Mummy, what’s a Sex Pistol?

by Septicisle    
May 16, 2009 at 2:50 pm

I don’t know a lot about art, but I know what I like. You can’t help but think that’s exactly what four supermarkets thought when they saw the cover art for the Manic Street Preachers’ new album, Journal for Plague Lovers, above. 15 years on from the release of their opus, The Holy Bible, the vast majority of the lyrics for which were written by Richey Edwards, who went missing less than a year later, the band have finally had the courage to return to the remaining lyrics which he left behind for them.

Appropriately, they decided upon using a painting by the artist Jenny Saville, who also provided a confrontational cover for the THB, a triptych of an obese woman in white underwear. The art for JFPL is undoubtedly striking; it’s also quite clearly one of the best album covers in years.
continue reading… »

A Campaign to Clean Up Westminster

by Sunny Hundal    
May 16, 2009 at 11:50 am

While there has been a lot of anger and condemnation expressed about MPs expenses, and quite rightly too, there is less agreement about how we take this forward. The outrage over expenses is, to my mind, a proxy for wider annoyance and disenchantment with Westminster.

So the question is: can we capture use the anger and energy out there and channel it towards a wider agenda? There’s a lot of people already thinking about this and I went to one meeting yesterday where some people are planning to do exactly that.

But two questions are key. First, what should be the agenda and list of demands? How would you like to see Westminster changed? Secondly, what would be the vehicle to push through broader change?
continue reading… »

What we can learn from football’s collapsed social mobility

by Sunder Katwala    
May 16, 2009 at 7:27 am

You can learn a lot, growing up, from football. Local identities across Britain, European geography from club competition. The location of the cruciate ligament and other crucial medical science issues. Basic arithmetic, for league tables and goal difference, though also now an early introduction to highly leveraged debt finance. A weekly masterclass in cliche and mixed metaphors. Even, it was once rumoured, fraternity, solidarity and the character education to deal with victory and defeat: “All that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football”, wrote Albert Camus, the famous goalkeeper whose works appear to be mysteriously understudied in the Chelsea dressing room.

If we seem to be losing that battle, perhaps football could yet prove an important lens through which to study the big arguments about political ideas, outcomes and distributional fairness in society as well as sport. Our study of “football mobility”, by myself and Tom Stratton, published today on the Fabian website offers what we think may even be the first comprehensive study of social mobility in club football. We have called it ‘Sing When You’re Winning: What we can learn from football’s collapsed social mobility’

continue reading… »

Nadine Dorries under investigation

by Newswire    
May 16, 2009 at 1:45 am

From the Daily Telegraph

Nadine Dorries tells the Commons authorities that her second home is a rented house in her constituency where she has claimed more than £18,000 in rent.
…
This suggests her constituency base is in fact her main or only home, which would mean she cannot pay for it using the £24,222 Additional Costs Allowance meant to cover the cost of running a second property.

Her files are now being investigated by an internal review body set up the Conservative leader, David Cameron, in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal triggered by this newspaper’s disclosures, and could force her to repay thousands of pounds if it finds her claims were “unacceptable”.
…
When asked by this newspaper to clarify where her main home is, she would not comment directly but instead posted a long statement on her blog in which she appears to concede that her constituency home is where she spends most of her time.

There’s nothing British about the BNP

by Conor Foley    
May 15, 2009 at 2:21 pm

Tim Montgomerie and James Bethell of ConservativeHome have started an excellent new site: Nothing British About The BNP. Here is a link to their website.

Euro-elections and the left

by Dave Osler    
May 15, 2009 at 12:55 pm

Yes, it will be a chore. But whatever you do on June 4th, make sure you vote in the European elections. If nothing else, the higher the turnout, the lower the chances of the British National Party securing a clutch of seats in Strasbourg.

Sadly, the momentum behind the British far right now looks unstoppable, and that tragedy is compounded by the reality that many of its supporters are working class people that would formerly have numbered among the Labour heartland vote.
continue reading… »

Gordon Brown is incapable of leadership

by Sunny Hundal    
May 14, 2009 at 3:31 pm

I remember reading Peter Mandelson’s article in the Observer, ‘Gordon Brown is rightly focused on the recession, not his cleaner,’ and thinking: oh dear. The next day Gordon Brown had apologised for everyone as the outrage grew.
continue reading… »

The BBC risks losing its way

by Padraig Reidy    
May 14, 2009 at 3:10 pm

The broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has written an article for Index on Censorship arguing that, “The BBC Trust’s condemnation of Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has the potential to cause serious damage to the corporation’s international standing”.

He says:

The decision by the BBC Trust to censure the BBC’s Middle East editor for breaching the corporation’s guidelines on accuracy and impartiality deserve closer scrutiny than it has yet been given. Jeremy Bowen is justly regarded as one of the BBC’s most courageous, authoritative and thoughtful broadcasters; his hundreds of despatches and commentaries from various frontlines in the Middle East have been noted for their acuity and balance. Now, thanks to the Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee (ESC) — a body with the absolute and final authority of a latter-day Star Chamber — not only has Bowen’s hard-won reputation been sullied, but the BBC’s international status as the best source of trustworthy news in the world has been gratuitously — if unintentionally — undermined.

And he concludes by saying:

Of course the Bowens of broadcasting can look after themselves; they may feel aggrieved or frustrated, but they will shake off such verdicts; nor will they allow their editorial perspective and judgement to be constrained by them. But younger and less experienced correspondents will not find it so easy. At best the risk is that it becomes routine to hedge their coverage with so many cautionary “ifs” and “buts” that their journalism is denuded of genuine clarity and insight. At worst, they will simply start to regurgitate edited versions of competing press releases with an invitation to viewers and listeners to draw their own conclusions. Were that to happen, the BBC would have entirely lost its way, and we will be left a great deal poorer.

The Common Wealth Party

by Robert Sharp    
May 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm

The lives of those with distinguished World War II military careers still pepper the obituary pages, but not with the frequency that they once did. I enjoyed this passage from his obituary by Roy Roebuck:

He first arrived at the Commons with his newly awarded Distinguished Flying Cross ribbon inexpertly self-sewn on to his uniform. A Conservative MP, who was a squadron leader in the RAF police, approached. “You are improperly dressed,” he told Millington.

“If you are talking to me as an RAF officer,” Millington replied, “take your hand out of your pocket and address a senior officer as ‘Sir’. If you are addressing me as a fellow MP, mind your own business and bugger off.” He did.

Millington famously won a by-election in the true-blue Tory seat of Chelmsford, standing for the short-lived Common Wealth Party. Its objectives were “common ownership, democracy, and morality in politics.” Perhaps it should re-form in time for the Euro elections next month!?

(x-pstd)

Mind your language, says the Mail

by Sunder Katwala    
May 14, 2009 at 10:30 am

The Daily Mail is worried about needlessly offensive language in its front-page splash today

It charges the BAAF’s Pink Guide to adoption with thoughtless offensiveness in branding opponents of gay adoption as ‘retarded homophobes’. The Mail’s report quotes some rather reasonably voiced criticisms of why many might think this offensive, including Christian groups and disability campaigners.

The case for civility and respect – even or especially when we disagree deeply with each other – is a good one.

Just out of interest, what’s the Mail’s banner headline?

SLURRED BY THE ADOPTION NAZIS

Shurely shome mishtake?

continue reading… »

RECENT OPINION ARTICLES

How useful is Tesco’s u-turn on Workfare? 62 Comments Watch: Obama sings the blues at White House 14 Comments Why is YouGov’s Kellner endorsing the NHS bill? 23 Comments ‘Move Your Money’ planned against RBS 8 Comments Rupert Murdoch cheers Rick Santorum to win 24 Comments Labour: public pay won’t be frozen entirely 16 Comments Revealed: That ‘dossier’ on Progress 16 Comments Is Guardian as bad as Tesco on experience? 83 Comments Bigots launch coalition against gay marriage 203 Comments Revealed: other companies benefit from ‘work experience’ 85 Comments

LATEST COMMENTS » Jonny Mundey posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » mushroom77 posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » James KM Blake posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Steve Rooney posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Andy Hicks posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Ian posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » LibertarianLou posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » Colette Browne posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Wayne Blackburn posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Samantha Young posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Tim Ireland posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Nemesis Republic posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » sunny hundal posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » pjt posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » Paul McGlynn posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show?