James Delingpole's Blog, page 72

Dan Hannan is not a racist

The deadly attack gerbils of the liberal-left have had a go at Dan Hannan.

The Daily Mirror, NuLav's comically useless online propaganda outlet Labour List, and a sweet-looking boy named James Mcintyre who writes for the New Statesman, have all seized excitedly on some thoughtful, unexceptionable remarks Dan made about Obama's "exotic" background.

Here's what Dan said in his blog:

"Barack Obama has an exotic background, and it would be odd if some people weren't unsettled by it. During the...

Clarkson, the Baronet's granddaughter and a pile of poo

"I'm dumping dung at Clarkson's gates so he might understand that his attitude will land us all in the —-," said Westminster- and Cambridge-educated Tamsin Omond, baronet's granddaughter, yesterday, as she danced up and down on the pile of horse manure she'd dumped on the Top Gear presenter's doorstep while dressed as a suffragette.

Her parents must be so proud. But I ruddy well wouldn't be if I'd forked out £9,172 a term for my daughter's education.  That's how much the current Westminster...

Was Daphne du Maurier responsible for the attempt to cross the 'bridge too far'?

A few months ago I gave a talk at Boy's prep school on one of the most glorious debacles in British military history — Operation Market Garden — which marks its 65th anniversary this week.

To bring it home, I told them that many of the boys from 1st Airborne Division who landed by glider and parachute near Arnhem on that deceptively calm, sunny September weekend weren't much older than they; and I showed them photographs of the heartbreaking inscriptions at Oosterbeek cemetery, where some of...

The lesson of Arnhem and Afghanistan: heroism is no substitute for strategy

Sixty-five years ago today on a pleasant, sunny September day like this one (only it was a Sunday, not a Thursday) began the greatest battle of the Second World War: Operation Market Garden.

At least it's the greatest if you're British. Of course there were many more strategically important battles - eg Stalingrad; El Alamein; D-Day; Midway - but Market Garden, especially the battle for Arnhem and the "bridge too far" is the one that has always caught the public imagination.

It was the battle t...

Do the Conservatives think we're all paedophiles too?

The reason I ask is that I've just been reading the Conservatives' latest report - Reversing The Rise Of The Surveillance State. It makes all sorts of splendid and thoroughly worthwhile proposals such as scrapping the National Identity Register and restricting council access to personal communications data.

But what I don't see is any mention of the most unpopular and intrusive surveillance legislation so far introduced by our Stasi state: the Government's vetting organisation - the...

Paternity leave? It's not natural

Men prefer to see the job done by the acknowledged expert of the field. The mother. Photo: GETTY

How well I remember the time I invited my old university chum James to admire my three-month-old first born. And I'm sure James does, too, for the sights he saw that day would put him off breeding for nearly a decade.

As soon as James reached the front door, I said: "Sorry, mate. You're coming for a walk." And I shoved my vile, puce-faced, bawling, nerve-shredding infant into his push chair and ...

Barack Obama: ACORN's Manchurian Candidate?

For opponents of President Obama, the ACORN scandal is the gift that goes on giving.

Here's the latest episode (courtesy of BigGovernment) in which intrepid investigative reporters James O'Keefe (the one dressed as a pimp, with statutory cane and fur coat) and Hannah Giles (the worryingly convincing whore) decide to pay a visit to the offices of President Obama's favourite left-wing "non-profit organisation" in San Bernadino, California. The ACORN representative gives helpful advice on how to ...

On Plimer, climate change and the ineffable barkingness of George Moonbat

As Rod Liddle has noticed over at the Spectator today, the Guardian's resident Climate Fear Promoter George Monbiot has written yet another long and foaming rant about his favourite topic: why he's right and why everyone who disagrees with him is a heretic and a fool who deserves to be cast into outer darkness.

Now I have no objection to this tack in principle: I have been guilty of it myself from time to time. (Oh all right, always). But here's one of the key differences between Moonbat and m...

My mate Dan Hannan has written a book…

I think in collaboration with a Conservative MP. I've heard vague rumours that it may even be the most important and influential book in Tory policy-making circles since Margaret Thatcher picked up the Road To Serfdom. But being as dear Dan so resolutely refuses to blog about it, I just can't remember the name.

Can any kind readers help?

How conservative pranksters made idiots of Obama's favourite left-wing charity ACORN

 skinny white prostitute and her pimp turn up at the office of Barack Obama's favourite US "poverty action" charity ACORN (Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now). They want advice on a few problems, like how best to bring over a "couple" of - well, 13, actually - underage girls from El Salvador to work in this brothel they've got planned, without attracting too much heat from the authorities. How can they get a mortgage, how should they deal with their tax affairs, how do...