The Spectator

The latest Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate - The West is provoking a new Cold War with Russia - starts at 18:45. Speaking for the motion are the journalist Anatole Kaletsky; the award-winning historian Norman Stone; and Alexei Pushkov, the anchor of the popular Russian TV programme Post Scriptum.  They will be opposed by the journalist Edward Lucas; Dr Lilia Shevtsova, Senior Associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Ronald D. Asmus, Executive Director of the Transatlantic Center of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.  The debate will be chaired by Jonathan Freedland. For live audio click here.

Martial virtues Sir: In his article about his film of the Haditha killings (‘The burden of guilt at Haditha’, 8 March), Nick Broomfield subscribes to the tired cliché that, in war, ‘everyone is a victim’. This has been the prevailing assumption of film-makers since at least the 1970s, and I had hoped a Spectator article might take a less lazy view. Mr Broomfield’s article adds a new dimension to these prejudices only by suggesting that participation in the making of a motion picture helps to heal the scars of war. I do not wish to make light of the serious problems faced by veterans of combat, nor question the healing power of the Anglo-American film industry, but it is mischievous of Mr Broomfield to suggest that this is the whole story.

Here are some of the posts made over the past week: Nick Clegg asks CoffeeHousers for their questions. Peter Hoskin on why school-leavers shouldn’t have to swear allegiance. James Forsyth charts the bitter back-and-forth between Team Clinton and Team Obama. Matthew d’Ancona tells the Government to stop meddling with schools. Andrew Neil takes on Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling over their binge borrowing. Martin Vander Weyer gives his assessment of the Budget. And Fraser Nelson explains why the Conservatives are so keen to get family-friendly.

We've just put up two articles by Ian Mulheirn, the Chief Economist at Social Market Foundation. The first is on mortgages, and can be found here. The second, on green taxation, is here.

Education revolution Sir: Fraser Nelson (‘Made in Sweden’, 1 March) is right to highlight the importance of Sweden’s independent state schools for the debate on school choice and diversity. The successful Swedish experience strongly influenced New Labour reformers as we sought to introduce independent state-funded schools into England. However, it doesn’t need the Conservatives to ‘bring the Swedish education revolution to Britain’. The revolution has arrived already in the shape of the academies programme, which enables schools to be set up and managed on an independent basis by promoters outside the local authority system.

Rip up Blairism by the roots Sir: Michael Gove (Politics, 23 February) gives a eulogy to Tony Blair, ‘I admired Tony Blair. I knew Tony Blair’. I had hoped that David Cameron’s claim to be ‘the heir to Blair’ was just a silly mistake springing from inexperience. It is more worrying to find that Blair worship is now the doctrine of modern compassionate Conservatism. No wonder 40 per cent of electors are unwilling to vote; nor that, when asked which party could best meet any challenge facing Britain, those saying ‘neither’ regularly exceed those naming either party.