James Macintyre's Blog, page 13

Naughty naughty

Respected Economist magazine allegedly alters photo to make Obama seem alone in thought

Credit for this one goes out to the New York Times.

www.newstatesman.com - Naughty naughty

Who will succeed David Cameron as Tory leader?

Matthew D'Ancona speculates in GQ

The Conservative Home web site has got hold of a copy of August's GQ, in which Matthew D'Ancona, a commentator who is close to the Tory leadership, speculates on the runners and riders who might succeed David Cameron.

Coming at a mildly vulnerable time for Cameron, as his failure to win the election outright is demonstrated every day by moves that the Tory right consider consessions to the Lib Dems, the latest of which is over next year's controversial AV r...

A proportional system should be on offer in next year's referendum

Edward McMillan-Scott is right: the STV option would make for a meaningful choice

As Nick Clegg comes to the Commons to announce next year's referendum on the Alternative Vote, the prospects of a change to the warped First Past the Post system are not looking good.

If -- if! -- it is true that David Cameron will lead the 'No' campaign, that will cause a major rift with the Liberal Democrats and will mean there could be opposition from both the Tory and Labour leaders, if Ed Balls, who has...

Gordon Brown is entitled to live in Scotland

Same media pack who brayed for his blood now demand his return to Westminster

I for one was a bit bemused by Gordon Brown's decision not to quit his parliamentary seat of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath at the same time as he stood down as prime minister. Standing outside Labour headquarters as he spoke to staff that rainy night in May, there were a number of rumours going around, including an apparently well-founded one that he would, indeed, be "doing a Tony Blair" and leaving Westminster as w...

Should the BBC boss be paid five times salary of the PM?

Mark Thompson needs to enter the real world

Iain Dale has rightly highlighted this absurdity regarding the pay of the Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson:

Andrew Marr to Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC: "You're paid five times what the Prime Minister is...

And answer came there none. Instead he wittered on about recruiting a new controller of Radio 4.

Mark Thompson earns

Stop indulging in Christopher Hitchens's illness

Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing

The news that Christopher Hitchens, the world's most controversial writer and a fanatical atheist, has cancer, is sadly resulting in a ghastly display of indulgence among those debating whether to pray or not to pray for him.

Surely the answer to that clever-clever (or "clever-stupid" as the man himself would say) debate is to pray if you believe, and do so quietly and without banging on about it, and, er, not to pray if you don't ...

Andrew Adonis is right

The Lib Dems have no ideological problem with massive cuts

Today we learn that Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is making a "shock" call for 40 per cent cuts across Government Departments. And needless to say David Cameron and the Tories are happy for such a demand to be coming from a figure inside the Liberal Democrats, who are there to provide cover for unpopular moves.

However, it should be noted that the "new" Lib Dems took an early decision actively to agree with t...

Politicians behave like grown ups, shock

Old rivals Blair and Hague work together on the Middle East

Amid all the wrangling about the coalition, and the major test it faces in the form of a referendum on electoral reform, it is refreshing to read of a new partnership between the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and the former prime minister Tony Blair, who is now the UN Quartet's representative in the Middle East.

Hague:

We used to discuss a lot of things in a slightly more hostile way but it is now, I think, refreshing to be...

Electoral reform referendum

Left Foot Forward

Sam Cam says husband

Is there a tiny irony there?

Having sunk into denial over the Gordon Brown premiership and held out for a David Cameron victory, like most of the media, London's Madame Tussauds has now unveiled its waxwork model of the new Prime Minister, and Cameron's wife, Samantha, has said it looks "identical" to the real thing.

I have no doubt about this, for, on the few occasions I have seen Cameron in person, he appears to be caked in a glossy sort of make-up, which is -- along with the new need...