David Cameron has decided that Afghanistan is over. Barack Obama has long since stopped regarding it as the “good war” and wants things wrapped up as soon as possible.
The latest ratcheting-up of tension over in Syria has led to unprecedented international condemnation of the al-Assad regime. Yet the reality of the situation remains depressingly unchanged: the regime is not giving up and is unlikely to be forced out except by international military intervention — which will not be forthcoming.
David Cameron has decided that Afghanistan is over. Barack Obama has long since stopped regarding it as the “good war” and wants things wrapped up as soon as possible.
Whatever happened to the patrician, magnanimous, unflappable David Cameron? Was his lashing out this week at the shadow chancellor, the “muttering idiot” Ed Balls, the slipping of Dave’s mask? Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised — although Balls affects to be, telling Adam Boulton yesterday that he was “staggered, completely taken aback” by the PM’s name-calling.
It may be heretical to say so but I welcome the news that the Orange Prize has lost its sponsor after 17 years. When it was founded in 1996 the first literary award that excluded men was rightly attacked as patronising and positive discrimination gone wrong. Simon Jenkins called it sexist, the late Auberon Waugh nicknamed it the Lemon Prize and AS Byatt said that it “ghettoised” women.
The position of Jeremy Hunt as Culture and Media Secretary is looking increasingly precarious as the revelations mount concerning his advocacy of News Corp’s bid for BSkyB. The Leveson Inquiry has exposed the extensive contacts between Mr Hunt and his special adviser, Adam Smith, and News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel. Yesterday, however, Mr Smith also revealed Mr Hunt’s lengthy memo to the Prime Minister last November in support of the bid, ahead of the Culture Secretary being given control of the decision.
Good news, impoverished students and single mothers! There’s a new breed of philanthropists happy to pay down your debts or keep little Jimmy in shoes. One of these so-called Sugar Daddies may even come bearing a Selfridges store card or a Celine handbag. All you have to do in return is inflate his ego, laugh at his laboured jokes and wipe his brow furrowed by all that hard work. Oh, and probably put out.
Everywhere I went in the US last week, the euro dominated. It has become the question everyone is asking, all over the world. So can the eurozone do anything to stop the downward spiral? And what can individual countries do to limit their own vulnerabilities?
Yesterday's summit of EU leaders was as inconclusive and contradictory as have been previous efforts to solve the deepening crisis in the euro. After the German central bank suggested the eurozone may be better off without Greece, the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said that the EU wants Greece to remain but to “respect its commitments”.
It used to be easy to spot a villain. In the 1940s they wore special uniforms, all squeaky leather and moody greys. Back then, when George Orwell foretold the worst of all futures, he conceived of a boot stamping on a human face — for ever. What kind of boot? A jackboot, of course, with steel toecaps and sturdy tread.
Just a day after the IMF head, Christine Lagarde, suggested that the UK should bolster growth by trading off further public spending cuts with “growth-friendly” expenditure on infrastructure, the deputy PM, Nick Clegg, announces just that. The Government, he says in an interview with the FT, is ready for a “massive” increase in state-backed investment in housing and infrastructure. The Treasury will use its balance sheet to underwrite schemes: that is to say, the Government may not be doing the spending itself but it will be underwriting the risks of the companies that are willing to build roads and houses.
Charles Moore: So have the free marketeers been proved wrong?
Harry Mount: Let’s learn from New York and bring our river back to life
Over the past half-century, we have largely stopped using the Thames.
Sarah Sands: It is not what you know but how you know
The most interesting quality in a literary character, according to Martin Amis, is innocence.
Evening Standard comment: These U-turns must not deflect ministers
Critics of Budget measures need to explain where the money will come from to fund tax breaks.
Jenni Russell: Leveson shows us how influence is wielded at the top
The inquiry is exposing the unhealthy, intimate, complicit relationship between News Corp and the Government
More
Evening Standard comment: No end in sight to Syria’s long ordeal
Sam Leith: No ban can stop the march of the baby factories
Toby Harnden: The grim reality of the Afghanistan endgame
No end in sight to Syria’s long ordeal
The latest ratcheting-up of tension over in Syria has led to unprecedented international condemnation of the al-Assad regime. Yet the reality of the situation remains depressingly unchanged: the regime is not giving up and is unlikely to be forced out except by international military intervention — which will not be forthcoming.
28 May 2012
The grim reality of the Afghanistan endgame
David Cameron has decided that Afghanistan is over. Barack Obama has long since stopped regarding it as the “good war” and wants things wrapped up as soon as possible.
28 May 2012
No ban can stop the march of the baby factories
With thousands of people travelling to pay for surrogate mothers, is there really an ethical dilemma? Sam Leith investigates.
28 May 2012
Leveson shows us how influence is wielded at the top
The inquiry is exposing the unhealthy, intimate, complicit relationship between News Corp and the Government
28 May 2012
King’s Cross is a triumphant blend of old and new
If unchecked, developers and architects would bulldoze our heritage. They fail to grasp that their vision lacks humanity
25 May 2012
Decent Dave into Flashman: has the mask slipped?
Whatever happened to the patrician, magnanimous, unflappable David Cameron? Was his lashing out this week at the shadow chancellor, the “muttering idiot” Ed Balls, the slipping of Dave’s mask? Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised — although Balls affects to be, telling Adam Boulton yesterday that he was “staggered, completely taken aback” by the PM’s name-calling.
25 May 2012
Women just don’t need the Orange prize
It may be heretical to say so but I welcome the news that the Orange Prize has lost its sponsor after 17 years. When it was founded in 1996 the first literary award that excluded men was rightly attacked as patronising and positive discrimination gone wrong. Simon Jenkins called it sexist, the late Auberon Waugh nicknamed it the Lemon Prize and AS Byatt said that it “ghettoised” women.
25 May 2012
Jeremy Hunt’s job is still on the line
The position of Jeremy Hunt as Culture and Media Secretary is looking increasingly precarious as the revelations mount concerning his advocacy of News Corp’s bid for BSkyB. The Leveson Inquiry has exposed the extensive contacts between Mr Hunt and his special adviser, Adam Smith, and News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel. Yesterday, however, Mr Smith also revealed Mr Hunt’s lengthy memo to the Prime Minister last November in support of the bid, ahead of the Culture Secretary being given control of the decision.
25 May 2012
Cure society’s ills? Try Sugar Daddies R Us
Good news, impoverished students and single mothers! There’s a new breed of philanthropists happy to pay down your debts or keep little Jimmy in shoes. One of these so-called Sugar Daddies may even come bearing a Selfridges store card or a Celine handbag. All you have to do in return is inflate his ego, laugh at his laboured jokes and wipe his brow furrowed by all that hard work. Oh, and probably put out.
24 May 2012
Three easy steps to put the euro back in business
Everywhere I went in the US last week, the euro dominated. It has become the question everyone is asking, all over the world. So can the eurozone do anything to stop the downward spiral? And what can individual countries do to limit their own vulnerabilities?
24 May 2012
Europe rolls towards a Greek default
Yesterday's summit of EU leaders was as inconclusive and contradictory as have been previous efforts to solve the deepening crisis in the euro. After the German central bank suggested the eurozone may be better off without Greece, the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said that the EU wants Greece to remain but to “respect its commitments”.
24 May 2012
Energy: the next big crisis waiting in the wings
In 10 years the lights will go out — if we don’t find the funds for a new generation of nuclear power plants
24 May 2012
Power dressing now means a pair of plimsolls
It used to be easy to spot a villain. In the 1940s they wore special uniforms, all squeaky leather and moody greys. Back then, when George Orwell foretold the worst of all futures, he conceived of a boot stamping on a human face — for ever. What kind of boot? A jackboot, of course, with steel toecaps and sturdy tread.
23 May 2012
Coalition chases both growth and austerity
Just a day after the IMF head, Christine Lagarde, suggested that the UK should bolster growth by trading off further public spending cuts with “growth-friendly” expenditure on infrastructure, the deputy PM, Nick Clegg, announces just that. The Government, he says in an interview with the FT, is ready for a “massive” increase in state-backed investment in housing and infrastructure. The Treasury will use its balance sheet to underwrite schemes: that is to say, the Government may not be doing the spending itself but it will be underwriting the risks of the companies that are willing to build roads and houses.
23 May 2012
We must decide on the way we want to live now
Growth vs austerity: the eurozone crisis has become a canvas on which politicians project their own values
23 May 2012
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