Of all British exports, it is a tragedy that paranoia should be currently the most successful. If only the integrity of our armed forces and our distaste for corruption had proved as influential upon foreigners as our culture for total safety, the world would indeed be a happy place. Touch down in some distant international
The Daily Telegraph said that documents found in the ruined Iraqi foreign ministry in Baghdad by a Daily Telegraph reporter were said to discuss payments to Mr George Galloway, the MP for Glasgow Kelvin. Mr Galloway said: ‘I have never solicited, nor would I have accepted had I been offered, any financial assistance of any
Comment on The dawning of a new Europe by Tim Congdon (19/04/2003) What an excellent article by Tim Congdon. It is so good to see a coherently argued case for UK withdrawal from the EU. I agree entirely that the case must be made in a way that is not narrow and jingoistic so that
There is no task more difficult than that of educating British children. To the natural indiscipline of youth has now been added the indiscipline of parents, many of whom interpret any reports of wrongdoing in school on the part of their offspring as a personal affront, or as the manifestation of the malice of teachers.
Comment on The end of the beginning by Michael Ledeen (12/04/2003) Michael Ledeen’s analysis of how the United States will approach other ‘evil’ states, namely Syria and Iran, shows signs of hysteria from the start. Ledeen tells us that ‘Today, both Iran and Syria are engaged in a desperate terrorist campaign against coalition forces in
Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, in a statement to Parliament about the war in Iraq, said, ‘There is upon us a heavy responsibility to make the peace worth the war. We shall do so …with a fixed and steady resolve that the cause was just, the victory right, and the future for us to
No matter how glamorous the guest-list, or how luxurious the food photographed sliding down the hostess’s gullet, there is an occasion which, deep down in his thoracic cavity, the average tabloid editor knows he would rather snoop on than the wedding of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It is the 19th birthday party next month
An ICM poll in the Guardian found that 52 per cent approved of the war and 34 per cent opposed it; among Conservatives approval was 61 per cent, among Labour supporters 59 per cent and among Liberal Democrats 31 per cent. Mr Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, told Parliament that, with 45,000
If the assault against Saddam Hussein is not quite going to plan, that fact seems to have been lost on the many shadow war cabinets meeting in session down at the Dog and Duck. Six weeks ago, when the troops were still gathering at the Iraqi border and the world believed that Baghdad would very
That we will encounter more difficulties and anxious moments in the days ahead is certain,’ Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said in the Commons after four days of war against Iraq, ‘but no less certain, indeed more so, is coalition victory.’ On the seventh day of the war he flew, with Mr Jack Straw,
One of the enduring images of the second Gulf war will be the sight of Hollywood’s finest blubbing their way through their acceptance speeches at the Oscars. ‘My hormones are way too out of control to even be dealing with this,’ sobbed Catherine Zeta-Jones. ‘Why do you come to the Academy awards when the world
British troops joined the American assault on Iraq, after a Commons debate in which an anti-war motion was defeated by 396 votes to 217 (including 139 Labour rebels), and a government motion seeking ‘all necessary means’ to disarm Iraq was passed by 412 votes to 149, a majority of 263. Mr Tony Blair, the Prime
Comment on The case for colonialism by Daniel Kruger (15/03/2003) Daniel Kruger invokes the authority of Isaiah Berlin as he opens his case for an American imperium:
Fear and hope are the two great motivators of human action, and neither untempered by the other leads to wise decision-making. Paralysis by unreasonable fear is as much to be avoided as the foolhardiness induced by groundless hope; but, of the two, fear is the more easily generated. It is certainly more common nowadays than
Britain joined the United States and Spain in tabling an amendment to the draft resolution before the Security Council of the United Nations, reading: ‘Iraq will have failed to take the final opportunity afforded by resolution 1441 unless on or before 17 March 2003 the Council concludes that Iraq has demonstrated full, unconditional, immediate and
There has always been something of a Jesus complex about Tony Blair. It suits him, temperamentally, to evangelise, to parade the passion of his belief, and to accept the devotion of his followers. It would now appear that he is approaching his political Calvary. As the hymn says, ‘Sometimes they strew his way, and his
Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said in a speech in Swansea: ‘In 1938 Chamberlain was a hero when he brought back the Munich agreement. And he did it for the best of motives. He had seen members of his precious family, people he loved, die in the carnage of World War I. He was
Having had a peek through the gates of Downing Street, the next item on a tourist’s itinerary is a short stroll across Horse Guards Parade to the Cabinet War Rooms, from where Winston Churchill directed operations in the second world war. We don’t yet know where tourists of the future will be going to view
Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said, in an emergency statement to the House of Commons on Iraq, that 100 per cent co-operation by Saddam Hussein was necessary, and ‘anything less will not do’. A day’s debate followed in the Lords and Commons, where many Labour members were prepared to vote against the government. Mr
The Tory party is like some particularly gloomy man going through a mid-life crisis. His wife has left him, to universal applause. As so often in these cases, he seems unable to talk about anything except himself, thereby making his position worse. He takes a girl out to dinner, and she is prepared to give