The Spectator

Tuesday

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Crocker damns Maliki government with faint praise

Interestingly enough, after a day and a half of questioning the most damaging sound bite to emerge so far from the Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus hearings has come in response to a question from one of the most pro-surge politicians in Congress. John McCain just asked Crocker whether he was confident that the Maliki government in Baghdad would do the right thing, to which Crocker rather tellingly replied: “"My level of confidence is under control".

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Exercise is not great

If you want a giggle, do read this account by Christopher Hitchens of his time at a health spa. The hard drinking, chain smoking Hitch is pretty much the last person you can imagine being wrapped in seaweed but he even provides photographic proof of the experience.

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RIP Anita Roddick, inspiration for the new Conservatives

Anita Roddick, implausible as it may seem, deserves a footnote in future histories of the Conservative Party as well as the annals of 'ethical consumerism' where her place was already secure. Long before Fairtrade coffee, barn-fed eggs in Tesco and organic everything, she had spotted and mapped out the psychological terrain where the ethics of the environmental movement and the culture of the so-called New Age met the arithmetic of high street capitalism. The Body Shop encapsulated in prototypical form the ideas developed in Steve Hilton's book, Good Business: ideas which have, in turn, infused David Cameron's emphasis upon the environment, his demand that business conform to the requirements of 'social responsibility', and his prioritisation of international development.

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Boris’s first full length TV interview of the campaign

Tonight on 18 Doughty Street, Iain Dale has a half an hour interview with The Spectator’s official candidate for Mayor of London. You can watch the entire thing here.   One point that Boris makes that is well worth pondering the next time you’re sitting waiting for a tube train that is delayed or stuck in a tunnel for no apparent reason is just how many absurdly well paid people there are working in Livingstone's transport bureaucracy: “Do you know there are 232 people working for Transport for London who are earning more than £100,000 a year?! Two hundred and thirty two! In the Treasury there are 7 who earn more than £100,000. In the Home Office there are 43 who earn over £100,000 a year.

Monday

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The Iraq report

If you want to follow the General Petraeus and Crocker testimony the New York Times, the Washington Post and The Politico are all live blogging it. You can also read Petraeus and Crokcer's opening statements in full here. Update: Britain and America also has coverage that is well worth reading.

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Why is al Qaeda releasing a second bin Laden video?

There’s another bin Laden video coming out soon. This time, bin Laden will introduce the testimony of one of the 9/11 suicide bombers. The appearance of a second video is surprising as it is hard to see why after three years off screen bin Laden is making two appearances in a week. One would have thought that the first video reminding everyone that bin Laden is still out there as the anniversary of 9/11 approached would have served their purpose. It also seems odds that they have sat on this video for so long. One would have expected them to include it with the testimony of some of the other suicide bombers that they released on the fifth anniversary.

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Addressing the reality of Iraq

The next few days will be a big test of whether the political class on both sides of the Atlantic can think about the reality of Iraq. Too often, the war is debated as if it is 2003 and we can still choose whether or not to invade. As this sobering George Packer essay in the New Yorker makes clear there are now no simple or easy solutions to the Iraq crisis. As he puts it, “We might want to be rid of Iraq, but Iraq won’t let it happen.” Given the situation on the ground today, the best course of action is to keep on with the surge. The numbers in today’s BBC poll of Iraqis show just how much work there is still to do. But there does not seem to be a better option than the surge.

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The great digital seduction

Last week the RSA hosted ‘The Great Digital Seduction’, a lively event that gave rise to a gripping and important debate. On one side was Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur, railing against what he called the cacophony of Web 2.0 and the calamitous effects of user-generated content on our culture. Keen vigorously bemoaned the decline of the old cultural gatekeepers, the emergence of ‘digital narcissism’ and the resulting proliferation of inane and banal content on the web. Tim Montgomerie, editor of ConservativeHome and BritainAndAmerica.com, gave a robust defence of new media. He pointed out that old media (of which Keen has a somewhat romantic view) has its problems too.

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Gordon goes where Dave can’t

“British jobs for British workers”: Gordon Brown has road-tested this muscular phrase many times before, not least when he accepted the Labour leadership in Manchester in front of a Union Flag the size of a small constituency. But today, at the TUC, he puts patriotic flesh on the bones promising an “extra 500,000 British jobs for British workers". Half of these somewhat mysterious positions will come from partnerships between employers and local Jobcentre Plus offices, in which employers give commitments to hire, train and recruit British people who are either inactive or unemployed. Meanwhile, as we read in yesterday’s papers, language restrictions will be introduced for migrant workers. A double whammy, indeed.

Sunday

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Give the surge time

General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker’s testimony to Congress will be crucial in shaping future US strategy in Iraq. As a new poll reveals, Petraeus will be delivering his report against considerable public scepticism: 53% expect the report to exaggerate the extent of progress in Iraq. Petraeus is also, as the Washington Post details, having to resist those in the Pentagon who want a rapid draw down of US forces to restore strategic flexibility against Iran. There is, though, real progress in Iraq for Petraeus to report.

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‘We need a surge in the South’

"I wish they would recalibrate. The south is a growing problem. It's the next big problem to be faced. The British force in the south could do a great deal of good. We need a surge in the south." So, Lindsey Graham, a Republican Senator from South Carolina, tells the Sunday Telegraph. This is a significant development as Graham is John McCain’s chief lieutenant and one of the pro-surge Senators who are critical White House allies on Iraq. Graham’s voice carries special weight as he has recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq as a reservist.  Interestingly enough, the Sunday Telegraph also reports that General Petraeus will answer questions on British strategy in the South if the issue comes up, as it surely will, in his testimony to Congress.

Saturday

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Letters to the Editor | 8 September 2007

Theodore Dalrymple’s cover story about our sentimental and brutal society (‘Too many teardrops’, 1 September) has given me an idea. Our thuggish society Sir: Theodore Dalrymple’s cover story about our sentimental and brutal society (‘Too many teardrops’, 1 September) has given me an idea. In order to reduce the impact of the British disease of vulgarity and rudeness, the principle of offsetting could be extended beyond carbon pollution. I concede that a donation to the society of polite gentlefolk would not necessarily solve the problem, but it would help and it would remind us that incivility is not morally neutral.

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The McCain comeback

This week was meant to be all about the entry of Fred Thompson, the politician turned actor who’s being presented as the new Reagan, into the Republican race. But Thompson has turned out to be a disappointment. His speeches have been underwhelming and the crowds small. Instead, the candidate taking the plaudits this week has been John McCain. McCain, the one-time frontrunner, saw his campaign derailed earlier this year by internal divisions and the unpopularity of his position on immigration with the Republican base. But there are signs that McCain is set for comeback. He was, by general consensus, the winner of this week’s Republican debate.

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The McCann saga

In the acres of news print devoted to the McCanns this morning, Andrew Pierce's Telegraph column (a must-read on Saturdays) offers the best analysis. Andrew points out the sheer scale of what is at stake. If either or both of the McCanns are charged and convicted - and they deny any form of wrongdoing - "will we ever be able to trust human nature again?" Spot on. And - like any good columnist - Andrew has the guts to admit the misgivings many have felt about the McCanns in the past months, but have been too nervous to express. Whatever you think about the case (and "think" rather than "know" is still the operative verb), do read this piece.

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Change must still be the message

The great paradox of the Tory party is that its predicament in recent years reflects not failure, but success. For 18 years it was in government, for 11 of them under one of the most influential prime ministers in history. The Conservatives dominated the 20th century: Austen Chamberlain and William Hague were the only two party leaders in those triumphant 100 years not to reach No. 10. So it is scarcely surprising that the Tory movement, in its DNA, believes the default position in this country to be a Conservative government.

Friday

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What you should do if you can’t see Atonement this weekend

Cinema goers will all be planning to go to see Atonement this weekend: I know I am. But if you are defeated by the queues, which threaten to be of English Patient/Shakespeare in Love proportions, do go and see Knocked Up instead. If ever a film was let down by its title it is this one. Clearly marketed for the audience that loved American Pie and US gross-out comedy, this is actually a very sophisticated film which brilliantly explores the gender gap and uses an old and unremarkable plotline – beautiful woman falls pregnant by unattractive male – as a sturdily reliable framework over which to drape the most delicate script and comedy of observation.

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Is Osama bin Laden not in Pakistan or Afghanistan after all?

This new bin Laden video might provide vital clues at to where the al Qaeda leader is hiding. One thing that is notable about it is that his beard is black in the advanced still that has been released, rather than white-flecked as it was back in 2004. Now it is unlikely that bin Laden can get supplies of Just for Men on the run and Dick Clarke, the US’s former terrorism czar, is speculating that it might actually be a false beard. Clark thinks that this suggests bin Laden might be living somewhere where beards are unusual such as the Philippines or Indonesia. It would be a sweet irony if this video helped close the net on bin Laden.

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The Iraq mission cannot afford more careless talk

Next week's testimony from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker to Congress on Iraq will give us the best idea yet of how the surge is progressing. To date, the signs are encouraging: to cut sectarian killings in Baghdad in half is a real achievement and begins to provide the conditions in which a political solution to Iraq's problems can be found. Yet, proponents of the surge have to be careful that the enthusiasm surrounding it doesn't begin to resemble the predictions of a cakewalk that preceded the invasion. If it does, the inevitable setbacks that the surge will face will become an argument for withdrawing immediately, a course that would result in total disaster both for Iraq and America's security interests in the region.

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bin Laden’s message

The claim that Osama bin Laden will issue a new broadcast message on the sixth anniversary of September 11 on Tuesday illustrates the fundamental difference between the two sides in the war on terror. Even if it does not materialise, the prospect of the tape has grabbed global attention: we shall be holding our breath until the 11th to see if he will say anything and, if he does, whether it ratchets up the al Qaeda message. Second, this brilliant and brilliantly simple piece of stage management counters any amount of Western reassurance that al Qaeda does not really exist, but is actually a disaggregated group of quite different local movements.

Thursday

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The BBC’s climate change u-turn

The BBC’s decision to cancel its plans for a day-long special on climate change is fascinating. Earlier this year, I took part in a seminar at Television Centre led off by Al Gore, who delivered the slide show now immortalised in An Inconvenient Truth. The former Vice-President then disappeared, partly, it emerged, because he will not share a platform with Bjorn Lomborg, the environmentalist who has cast doubt on some of the more dramatic claims made by the green lobby. Ian McEwan, Zac Goldsmith and I all made contributions to the debate – my own point being that the BBC should not exclude those who dissented from the now-orthodox position on climate change, even if they did not give their arguments equal time on air.