Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 152

'No-fly zone' is a euphemism for war. We'd be mad to try it | Simon Jenkins

Cameron's urge to dust himself in military glory may be strong, but he should not interfere in the Libyan rebels' cause

Happy days are back for the sofa strategists and beltway bombardiers. After the miseries of Iraq and Afghanistan, a Libyan no-fly zone is just the tonic they need. If you zero in from carrier A, you can take out the Tripoli air defences while carrier B zaps the mercenary bases and carrier C zooms with special forces to secure the oilfields. You might tell the Americans to go ...

For the LSE, in thrall to a dictator, Gaddafi was pure roast duck | Simon Jenkins

The school's association with Libya's leader is just an extreme version of the predicament now facing all UK universities

Pity the poor university. Told for 25 years to get into bed with big money, the London School of Economics found big money sometimes stinks. This week, as the Blairites bobbed and weaved their way out of the sleazy embrace of their friend, Gaddafi of Libya, someone forgot to tell the old school tie. The LSE thought it was helping the cause by giving Gaddafi's son a dodgy...

We decry cuts, but spare the Philip Hammonds who fritter cash | Simon Jenkins

Against prestige projects like aircraft carriers, the Olympics or high-speed rail, the poor taxpayer hardly gets a look-in

Anyone opposing the glamorous high-speed rail project of the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, is a nimby. Or so he says. Critics of his HS2 line are Aylesbury luddites, Brackley reactionaries, Great Missenden moanies. Macho ministers do big projects, like high-speed trains, aircraft carriers and turbine parks. Those who oppose them are wimps. To Hammond it is...

Restoring Christchurch's bell tower is a first step to easing the city's trauma | Simon Jenkins

The spire lost in New Zealand's earthquake matters. Obliterating past treasures or leaving the scars of ruins never helps

The collapse in Tuesday's earthquake of the bell tower of ChristChurch cathedral is a tragedy both for those killed and for the heart and soul of New Zealand's second city. The tower was the focus point at the heart of this charming, peaceful chip off the old British block. Its loss is symbolic of the tragedy. It should be rebuilt at once.

Cities vary widely in their a

Britain can push democracy or weapons – but not both | Simon Jenkins

David Cameron's arms-sale tour has mired him in typical liberal interventionist hypocrisy. Better let the Arab world sort itself out

I must be missing something. The present British government, like its predecessor, claims to pursue a policy of "liberal interventionism", seeking the downfall of undemocratic regimes round the globe, notably in the Muslim world. The same British government, again like its predecessor, sends these undemocratic regimes copious weapons to suppress the only...

Opinion directs the boot of truth at the crotch of power. Long may it sting | Simon Jenkins

After Baltimore's raucous HL Mencken died, some felt the age of the column was over. Yet today news is the endangered species

Are you Beatles or Beethoven? Chelsea or Arsenal? Mencken or Montaigne? You can supposedly tell people by their taste in fads and gurus. In the case of columnists there is a clear choice. Sensitive, cerebral, me-me writers go for Montaigne, the 16th-century sage of Bordeaux. Rat fink reporter types go for the scourge of Baltimore, HL Mencken, whose collected Prejudices ...

The cure for an ailing, ageing NHS is to cut it down to size | Simon Jenkins

Since its nationalisation, the health service has defied sensible pruning. Losing 24,000 backroom staff would be a start

Alfred, 69, "was left sleeping in a chair with dried blood on him … his clothes were not changed … soaked in urine … discharged when too weak to walk … had a heart attack on the way home". Mr D was so dehydrated at Bolton General Hospital "that his tongue was like a piece of dried leather". Mrs R "had no bath or shower in 13 weeks at Southampton hospital and was left for...

We giggle at his machismo – but Silvio Berlusconi has the last laugh | Simon Jenkins

The EU claims to be the guardian of a democratic confederacy, and treats Serbia as beyond the pale. So why appease Italy?

As belly dancers go, she was very pretty. I suggested that the dignity of the Italian state could find a crumb of comfort in that. The Italian to whom I said it was not amused. "Please, let's not even discuss it," she said. "It's too awful. I am too ashamed."

The Italian prime minister might face prosecution for buying sex from a minor, but a man is innocent until proved...

Cameron should uncap council tax and stop taking all the blame for the cuts | Simon Jenkins

The coalition is getting the blame for councillors' decisions. To stop this, David Cameron should lift Thatcher's local tax cap

Set them free. Liberate them. They are elected, so why not make them responsible? Let them take the blame. Yesterday Manchester city council announced deep cuts of 2,000 jobs or 17% of its workforce. Children's services are to be cut by 26%. Rubbish collection will go to once a fortnight, and five libraries are to close.

Who is to blame? The government, says...

All the crime map shows up is Whitehall's pointless zest for data | Simon Jenkins

Theresa May's crime map joins school league tables in its statistical fatuity. The information geeks need holding to account

I am mesmerised by Police.uk. I am mesmerised not by the website itself, which merely tells us what we knew, that the Tories did not mean it about seeking a smaller and less intrusive state. Theresa May, the home secretary, claimed this week that the nation is "entitled to know" that two cars were broken into in my street and a couple of "antisocials" took place outside ...