Subscribe to The Spectator

Sunday 29 May 2011

Jobs at Telegraph

Thursday, 5th May 2011

Osama bin Laden Was Not America's Useful Enemy

2:41pm

The Guardian is a great newspaper but, lord, does it ever print some claptrap. Via Messrs Geras and Worstall comes this dreadful piece by Adam Curtis. The headline, for which Mr Curtis is not responsible, is a warning of the nonsense to come: For 10 years, Osama bin Laden filled a gap left by the Soviet Union. Who will be the baddie now?

From the off we're supposed to appreciate, I think, that bad as bin Laden certainly was, he was never as bad as you were led to believe and, gosh, certainly not as bad as...

Continue reading...

Filed under: 9/11 (3 more articles) , Al-Qaeda (37 more articles) , Bush (53 more articles) , Hackery (200 more articles) , Islamism (89 more articles) , Neo-conservatism (13 more articles) , Osama bin Laden (23 more articles) , Terrorism (240 more articles) , War on terror (39 more articles)

Email to a friend  |   Permalink   |   Comments (12)

Monday, 18th April 2011

The AV Referendum Discredits Referendums

4:42pm

The only thing that has been proved by this referendum on changing the electoral system used for Westminster elections is that referendums are a hopeless way of deciding these matters. Neither the politicians nor the press have distinguished themselves during an affair that's been distinguished by the mendacity of almost all the protagonists, the hysteria of partisans on both sides and the sheer quantity of lumpen stupidity on display. It has not been an edifying or comforting process.

Today alone has seen a spectacular amount of hyperbollocks. Andrew Sparrow's Guardian live-blog is grim reading. As ever the Yes campaign's...

Continue reading...

Filed under: Alternative vote (79 more articles) , Britain (523 more articles) , Cameron (168 more articles) , Electoral reform (90 more articles) , Hackery (200 more articles) , O Tempora, O Mores (167 more articles) , Referendum (34 more articles)

Email to a friend  |   Permalink   |   Comments (14)

Tuesday, 12th April 2011

This internet thing is never going to catch on.

2:34am

A classic, via Norm, from Sir Simon Jenkins. Apparently, "The Internet will strut an hour upon the stage, and then take its place in the ranks of lesser media". Also:

So great is the commercial hyperbole surrounding the Internet that common sense is obliterated by dazzle. It has proved a boon for pornographers and lawyers and for the sort of up market pen pals who used to rave about Citizens' Band radio. For companies and interest groups, the "interment" is a more efficient version of the fax. E-mail has done wonders for the ancient art of letter-writing.
...

Continue reading...

Filed under: Hackery (200 more articles) , Internet (36 more articles) , Newspapers (290 more articles)

Email to a friend  |   Permalink   |   Comments (5)

Sunday, 10th April 2011

Working-Class People Can Like Opera Too, You Know

3:30am

Brother Korski is right to draw attention to Rachel Sylvester's interview (£) with Unite's Len McCluskey and right too to note that his defence of Castro's island gulag* is indefensible. But there's more that's wrong with it than that and not all of that is McCluskey's fault. Consider these lines:

He would choose tea and scones at Fortnum and Mason over beer and sandwiches in a smoke-filled room. He is a fan of the romantic poets — “I love Byron, Keats and Shelley, I’m a romantic at heart” — and takes a feminist interpretation of Christina Rossetti.
...

Continue reading...

Filed under: Britain (523 more articles) , Class (12 more articles) , ConLib (86 more articles) , Cuba (13 more articles) , Hackery (200 more articles) , Lefties (20 more articles) , Newspapers (290 more articles)

Email to a friend  |   Permalink   |   Comments (7)

Friday, 8th April 2011

Dreadful MP of the Week: Glenda Jackson

12:13am

I'm most grateful to Selena Gray for publicising Glenda Jackson's response to the notion that volunteers might run a library that Brent council has threatened to close. I don't think, however, Selena goes nearly far enough.

Firstly, it cannot be pointed out too often that any library closures are the responsibility of councils, not central government. The latter may not send as much money to the former as it did in previous years but the decisions on what to spend the money councils do have are entirely a matter for the councils themselves. If your local...

Continue reading...

Filed under: Big Society (97 more articles) , Britain (523 more articles) , Hackery (200 more articles) , Labour (1669 more articles)

Email to a friend  |   Permalink   |   Comments (15)

Wednesday, 30th March 2011

AV will not help the BNP and everyone's vote counts the same.

11:46pm

The Alternative Vote isn't a great voting system but neither is First Past the Post. I suspect inertia and boredom and a lack of outrage will help swing the day for the status quo in the end. Neither side has impressed during the campaign thus far. Claims that AV is some kind of elixir that will "clean-up" British politics are absurd. But at least the Yes campaign is, on the whole, only peddling pie-in-the-sky. They're not, again on the whole, trying to frighten voters. Their exagerrations seem a little less desperate than those made by the No campaign.

Take Baroness...

Continue reading...

Filed under: Alternative vote (79 more articles) , BNP (43 more articles) , Elections (181 more articles) , Electoral reform (90 more articles) , Hackery (200 more articles)

Email to a friend  |   Permalink   |   Comments (10)

Spectator Asks

Do you own a luxury timepiece?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Looking to buy

Tag Cloud

Search this blog

Alex Massie's blog archive

sponsored links

Spectator recommends

Spectator classifieds

JEWELLERY: C.N.A RUFF LTD

Are you making the right impression?

THE PRESENT FINDER

1,700 Unusual Christmas Presents Request Catalogue 01935 815 195 Quote SPEC10 for 10% discount www.presentfinder.co.uk

OLIVE BRANCH FLORISTS

Pimilco based Florist with online ordering Web: www.olivebranch.net Email: sales@olivebranch.net Tel: 020 7630 1868 Fax: 020 7233 8844