Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 145

Only England fails to foresee the demise of its first empire | Simon Jenkins

Scotland's 'devo max' is no rerun of Bannockburn: but Cameron responds like London's ignorant governing elite always has

Federations collapse from the stupidity of their leaders rather than the bolshevism of their members. The United Kingdom is no exception. It was pieced together in the 18th century from the half of the British Isles that the Normans had failed to conquer and assimilate. It began to disintegrate when the Irish had had enough of inept English government. Now the Scots are...

Great English dates No 5: 1265

Simon de Montfort's parliament may have been short-lived, but it gave birth to an institution made up of lords and commoners

When John died, the crown passed to the last person it needed, nine-year-old Henry III. His guardian, William Marshal, gathered a council that patched together the state left by John. Magna Carta was restored, as were the assize courts and the revenue. But as Henry grew to be a man, he could not be restrained from seeking to recoup the family possessions in France. This ...

Vanity, machismo and greed have blinded us to the folly of Afghanistan | Simon Jenkins

The decade-long retribution exacted on this nation has cost the west dearly – and our old foes laugh at our expense

Ten years of western occupation of Afghanistan led the UN this week to plead that half the country's drought-ridden provinces face winter starvation. The World Food Programme calls for £92m to be urgently dispatched. This is incredible. Afghanistan is the world's greatest recipient of aid, some $20bn in the past decade, plus a hundred times more in military spending. So much...

Stop the gimmicks, Cameron – start learning from Thatcher | Simon Jenkins

David Cameron is looking flaky. He should realise that Margaret Thatcher based her ascendancy on a ruthless attention to detail

David Cameron is still the Tories' best leader since Margaret Thatcher. Just. He has proved an adept handler of coalition. He has a keen sense of political timing and a relaxed command of the public stage. With Britain's economic predicament ever more dire, his pragmatism is a national asset, and puts him head and shoulders above most European leaders.

Yet can he turn ...

Great English dates: 1215

The 61-clause Magna Carta came about during the weak rule of King John and lies at the foundation of England's civil rights

The offspring of William the Conqueror solidified the Norman hold on England. Henry I and Henry II, did so by their mastery of war, administration and the law. Richard I and King John did so by absence and incompetence, empowering the rival bases of the church and barons. By the start of the 13th century, John's failings had stirred civil war and had him scurrying...

If we'll restore a painting of Pompeii, why won't we restore Pompeii itself? | Simon Jenkins

To watch the ruins at Pompeii slowly decay is heartbreaking. We must abandon the 'conserve as found' maxim and reconstruct

With exquisite timing, the Tate in London is staging a show of great disasters, by the Victorian artist, John Martin. The paintings depict Vesuvius erupting, Sodom in flames, Noah racing for his ark, Babylon falling, and the horsemen of the apocalypse charging everywhere, as if London were playing host not to the Olympics but to Armageddon. The centrepiece is Martin's...

Without a growth plan, the EU faces financial Waterloo | Simon Jenkins

The latest eurozone rescue scheme may save Greece for now, but it fails on a basic rule of classical economics

This really matters. It matters more than party conferences or Libyan wars or terrorist scares or Olympic games. Europe faces a Waterloo moment, perhaps even a Munich one, as 17 of its finance ministers dither over whether to rescue its economy from the financial wreckage of the past three years, or let it plunge into renewed depression.

A bad-tempered weekend at the IMF in Washington ...

Great English dates: 1066

It's the most famous date in English history – the year of a bloody struggle for the crown that ended in William the Conqueror's victory at the Battle of Hastings

The year 1066 is the most celebrated in English history. To every schoolboy it was war between a Saxon hero, Harold, and a French villain, William of Normandy. In reality, both were of Viking descent and neither had a strong claim to the English throne. On hearing of Edward the Confessor's death and Harold's coronation, a furious...

Britain's Nazi obsession betrays our insecurity – it's time we moved on | Simon Jenkins

Only frightened people seek sustenance from ancient rivalries and past victories we should have consigned to history

What is the matter with us? We seem unable to get the Nazis out of our system. Earlier this summer the curtain rose on Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust at the London Coliseum, and my heart sank. The stage was alive with stormtroopers and jackboots. The banality was crashing: Faust, the Devil … Hitler, get it? By act two we were deep in the Holocaust. This week the same opera...

By giving Britain stability, Nick Clegg has pulled off a remarkable coup | Simon Jenkins

The Lib Dem leader has played a blinder to keep the coalition together in turbulent times. Shame he's brought no new ideas to the table

There is no argument. The Liberal Democrats and their leader, Nick Clegg, have played a political blinder this past 18 months. They have kept a British coalition government in being against all odds, with no sign of it collapsing in the near future. Nor have the Lib Dems just sustained a regime, as they did some governments, Tory and Labour, in the 1920s and 1...