Telegraph Blogs

I’ve come across an interesting report of a press conference Gordon Brown held today in which he accused the Conservatives of planning to ban Fridays. Here’s the key passage: “This is a cynical ploy by the Conservatives,” said Mr Brown.  “I have read their manifesto from cover to cover and in the manifesto it said nothing… Read more

Thirty minutes with Jeremy Paxman is not a prospect politicians relish. Witness the difficulties Newsnight had locking in the main leaders for this ritual ordeal of the campaign. In the end, David Cameron’s appearance was worth the risk. He’s just produced thirty minutes of confident, persuasive argument that took advantage of Paxo’s various Exocets to… Read more

There’s no evidence that Nick Clegg got a bounce from his performance in last night’s debate, judging from tonight’s two polls. In the latest YouGov tracker (fieldwork conducted entirely after the debate), the Conservatives are on 34 per cent (nc), Labour on 29 per cent (nc) and the Lib Dems on 29 per cent (+1). That’s… Read more

If you like historical parallels for contemporary events, have a look at the Greville Memoirs. I’ve just been reading Charles Greville’s diaries for 1827. There had just been the most frightful monetary scare, with the Bank of England down to its last few thou of gold. If someone there hadn’t discovered a parcel of notes that… Read more

The estimable genealogical site findmypast.co.uk, in its latest newsletter, has injected some colour into this lacklustre election campaign with an item entitled “The family history of the political party leaders”. It explores the antecedents of Dave, Gordie No-Mates and Nick Clegg with some entertaining results. The blue-blooded origins of Demotic Dave were already fairly well known.… Read more

You know how I’d like to illustrate this blog about censorship in the new episode of South Park? With a nice, big pic, right at the top, 460 pixels by 288, of the Prophet Mohammed. Not doing anything bad or inappropriate – just smiling, looking calm and wise, dressed in suitable clothes for a seventh-century Middle Eastern merchant.

It’s the most important issue of the lot for many people on both sides of one of the most acrimonious debates around, but it has taken two weeks to surface in the election campaign. And, even then, the discussion of climate change in the second of the leaders’ debates last night was disappointing. Gordon Brown and… Read more

I really think the Catholic Education Service will come to regret the appointment of Greg Pope, who as a Labour MP voted to keep abortion legal at 16 weeks, as its Deputy Director. Lots of Catholics are angry about this; significantly, they include politicians. Fr Tim Finigan draws our attention to the controversy here.  Meanwhile, John… Read more

During this election campaign, I’ve yet to hear much about George Dangerfield’s The Strange Death of Liberal England (The Exile blog is one exception). Maybe it’s just that nobody knows history any more, or cares about it. But you’d think that in 2010 somebody would have remembered that, exactly hundred years ago in 1910, there… Read more

This is probably a transport story rather than a technology story but it’s Friday and I can’t resist. This video shows a concept for a passenger train that never stops at stations. It’s a Taiwanese idea (one that seems to be at least three-years-old) and the video is not in English. However, the concept is… Read more

Why has derivatives reform proved so controversial? Well derrr, it might be said, it is because the big investment banks have so much to lose from the transparancy that would spring from shifting derivatives on market, or otherwise have the regulators approve each over-the-counter, tailor made product. The obfuscation and lack of price transparancy that… Read more

Why does everyone seem to hate Sharon Shoesmith, the former director of children’s services at Haringey, who has just lost a High Court case over her sacking following the death of Baby P? Of course she should have fallen on her sword, after council workers failed to save Peter Connelly from a serial abuser. But don’t think… Read more

I’ve gone back to some of the Conservative candidates and MPs I spoke to before the debate to gauge opinion. David Cameron’s confident performance has had a galvanising effect on morale (although how they wish he could tap in to some of that Nick Clegg easiness). In several southern seats where the Tories are up… Read more

Now that the words ‘City’, ‘fat cats’ and ‘greed’ have become nearly synonymous, it makes a refreshing change to report how financial institutions and individual shareholders are quietly helping those in need. ShareGift is scarcely a household name, even among charities, but it has raised £14m for good causes since it was set up 14 years… Read more

A couple of days ago I filled in the sponsorship form for my friend’s son, who is running in Sunday’s London Marathon in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer – his Mother has fought the disease twice. As I did so, I began to reflect on the generosity of people in this country. Not only are many… Read more

Judging by the wide eyes and note shuffling, it was a question the party leaders weren’t expecting: “Do you back the Pope’s visit to Britain?” None of them floundered completely, but it was clear to most viewers – particularly Catholic ones, I gather – that Clegg, Cameron and Brown were busking.

As ever, the argument started in the pub. The best ones do. Let’s finish it here. 1) Leinster v Clermont Auvergne or France-England ? Heineken Cup quarter-final or Six Nations Grand Slam game ? No contest for me. The RDS in Dublin had it all: pace, intensity, drama, adventure and tribal fans. 2 ) Likewise: Biarritz-Ospreys, Munster-Northampton, Toulouse-Stade Francais up against any of the… Read more

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the Greek fiscal crisis, which today culminated in the stricken country officially requesting a bail-out package from the IMF and euro states, is an isolated problem. Although ministers are keen to try to characterise the country’s problems as sui generis – a particular country lied about how much money… Read more

One of the reports used to justify the anti-piracy measures in the Digital Economy Act was called Building a Digital Economy and was published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The report predicted losses of €240 billion due to piracy by 2015 unless there were “significant policy changes”. But where did the data come from?… Read more

Ken Livingstone famously does not do apologies, however offensive his behaviour. But the majesty of the law has finally accomplished what the Standards Board, his party colleagues and a thousand newspaper columnists have failed to achieve. The ex-King Newt has been forced to apologise and pay damages after lying about and libelling his Labour Party… Read more

Yet another new, exciting and ever-so-cool Twitter tool was sent my way this morning. So exciting, in fact, that the press release was sent twice. The PR firm who contacted me wanted to tell me about 10 Downing Tweets, a website that carries out weekly polls of Twitter users. One phrase caught my… Read more

Last week was a really bad week for nations that are friends and allies of America. Three nations that have long been close friends and allies of America received humiliating treatment from the Obama administration. Israel sensibly boycotted Obama’s nuclear summit in Washington. Israel has recently been treated with such hostility by President Obama, the Israeli… Read more