Al Gore has done a Q&A with Independent readers ahead of today’s Live Earth concerts and while most of the exchanges are rather predictably about carbon offsetting, food miles, Gore’s political future and the like, this one rather stands out: You shared a room at Harvard with the actor Tommy Lee Jones. Of the two
‘Among all criminals and murderers, the most dangerous type is the criminal physician.’ ‘Among all criminals and murderers, the most dangerous type is the criminal physician.’ So said Dr Miklos Nyiszli, a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz who acted as pathologist to Josef Mengele. The unspeakable depravities of the Nazi doctors were catalogued at the Nuremberg
Yesterday, I rode up the Ballon d’Alsace, a mountain in the Vosges range that was the first hill ever included in the Tour de France, which starts this Saturday in London. By the standards of the Tour, it’s a minor climb — just five miles uphill, with an average gradient of seven percent — nothing
Earlier in the week Coffee House asked who would be the first public figure to fall foul of the smoking ban and it appears we have an answer. BBC News 24 is reporting that Charlie Kennedy, the former Lib Dem leader, has been spoken to by police for lighting up on a train.
Gordon Brown told the BBC this morning that he’ll be holidaying in Britain this year. Dick Morris will be proud! With all his Middle Britain pleasing micro-initiatives–flying the flag over Number 10 and the like–the strategy of the early weeks of the Brown premiership bear an uncanny resemblance to Clinton’s between his drubbing in the
Fiona Millar has a piece in The Guardian today defending herself from some of the implicit criticisms made of her in the Cherie Blair documentary. Much of the criticism Cherie received might have been excessively harsh, but Millar is surely right in this criticism of Blair: “her famed intelligence clearly deserts her if she still
The Spectator last week ran a piece by Andrew Neil saying “Memo to Gordon: it’s the Broken Society, stupid.” Was his memo intercepted? Because David Cameron has today given a speech entitled “Empowering local communities can heal our broken society.” It’s setting the stage for next week’s IDS report. Here’s my take on his speech.
British police are infuriatingly tight-lipped about terror investigations. But they do talk to American counterparts, who are less guarded with American journalists, so often the US media is first with the British anti-terror news. So this report from ABC News is worth reading.
Mark Halperin has a great piece in Time magazine about the Clintons going on the trail together in Iowa and how Bill is adjusting to playing second fiddle.
Buying the Big Issue magazine is never an act of charity. Its content is well worth the cover price, especially when John Bird, its founder, writes on social issues. His cover story this week is an open letter to Gordon Brown (not online, buy the mag!). It exposes how Labour sees homelessness as a financial
So farewell, George Melly. There isn’t much fun left in jazz any more; it takes itself so seriously. George didn’t — always having fun, listening to his favourite Bessie Smith records. He was one of the last generation of jazz musicians to enjoy his work and to convey that feeling to his audience; he
“The English people believes itself to be free; it is gravely mistaken; it is free only during election of members of parliament; as soon as the members are elected, the people is enslaved; it is nothing.” So wrote Rousseau of our system of parliamentary representation. It is to address this sense of absolute disenfranchisement in
No more than a formality, of course, and the least I can do as the great man’s successor in the Editor’s chair. As a Londoner, I know he would do a brilliant job, and the awesome city state that is 21st Century London needs a man of his stature at the helm, not a
Nick Robinson doesn’t take fliers. The more calls I make on this Boris for London story, the more true it seems: wheels are indeed in motion. Perhaps what he needs is encouragement. He’d certainly have my full support – no prizes who’d win a Red Ken v Steve bleeding Norris contest. So what do Coffee
The late David Halberstam—author of The Best and the Brightest—has a posthumously published essay in Vanity Fair on Bush’s misuse of history. He charges that the Bush administration lives in “a world where other nations admire America or damned well ought to, and America is always right, always on the side of good, in a
Nick Robinson is suggesting that Boris Johnson may run for London mayor. I can tell you that Boris was unofficially sounded out at the Tory summer party last year, and resolved he didn’t want to give up his superb, safe and beautiful Henley seat (which they told him he’d have to do). As of last
Strange to see Gordon Brown dropping the phrase “war on terror” while asking (through today’s Sun) that we all fly Union Flags to show war-style defiance against terrorism. I admire his spirit, but he can’t have it both ways. Flags grew out of the walls in America post 9/11, and it is this spirit which
Further to my post on John Simm, it seems to me that Doctor Who, once the home of Daleks and wobbly cardboard scenery, is now becoming the nation’s cultural showcase of all the talents. The news that Kylie is to feature in the Christmas special could be dismissed as a one-off gimmick to drive up
Gordon Brown’s constitutional proposals receive a generally good press this morning. Interestingly, everyone has decided to concentrate on the bits they like rather than the bits they don’t: The Sun fronts Brown’s call for the flag to be flown from public buildings, Jonathan Freedland praises the radicalism of the proposals while Simon Heffer is impressed
Much has been said, and rightly, about the battle of the titans over schools and children’s policy which will now ensue between Ed Balls and Michael Gove, elevated to the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet respectively in the past week. Ed, as well as being Gordon’s right-hand man, is an impressive act himself with a serious