’s content, you can subscribe online now. Six articles from the latest issue are available for free online to all website users: Prepare for a lost decade. Fraser Nelson and Mark Bathgate believe that zombie banks and high unemployment look set to curse our economy as they did Japan’s. A Conservative government could avoid disaster, but only if it is prepared to face the painful reality.   A century ago, leading leftwing thinkers such as George Bernard Shaw subscribed to the vile pseudo-science of eugenics.

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 - providing 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.

Eliot’s anti-Semitism Sir: I yield to none in my love of T.S. Eliot’s work, and have even managed to defend to myself the iffy passages about Jews in his poetry. But the letters that Craig Raine quotes in his review (Books, 14 November) are so blatantly, even honestly, anti-Semitic that they leave no room for doubt; except, it seems, at Faber & Faber. Mr Raine’s attempts to argue the anti-Semitism away present a hilarious and painful spectacle. For example, Eliot writes that Jews are inclined to Bolshevism — a classic Nazi belief. Mr Raine asserts, desperately, that this is a tribute to Jewish iconoclasm. It isn’t; it’s racism. The question is, why does Mr Raine go through such contortions to protect his hero when the evidence is so plain?

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson congratulates Michael Heath, and introduces Britain’s AWOL ally. James Forsyth praises Chris Grayling’s commitment to elected police commissioners, and finds an example of corruption that is shocking even by the standards of the Karzai government. Peter Hoskin says that Brown has misjudged the Afghan waiting game, and sees Ed Balls dump Gordon Brown into another lose lose situation. David Blackburn argues that Gordon Brown has been hoist by his own petard, and challenges the liberal centre to engage with the BNP. Mark Bathgate explains just quite how inexperienced this government is at economic management. Lloyd Evans reviews a paper thin Queen’s speech.

The latest issue of the Spectator is released today. If you are a subscriber you can view it here. If you have not subscribed, but would like to view this week’s content, you can subscribe online now. Five articles from the latest issue are available for free online to all website users: Con Coughlin believes that Barack Obama’s increasing disregard for Britain’s views is no way to treat an ally whose troops have fought side by side with America since September 11. Obama has become our absent ally; he is practising a very special form of disrespect.

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 - providing 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.

Sympathy for Gordon Brown is not a common emotion in Westminster, but this week only the coldest heart could fail to feel for the Prime Minister. It is mortifying to have misspelt the name of a fallen soldier, even if the mistake was minor. To have his misery played out in front of the national media, complete with a taped conversation of him being berated by the soldier’s mother, can only have been devastating. But the power of this sorry episode lies in the truths it represents. Jacqui Janes, whose Grenadier Guardsman son Jamie, 20, was killed last month, was richly entitled to berate the Prime Minister for the lack of equipment in Afghanistan. It was his decision to fight two wars on a peacetime military budget.