Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 107

US air strikes against Isis will only escalate violence | Simon Jenkins

David Cameron should not follow Barack Obamas lead and commit to air strikes in Syria halfhearted wars dont achieve anything

Mission creep need not be harmful if the route of creep is clear. The objective of todays US bombing of Islamic State (Isis) bases in Syria is indeed clear, the wiping out of militant Islam in northern Iraq and, as a tactical necessity, in Syria. The objective has moral force. America has done more than anyone to fan the flames of Islamic militancy in that part of the wo...

Finally, the west is acting on Ebola. What took us so long? | Simon Jenkins

We are rushing to drop bombs on Iraq while we have dithered about sending drugs to Africa

The language is familiar. A potential threat of a human catastrophe unparalleled in modern times. More than 2,500 have died, and the same number are dying. Incidence of the disease is said to be doubling, even trebling, in some parts of Africa by the month. Hundreds of thousands now face death. Barack Obama declares a menace spiralling out of control, getting worse with profound economic, political and se...

Devolution of the NHS could be next | Simon Jenkins

Eventually the reckless promises and thrown money will dry up, and a new generation bred on the expectation of choice may welcome the break-up of the health service

What of the play, Mrs Lincoln? While the United Kingdom faces disintegration or devo max, its National Health Service may soon face a similar fate. Figures forecast this week will show Englands NHS lurching £1bn into deficit. An unprecedented majority of hospitals are reportedly trading in the red even the semi-autonomous fou...

What Stonehenge needs is a tidy-up | Simon Jenkins

I find the stones as they are rather dull. We rebuild churches and cathedrals why not make the circle complete, as Stonehenge once was?

Stonehenge is the nearest thing I know to proof of the existence of God, or perhaps gods. This week it made the New York Times not once but twice. Under a harvest moon, its high priests gathered in Birmingham to tell the world of their latest mystical findings while down in Wiltshire there was a deafening noise. Out of a flying machine stepped the most powerfu...

Scotland has been promised devo supermax, but divorce will still happen | Simon Jenkins

London is spooked and is suddenly doling out more powers to Edinburgh, but I wouldnt trust an inch of what is on offer

The prime minister is silent. Ed Miliband is a dud. Tony Blair is with the fairies. London is so desperate it has summoned Gordon Brown from his brooding lair and sent him north to save Scotland for the union. He has taken with him more gold than when Ethelred the Unready paid danegeld to the Vikings.

What has changed in the past month? The answer is poll-induced panic. London...

Scottish independence: A yes vote will produce a leaner, meaner Scotland | Simon Jenkins

The no campaign offers merely stasis. Even with devo max, Scots would remain in political shackles. Its time to break free

I sit overlooking Cardiff Bay as seven warships, including the destroyer HMS Duncan, manoeuvre gingerly into position. They join an army of 10,000 assorted police and guards to lock down the city so that Nato can eat a banquet in Cardiff castle. Not since the Field of the Cloth of Gold can such extravagance have masked such impotence. From the castle walls, statesmen hurl...

While Nato swills champagne, its Putin who calls the shots | Simon Jenkins

This weeks lavish Nato summit wont change the fact that it has been outmanoeuvred and humiliated in Ukraine by a puffed-up Putin

This weeks absurdly lavish Nato summit in Wales could not be worse timed. It will be a public display of the impotence of what preens itself as the worlds most powerful alliance. Vladimir Putin, its historic foe, has been allowed to engineer its humiliation. He lies, he bullies, he invades, he shrugs off sanctions. He knows Nato will not go to war. He can therefore g...

I want my rulers chosen on merit, but care more about how they rule | Simon Jenkins

The distribution of power, rather than its social makeup, is what counts. Only a constitutional revolution can dent the great British establishment

Surprise, surprise, Britain is ruled by an elite of like-minded people from the same middle-class backgrounds. According to the commission on social mobility and child poverty, this should be a wake-up call. Something must be done urgently or nothing will change. Merit is outgunned by class. Elite recruitment must be background blind.

These bromides...

Bank holidays: end these annual festivals of misery | Simon Jenkins

The rainiest, coldest summer holiday for ages underlines one simple fact: these outdated days off come at the wrong times of year, and should be scrapped

I blame the British class system. Yesterdays August bank holiday was the coldest on record, with an average 30mm of rain. Carnivals in Notting Hill and elsewhere were drenched. Snow fell in Scotland. It was reportedly warmer in Siberia. On my Welsh beach, hardy souls in puffer jackets and scarves walked their dogs while children bleakly trail...

Britains focus in Iraq should be humanitarian, not military | Simon Jenkins

We should always help people whose lives are blighted by wars, but we should not pretend to fight those wars for them

David Cameron wants Britain to stay out of Iraq. We are not going to get involved no boots on the ground no sending in the British army. Assuming he means it, he is right. He is right to focus Britains response to Islamic State (Isis) on humanitarian aid. He is right not to abandon his holiday, which would merely suggest that Iraq is Britains responsibility, encouraging the lap...