The Gilded Age
- May 19, 2011
- by
- Matt
Corruption is a phenomenon that the British often prefer to associate with less civilised countries and Latin American ‘banana republics’ rather than the cradle of parliamentary democracy.
We prefer to use more polite and genteel terms such as ‘potential conflict of interest ‘ and ‘revolving doors’ to describe the incestuous relationship between politicians and the private...
Will Hutton on the European Far-Right
- May 15, 2011
- by
- Matt
I’ve hardly ever bought the Observer since it supported the Iraq war, but I made the mistake of reading it today and I wasn’t inclined to start buying it again.
First there was a soft three-page profile of Pamela Geller, a bigoted anti-Muslim harridan who surely doesn’t deserve any more attention than she has already received...
Fog Facts: Alistair Campbell and the Chilcot Inquiry
- May 13, 2011
- by
- Matt
The American author Larry Beinhart once coined the expression ‘fog facts’ to describe important facts or pieces of information that are in the public domain but remain unacknowledged and undigested. Beinhart first used the term in his novel The Librarian – a wickedly sharp satirical thriller satire about the stitched-up Bush/Gore election campaign.
To Beinhart’s...
Death in the Mediterranean
- May 10, 2011
- by
- Matt
Ever since the first appearance of ‘boatpeople’ en route from Morocco to Spain in the early 1990s, the Mediterranean has been a graveyard for migrants, but the death toll has now reached truly staggering proportions as a result of the Libyan war.
Last month 800 people are estimated to have drowned trying to reach Lampedusa and...
Hail to the Warrior-President
- May 08, 2011
- by
- Matt
Amazing what shooting an unarmed man in his pyjamas in the face can do to a US president’s public image. In the eyes of the media, any doubts or reservations regarding the masculinity of Barack Obama have now been resolved by the Abbottabad operation.
The ‘professorial’ former community leader from Chicago with the dancer’s physique...
The End of Schengen?
- May 07, 2011
- by
- Matt
Is Europe’s horror of ‘immigration’ paving the way for the unravelling of one of the key components of European integration – the ‘borderless’ Schengen Area? It’s certainly beginning to look that way. Last week the EU Home Office Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom announced forthcoming discussions to introduce a ‘temporary reintroduction of limited internal border controls...
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