Michael White's Blog, page 13
February 15, 2016
Brexit: what will Boris do? Bottle it, most likely
As the Brexit camp tears itself apart with philosophical quandaries over what Thatcher would have done, it should focus on a more present figure
Is it just bad luck that there is so much feuding within the Brexit camp before David Cameron’s hoped-for 23 June referendum? Is it bad luck that assorted out champions can’t even agree what Margaret Thatcher would have done, or persuade Boris Johnson off the safety fence?
Of course not. Factionalism and backstabbing is central to the project. Campaigns which cannot agree why it’s so important – to them, but not to most voters – for Britain to shake off the colonial yoke of Brussels, let alone what should be done next – find it easier (and more fun) to denounce each other’s failures of policy and personality. Freud called it the “narcissism of small difference”.
Related: I’ve no idea what Margaret Thatcher would have said – but then I’m not a mawkish Tory| Marina Hyde
Related: Dominic Cummings: genius or menace?
Related: Boris Johnson's EU stance in question after partner attacks Cameron's deal
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February 11, 2016
Pharma's woes: profits, policies and patients as NHS England tries to save money on drugs
Pfizer criticises Nice policies and the budget freeze, saying the sick are suffering. But are wonder drugs always the answer?
It’s not a great day to take the heat off Jeremy Hunt, just as he’s trying to force the endgame in his dispute with the not-so-junior doctors. As with most industrial disputes neither side has a monopoly of virtue, so let’s skip to another corner of the galactic health empire over which Emperor Jeremy and his Darth Vader, Simon Stevens, rule. What, on planet Earth, is Pfizer up to?
You may have read the US pharmaceutical firm’s complaints about NHS England’s drugs policy – we’d be better off getting cancer in Scotland or even Greece, says its UK boss – in Thursday’s Telegraph or on Radio 4’s Today. But it was all in the Guardian last week, part of the paper’s epic This is the NHS series.
Continue reading...February 10, 2016
Even if Ipsa thinks MPs deserve a fresh pay rise, it is not the time to give it
Since they had a £7,000 increase only last April, it seems unusually stupid to force a rise on MPs in a time of biting austerity
Oh dear. MPs’ pay is about to rise again, this time by £1,000 a year. It is rarely easy to give politicians more money, and never popular. Since they had a catchup rise of £7,000 taking them to £74,000 a year only last April, it seems unusually stupid of the authorities to force a rise on them now when austerity is biting hard in so many directions.
Why do they do it? The answer, dear reader, is partly your fault. Voters were so cross when the parliamentary expenses scandal finally broke in 2009 – itself a direct consequence of political cowardice in the face of the electorate – that Gordon Brown, then David Cameron, shoved responsibility for setting pay and expenses rates, plus their enforcement, into the hands of an independent body. Independent? Must be OK. Job done? Of course not.
Continue reading...February 9, 2016
Submarines and Spitfires: Labour's Trident conundrum
The synthetic outrage over Emily Thornberry’s remarks emphasises the need to have a realistic debate about Britain’s defence policy
We need not waste much time on the synthetic outrage provoked at Monday night’s stormier than usual meeting of the parliamentary Labour party (PLP) over Emily Thornberry’s comparison between the Trident nuclear submarine fleet and the second world war’s Spitfire. MPs are in a fractious mood on both sides of the Corbyn divide.
So the shadow home secretary, Andy Burnham, is giving way to defeatist talk when he says that it may be impossible to reconcile opposing views within Labour’s ranks on the nuclear deterrent. History says otherwise, though the electorate may have to give Jeremy Corbyn a nudge, or even two.
Related: Labour Trident tensions resurface over hiding capability of submarines
Continue reading...February 8, 2016
Child abuse claims: why due process and a fair hearing matter
It is such processes that distinguish us from lynch mobs, be they in dusty Mississippi towns, dustier Iraqi ones – or on Twitter
It looks as if the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, is edging towards an apology to Field Marshall Lord Bramall, 92, over unfounded allegations of child sex abuse and that some kind of further apology is coming to the family of the late Leon Brittan. It’s too late to do him much good, as it is to former prime minister Edward Heath, also caught up by some wildly improbable allegations.
Monday’s report by senior Dorset police officer James Vaughan into the Met’s handling of the Brittan allegations shows how complicated such historical claims can be.
Continue reading...February 4, 2016
Wentworth row shows why some Eurosceptics may end up in the rough
Chinese owners’ plans for golf club put talk of asserting UK ‘sovereignty’ into context, and are a reminder that a rampant free market eventually affects rich voters too
Have you been following the row over the future of Wentworth, the very grand golf club in affluent Surrey? No, I don’t play golf either, but stick around. The new Chinese owners have plans for the 18-hole course that put silly Eurosceptic talk about asserting British “sovereignty” into a sensible context.
As the Guardian reported at the time, Wentworth was sold by Richard Caring (the self-made entrepreneur’s cuttings suggests he may deserve Tatler’s snooty “Blofeld” label) to a Chinese consortium misleadingly called Reignwood Investments in 2014.
Related: Row over plans to increase Wentworth fees puts PGA Championship at risk
Related: These mate’s rates from George Osborne let Google off the hook on tax | John McDonnell
Related: DWP post for Amazon boss is 'disgusting', says Margaret Hodge
Continue reading...February 2, 2016
Trump may have lost in Iowa but it's proved he's a master of social media
Radio, newspapers, Twitter – on both sides of the Atlantic they shape the political landscape. But the recent caucus result shows us we don’t have to believe all of it
Had you noticed that some of the conservative mainstream media, even in faraway Britain, had begun to cosy up to Donald Trump (Still think he’s just a buffoon?), just in case he became US president?
Well, there never was much danger of that and there’s even less after the overnight Republican caucus results from the snows of Iowa.
Continue reading...February 1, 2016
Michael Caine’s Brexit muddle signals danger for David Cameron
The actor’s half-baked views show the prime minister has a way to go to convince voters of the perks of staying in the EU
In his negotiations over Britain’s future in the EU, David Cameron is trying to give the impression he is on a roll that will allow him to bounce a hesitant and cautious electorate into voting yes to Europe as early as 23 June. I hope he’s right. But did he catch Michael Caine’s interview on Radio 4’s Today programme the other day?
Caine’s performance was wonderful – it usually is on radio and TV because the Tory-voting actor doesn’t have newspapers mediating his views in order to highlight his chippy side. Left to speak for himself, Caine’s self-deprecating humour always shines through, as do his enjoyably chaotic political thoughts.
Related: Faction stations: which Brexit campaign is which?
Related: Cameron’s EU deal negotiations: the key questions answered
Continue reading...January 28, 2016
Personal choice or nanny state? Our leaders don't seem to know best
Fixed-odds betting terminals show how Cameron is just as conflicted as Blair was when it comes to intervening or leaving be
In that brief period when prime ministers staged monthly press conferences in Downing Street, I would occasionally ask Tony Blair to make his mind up. Was he a libertarian about individual choice? Or was he at heart a nanny? New Labour triangulator that Blair was, he was surely trying to be both.
Blair would muddle the answer. Usually shrewd about making practical decisions that voters would accept, he was never very good at articulating his famous “third way” philosophy in more than platitudes. You banned hunting with dogs and smoking in public buildings, but you have also allowed pubs to open virtually 24/7 and let the gambling industry off the leash, I reminded him on one such occasion.
Related: Why I turned whistleblower over £100-per-spin gambling machines
Related: Cameron under pressure as public backs sugar tax
Continue reading...January 27, 2016
The Palace of Westminster is falling down – so what to do?
Parliament’s home can’t just be patched up again and again. It’s time to modernise Charles Barry’s neo-Gothic masterpiece – let there be light!
In my dotage I don’t go to the ancient Palace of Westminster as often as I did when I was covering British politics full-time. But nor does anyone else who works there.
The rhythm of the place has changed profoundly. So Nick Watt’s report that MPs and peers may be decanted for six years to permit a relatively speedy overhaul ought to be the cue for a rethink of functions. I am about to have a lightbulb moment. Literally.
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