Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 131

The Guardian audio edition: 15 January 2013

A selection of articles from the Guardian newspaper and website made available in audio

In this week's edition:

• Unpopular in the polls and accused of dithering on the economy, Mali has shown the French president in decisive mode, writes Angelique Chrisafis. Read the article here

• New appointments in the White House hail an era of hands-free warfare. According to Simon Jenkins, these weapons induce not defeat, but retaliation. Read the article here

• In the wake of several suicides following re...

Drones are fool's gold: they prolong wars we can't win | Simon Jenkins

New appointments in the White House hail an era of hands-free warfare. Yet these weapons induce not defeat, but retaliation

The greatest threat to world peace is not from nuclear weapons and their possible proliferation. It is from drones and their certain proliferation. Nuclear bombs are useless weapons, playthings for the powerful or those aspiring to power. Drones are now sweeping the global arms market. There are some 10,000 said to be in service, of which a thousand are armed and mostly A...

Don't mock Nick Clegg – he may stay in power for a generation | Simon Jenkins

Since 2010 the deputy PM has been dismissed as politically crippled. Yet his cunning could leave him kingmaker again

Any fool can knock a coalition. So it proved today. Broken, lamentable, single-bedded, farcical, split, doomed, were among the responses to the "mid-term report" from the David Cameron-Nick Clegg coalition on Monday. What a shower they apparently were.

I suspect history will be kinder. Theirs, after all, was no normal marriage. It was a shotgun wedding, forced on the two parties...

Europe is already gnawing at David Cameron's vitals | Simon Jenkins

Every sensible person accepts that Britain needs a new deal with the other states. It's all in the detail

First on the list for 2013 is Europe. It is already gnawing at David Cameron's vitals, as it has gnawed at all his predecessors for 30 years. Nor is he alone. Now Europe gnaws at German politics, French politics, the eurozone, every bank and every industry. As with America's fiscal troubles, the world's federations are in a mess.

Never has metaphor seemed so tired. The past w...

Our columnists' predictions for 2013 | The panel

We asked writers what to watch for in the year ahead. From the UK economy to the Middle East, here are their thoughts

Simon Jenkins: Prepare for tedium and lurches

Journalists are terrible forecasters. They see disaster everywhere, and greet it with hyperbole. In 2013 I pledge to avoid it. Therefore, I predict that nothing of interest will happen next year, unless you are in the royal baby business, in which case you are in clover.
2013 will a year of tedium and lurches. The economy will lurch t...

The Olympics were a celebration worthy of Nero – and as extravagant | Simon Jenkins

London 2012 was an orgasmic moment of public pleasure. But its legacy is more hangover than feelgood factor

,Ghaith Abdul-AhadThe 2012 Olympics were the grandest public event in recent British history. A Guardian/ICM poll this week indicated an overwhelming public view that the games were enjoyable, cheerful and worth the money. Even short wars, normally a British spending favourite, cannot claim such ratings. The Falklands war, at nearly £3bn in 1982, stands at just 55% in favour, with Libya...

An atheist's prayer for the churches that keep our soul | Simon Jenkins

After a year of bad news, spare a thought at Christmas for one of the threads that binds communities together

Now is the season to think of the outcast and disadvantaged. Spare a thought for the BBC, whose bosses have behaved no worse than any flatulent organisation with too much public money. Have a care for Nick Clegg in this time of goodwill, as he painfully wrestles with his political conscience over taxes and drug laws. And weep for the Church of England. It has had a terrible year, torn...

North Korea's boys' toys are not a threat – but our reaction to them is | Simon Jenkins

Big missiles and nuclear weapons do not topple states, conventional arms do. Their menace is political, not military

North Korea has fired a big rocket into the sky, put a satellite in orbit and then splashed the rocket into the sea. How much should I care? Not much. How much should we all care? The answer is not much.

The diet of global horror served up each day by the world's media demands we compare, reason and ration, or the collective eye will run dry of tears. North Korea's spending on ro...

If only saying nothing were an option for William Hague of the FO | Simon Jenkins

As Northern Ireland goes up in flames, our foreign minister still lectures other states on nation-building. How dare he?

Communal rioting in two cities. Bricks and bottles thrown and civic buildings wrecked. Flags torn down and 15 police injured. Local politicians forced to go into hiding. It happens all over the world, but this week it happened in the United Kingdom, evidence of continuing lack of community concord in Northern Ireland.

Yet I am not aware of Israel's prime minister, B...

Pity this royal baby, its future a public obstacle course | Simon Jenkins

The idea of a 'royal family' has been a big mistake. Its members are forced to live under the glare of a terrible spotlight

I have no opinion on hyperemesis gravidarum. Maternity couture is not my forte. I am weak on Salic law. As for the logistics of twins as heirs to the throne, I leave that to the department of angels on pinheads. Royal babies are ooh-aah journalism. They soften the brain.

Yet after so much relentless bad news, we gulp down anything heart-warming like par...