Welcome To Standpoint

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Bach

Jessica Duchen — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:09:31 +0000

Please excuse me: I have to disappear for a while as we have a family emergency afoot. Back as soon as possible.

It's one of those times when only Bach will do, so here is the late, incomparable Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in an aria from Cantata No.33.

Russians Support Human Rights

Joshua Rozenberg — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:43:17 +0000

In a "keynote address" to the Bar Conference yesterday, Sir Nicolas Bratza noted that delays are steadily increasing at the European Court of Human Rights. Bratza is now the third most senior of the Strasbourg judges and a vice-president.

"Ochin priatna"

Jessica Duchen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:19:44 +0000

Tom Service in The Guardian brings us the news that "the beast from the East", Nikolai Valuev, 7'2" heavyweight boxing champ who's gearing up for his big David & Goliath fight with David Haye tonight, "is classical music's only known aficionado in the boxing world."

Terror at Fort Hood

Shiraz Maher — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:45:22 +0000

BY SHIRAZ MAHER

Terrible news from Fort Hood, Texas, about the murder of 13 US Servicemen by one of their own colleagues, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. Some news reports suggest that Hasan shouted ‘Allah Akhab' (God is Great) before embarking on his rampage.

Moments of Inspiration

Jessica Duchen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:43:14 +0000

1. Here is an astonishing true story about the healing power of music, from Artsjournal blog Creative Destruction, written by John Thomas Dodson: how pianist Andre Watts and the music of Liszt brought joy and help to a disabled girl and her family. Avail yourself of a cup of strong tea and a large hanky before reading.

The Irreversible Decline of Amnesty International

Nick Cohen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:08:07 +0000

Although largely forgotten, the Bosnian War remains the defining conflict of our age, reshaping what it means to be left or right wing.

Don't Text and Drive

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:12:05 +0000

I find myself on the NBC Today show telling US viewers not to read or send text messages while driving...

Fiction and Reality Event - Thurs 5th November, at the LSE

Daniel Johnson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:32:48 +0000

BY DANIEL JOHNSON

On Thursday evening Standpoint and the Forum for European Philosophy are holding an event at the LSE. I will be in dialogue with Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, and we will be discussing 'Fiction and Reality: Writing novels in a world weirder than anything you can make up’.

The Relevance of Godwin's Law

Nick Cohen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:18:50 +0000

Godwin's justly celebrated law states that as an online debate grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Nazis or Hitler approaches one. Anyone who engages in reductio ad Hitlerum instantly loses the argument because he or she begs questions and makes false comparisons.

Notes on Programme Notes

Jessica Duchen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:13:41 +0000

The other day David Lister, arts editor at The Independent, had a good grumble about the content of programmes at the opera. You don't need just a degree to understand them, but a doctorate, he suggests. He'd been to see Tristan und Isolde at the ROH. The column is here.

Tristan is bound to be an extreme example, but he has a good point. In an age obsessed with outreach, why doesn't that extend to programme notes?

Why a Sentient Baby Should be Allowed to Die

Joshua Rozenberg — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:38:53 +0000

The hospital trust seeking permission to withdraw medical treatment that is keeping a one-year old child alive explained its reasoning today.

As I reported yesterday, the boy -- who may be identified only as RB -- was born with a rare neuromuscular condition and has never been able to breathe for more than a few minutes without a ventilator.

November...

Jessica Duchen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:26:49 +0000

The November issue of Standpoint is in the shops now. My column this month takes a look at the concept of 'No Music Day' (21 November, since you ask...) - a phenomenon embraced by Scottish radio but, as far as I can tell, not much else - which isn't quite as crackpot a way of celebrating St Cecilia as it might sound.

Should a Sentient Baby be Allowed to Die?

Joshua Rozenberg — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:20:31 +0000

Lawyers for a hospital trust are seeking permission to withdraw medical treatment that is keeping a one-year-old child alive. The boy, who was born with a rare neuromuscular condition, relies on a ventilator to breathe.

Dilettante's Digital Composer-in-Residence Countdown...

Jessica Duchen — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:04:00 +0000

Our friends at the terrifyingly innovative and organised Dilettante Music are getting ready for their big night at Wilton's on Thursday at which they'll announce the winner of their competition for a digital composer-in-residence. Still time to vote for your favourite (follow that link).

Downgrading Civil Justice

Joshua Rozenberg — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:12:38 +0000

Mediation 'is not about just settlement', said Professor Dame Hazel Genn last December. 'It is just about settlement.

Irvine Accused Blair of "Botched" Reforms

Joshua Rozenberg — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:15:50 +0000

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold and Lord Irvine's first response to his sacking by Tony Blair more than six years ago is all the better for being positively icy.

Prince in the Fast Lane

Jessica Duchen — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:39:01 +0000

My interview with Steven McRae, the Royal Ballet's young Aussie star, is in today's Independent. Ballet critic par excellence Clement Crisp has apparently said he's the best Bluebird he'd ever seen and my friends at The Ballet Bag told me he's 'practically perfect', I can't wait to see his debut as the Prince in The Sleeping Beauty tonight.

Glyndebourne: the Movie...

Jessica Duchen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:59:32 +0000

OK, that was fun...so now, for Friday afternoon historical, here's an absolute jewel resuscitated and just released on DVD by Glyndebourne.

Bog off, Bruckner

Jessica Duchen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:00:00 +0000

I'm off to hear my hubby Tom's orchestra, the LPO, play a programme full of delicious Russian stuff tonight. We may have doubts about the 'Russian School', as per last month's print edition article, but you can't argue with Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, and especially not with Piers Lane playing the piano.

Well, you probably can argue with those composers - it's just that I personally wouldn't, as I love them to bits. What I do argue with is Bruckner.

Thank You, Osama

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:59:08 +0000

BY ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS

I have previously blogged about Scotland's leading Islamist (and prospective MP for Glasgow Central), Osama Saeed, having to return more than half of the £200,000 he was given by his mate Alex Salmond to set up an event called Islam Fest. The event never happened, and questions were still being asked about where the remaining funds went.

Calling for Consistency in Tory Anti-Extremism Approach

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:13:29 +0000

BY ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS

Last Sunday, the Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) revealed the relationship between the London Mayor's office and Mohamed Ali Harrath, who the Times exposed last year as being the subject of an Interpol Red Notice for "terrorism", "counterfeiting" and "crimes involving the use of weapons/explosives." The main purpose of our investigation was to show that there are clear inconsistencies within the Conservative party in how they propose to deal with Islamism.

Demonstate Against Clerical Fascism!

Nick Cohen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:18:19 +0000

BY SHIRAZ MAHER

On Saturday 31 October, Islam4UK plans to hold a procession called "March for Sharia" starting at 1pm. They intend to march past the Houses of Parliament where their members will call for the imposition of Shariah law and for the House of Commons to be abolished.

Intestate Cohabitants

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:58:20 +0000

Are the government's law reform advisers undermining marriage by proposing intestacy benefits for cohabitants? Or is the Law Commission simply trying to save money?

Balancing Rights Against the Right

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:08:06 +0000

My column in the new print edition of Standpoint reveals that the Tories' policy on human rights is not as radical as they would like us to think it is.

Save the Bar

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:59:24 +0000

In today's Law Society Gazette, I uncover a passionate rearguard action by a former chairman of the Bar to protect his branch of the profession from the forthcoming Big Bang.

Nimrod

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:26:46 +0000

The report by Charles Haddon-Cave QC into the single biggest loss of life of Service personnel in one battlefield incident since the Falklands War is as devastating as it is possible for a report to be.

Auden, Britten and Alan Bennett

Jessica Duchen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:40:59 +0000

Blimey - Alan Bennett has written a new play about the relationship of WH Auden and Benjamin Britten. It's called The Habit of Art and opens at the Lyttleton on 5 November. It centres, apparently, on a meeting between the two late in their lives, an encounter that never actually happened - but Bennett is such a brilliant writer than I am sure we will forgive him that. Richard Griffiths plays Auden.

Richard Morrison has an article in today's Times about it.

The Circle is Complete

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:23:33 +0000

BY ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS

The far left and the far right have finally come full circle in their shared hatred of Israel. The heroic anti BNP group, Nothing British About the BNP, have written a letter to Lib Dem peer Jenny Tonge, whose name appeared alongside that of Kristina Morvai, leader of Hungarian fascist party Jobbik, in the invitation for an event organised by the pro Hamas Palestinian Return Centre (PRC).

November Issue Out Now

Frances Weaver — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:12:15 +0000

Questions that brought down the Berlin Wall: Daniel Johnson recalls the heady night in 1989 when the Cold War ended

Foreign fiction special: Reviews of Javier Marias's and Stieg Larsson's latest novels

Fault-lines of the new Europe: David Heathcoat-Amory, Piers Paul Read, William Horsley, Mara Delius

Patriots or poseurs?: Louis Amis on the English Defence League

Sarah Ruden: Why I'm battling against the Google Goliath

Mostar's National Theatre is to Close

Jessica Duchen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:32:07 +0000

Missives from my friends at Opera Circus and the charity War Child have brought desperately sad news that the National Theatre in Mostar is being forced to close down.

News Flashing - Tuesday 27th October

Frances Weaver — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:41:02 +0000

NEWS FLASHING - FRIDAY 23RD OCTOBER

1. British couple feared kidnapped by pirates

A British couple from Kent who have disappeared while sailing their yachet in the Seychelles are feared to have been kidnapped by Somali pirates.

Supreme Education

Joshua Rozenberg — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:44:03 +0000

There was standing room only when the Supreme Court began hearing the JFS case shortly after 10.30 this morning. And it was not just the public who crowded into Court 1.

How European are the British?

Frances Weaver — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:00:30 +0000

Daniel Johnson: The Lisbon Treaty is now a fact, although it hasn't yet finally been ratified by the Czechs. President Vaclav Klaus says he doesn't think he will be able to hold on long enough, alas, for the Conservatives to have the option of a referendum after the next election. David, what will you do if this treaty has been ratified by all the member states by the time you come to office? Will you have a referendum anyway? What alternative do you have? And if you do have a referendum, won't it inevitably turn into a referendum on Europe, not just on Lisbon?

Music and Modernity

Frances Weaver — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:29:44 +0000

John Cage: Not playing "4.33"

Modernity in music is a multi-faceted and complex phenomenon. The much-used "modernism" is also a catch-all definition which leaves questions still hanging in the air. It is, like socialism or spirituality, a word that can easily be hijacked by partisan voices that then claim ownership of it and thereafter imbue it with their own narrow, specific, pointed, sectarian and self-justifying aura. It has to be said that a particular kind of modernism, specific to certain places, times, ideologies and forceful personalities, has been sublimated into a paradigmatic position in our own time.

Anne Bayefsky

Frances Weaver — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:15:14 +0000

At a time when cultural relativism seems to dominate Western political discourse, it is rare to find individuals who unashamedly stand by their principles. Anne Bayefsky is one such person.

Bayefsky has emerged as one of the most trenchant critics of the United Nations, which she has called "morally depraved" and "unfit for leadership". A Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, she has written a number of scholarly texts on the application of human rights in international law, including an exhaustive study of the human rights treaty system. In 2005, she founded Eye on the UN, a joint project of the Hudson Institute and the Touro Institute for Human Rights, dedicated to holding the UN accountable to its founding principles.

More on the Radical Islamist Group Receiving Public Funds

Shiraz Maher — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:11:21 +0000

BY SHIRAZ MAHER

So now we know. Hizb ut Tahrir, the group which loves to project itself as the vanguard of Islam has been receiving handouts from the British state to run a series of schools called the Islamic Shakhsiyah (means ‘personality') Foundation (ISF).

Richard Goldstone

Frances Weaver — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:06:21 +0000

The behaviour of the South African judge Richard Goldstone, whose report on Israel's actions in Gaza has drawn furious criticism not just from Israel but by many neutral observers, will not surprise those who have followed his career.

Three things stand out about Goldstone since his student days. Those who know him say that, above all, he has always been extremely ambitious. Second, he is able and intelligent. And third, he is a man of great political shrewdness. Many believe that all his legal and judicial actions are ultimately dictated by political considerations.

SamCam or Sarah?

Frances Weaver — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:56:57 +0000

I just think she's incredibly brave.

That's the main thing about her. Isn't it?

That, and the fact she isn't Cherie.

Well, yes. Sarah Brown's not so bad. She's brave, too. You have to admire her for that.

She is. Yes. I suppose. But she's got those awful legs.

Apparently, she's superbrainy too.

Sam? Oh God, she's a star! Really, really bright. You can tell it straight away.

No, Sarah Brown.

What? Oh. Well — and much good it's done her, Kitty! Frankly. Or her ghastly husband, come to that. She's like a sort of spinster schoolmistress. Don't you think?

She is a bit. Or someone's old-fashioned English nanny.

Yes! She dresses like one too, Kitty! She dresses like Nanny McPhee. I see her at all those fashion shows and I want to scream! Get out of the picture, you big, big...Nanny McPhee! You're disgracing the whole country!

British Muslims for Secular Democracy Organise a Demonstration Against al-Muhajiroun

Shiraz Maher — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:55:07 +0000

BY SHIRAZ MAHER

I'm pasting the details of a press release from British Muslims for Secular Democracy below. I've been speaking with their vice-chair, Shaaz Mahboob, in the last few days and am hugely impressed with everything he's trying to achieve.

Making Dramas Out of a Crisis

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:36:57 +0000

Need for greed: "Enron" at the Royal Court

Close Your Eyes and Listen

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:30:21 +0000

Energising or irritating? Madonna at the O2 arena

On 22 November the musical world celebrates its patron Saint Cecilia's day. But what about 21 November? One plucky little organisation, No Music Day, has, for the past five years, designated this date a day when, its manifesto says, "the strings will not serenade; plectrums will not pluck; record shops will be closed all day; and you will not take part in any sort of music making or listening whatsoever." It concludes: "No Music Day exists for various reasons. You may have one."

Most musicians cordially ignore these directives. But the campaign raises a niggling doubt: is there too much music around us? It's a concern, because if we hear music all the time, like it or not, we become inured to it — and chances are we will stop listening.

A Macabre New Vision of Spain

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:21:15 +0000

"Crucifixion" (1617) a statue by Juan Martínez Montañés

Just once in a while an exhibition comes along that profoundly changes the way a certain type or era of art is perceived. The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600-1700 at the National Gallery is one such exhibition. The period covered is that of the Spanish Golden Age — the age of El Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán and Murillo. These names are so illustrious that it is easy to forget that they lived and worked in a country that was quite unlike any other in Europe and that their artistic traditions were every bit as idiosyncratic. What this exhibition does, using a mere 16 paintings and 16 sculptures, is redefine the Spanishness of Spanish art.

Deliver Us

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:10:08 +0000

You may think the Royal Mail is a pretty useless organisation. I recently received a letter from Australia that had been mailed three weeks earlier. But, really, it is not so bad. Had the Royal Mail adopted the ambitions of our Labour government, it would have given up on delivering letters long ago. Instead, it would be delivering on postal services.

New Labour has always preferred to deliver on the things that people want delivered. For example, most want state schools to deliver their children an education. But in 1998 Gordon Brown announced that "it is clear that we have to deliver on education, skills and employment". And only last month Ed Miliband said that his "central challenge" as Energy and Climate Change Secretary, is to "deliver on climate change and energy security at the least cost".

Colour Me Angry

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:06:13 +0000

Actually, I'm a Conservative: Loanna Morrison on the stump

"You're so brave!" is the surprised declaration from people when I, a black woman, announce I am the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey and Old Southwark. To me, brave is going to Afghanistan. Brave is deciding life is worth living after half your body has been blown away by a landmine. Brave I am not. Angry, I certainly am — an anger that cannot be mitigated until this government is history.

Rinsed Away

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:00:03 +0000

It was easy to feel important at this year's Conservative Party Conference. Young men and women in a big hurry spun and twirled from hotel to hotel, attaching themselves to the power centres like iron filings to a magnet. It was — what are the buzz words? — Dynamic and Vibrant. It was a happening place, and it was easy to feel, as crowded shoulders were nudged and mobile calls missed, that you were part of something on the verge.

But there was a black hole there too, and it was a deep blue-rinse colour. A section of party members — many of them women of a certain age and a certain hair-do, women who could always be relied upon to sing "Land of Hope and Glory" with the most gusto — were nowhere to be seen.

Dear Sir or Madam

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:54:07 +0000

What's in a word? Quite a lot, I suspect.

Travellers to Francophone and Hispanophone countries will have noticed a superiority of everyday social interactions to those observable in our own country. They retain a slightly formulaic ceremoniousness that is now entirely lacking from our own culture, and that comes (at least to me) as a great relief. If there's one thing that ought to be avoided in casual, everyday encounters, it's saying the first thing that comes into your head.

I attribute the superiority in part to their continued use of the terms Monsieur and Madame and Señor and Señora. It is not affectation, but a deeply ingrained habit. You don't go into a shop in France without saying "Bonjour, monsieur" or "Bonjour, madame".

Musical Metternichs

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:53:59 +0000

The Grafenegg outdoor music festival in Lower Austria takes place during the wine harvest when everyone is in a very good mood. The Vienna Phil pops over, although the festival is marking its third anniversary and has hardly had time to establish a proper reputation. The London Symphony Orchestra, which otherwise plays outdoors only at the Alhambra in Spain, considers it worth the haul too. I shared the Austrian Airlines flight with it and Sir Colin Davis. The players were staying in Vienna while Sir Colin and his wife were resident at the Loisium, a new hotel built in the middle of a vineyard, the plump grapes brushing against the windows and stretching away in endless rows.

Tale of Two Cities

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:36:44 +0000

Gang culture seems to be endemic in UK cities. Lurid headlines have made certain London areas synonymous with knife crime and murder. Take a short stroll from the bars of the South Bank or the clubs of Dalston and become the potential victim of young people who have rejected, and been rejected by, society.

This might be hyperbole, but it certainly seems to frame the attitude of the chattering class. Gangs are just awful, they lament, unaware that for some young people gangs are the crucial support mechanism that official education and social services have failed to provide. One charity has realised that rehabilitating these young adults, many of whom have lived in extreme poverty and violence, is the only way to break this vicious cycle.

Return to Rota's Glass Mountain...

Jessica Duchen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:49:25 +0000

Historical Friday afternoon - and some roundabout discussions and pathways associated with the section in the Myths post referring to film music led me to rediscover a piece that haunted me as a kid in the days when old films with great music were often on TV on Sunday afternoons.

News Flashing - Friday 23rd October

Frances Weaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:51:41 +0000

NEWS FLASHING - FRIDAY 23RD OCTOBER

1. Nick Griffin on Question Time

In just over an hour's worth of TV, Nick Griffin managed to hijack Winston Churchill, label homosexuals as 'creepy' and defend a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Turn of the Turn

Jessica Duchen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:11:13 +0000

It's hard to imagine The Turn of the Screw more perfectly performed than in ENO's staging by David McVicar, which opened at the Coliseum last night. Were I rating it I'd give it six stars out of five.

Last Post

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:58:46 +0000

The slow disintegration of the Post Office revives a question that has been in the political air for two decades: is privatisation the answer? After all, in the late 1980s, the project was firmly in the sights of Mrs Thatcher's government, buoyed up by the runaway success of its other privatisations. If state-owned behemoths like British Gas, British Airways and British Telecom could be sold off and improved beyond all recognition, why not the creaky old Royal Mail? It was overstaffed and inefficient, saddled with a poor management and an obstructive union (no change there then).

Everyday Story of Country Volk

Louis Amis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:54:01 +0000

Just as some of my fellow critics have their faces set — on principle — against the latest Hollywood blockbuster even before the lights have gone down, so do I have an ingrained resistance to certain types of so-called art-house films or, as the Americans now call it, Art Cinema. The director Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band) ticks all my anti-boxes for a bad night out: a) it comes laden with seriousness of intent; b) it's in black and white, always a bad sign; c) it's in German; d) it's unnecessarily long; and e) it won the Palme D'Or at Cannes this year. This last one should make it a write-off. It was the gracious Cannes committee, you might remember, which fawned on Michael Moore a few years ago, making this particular corner of the film world enemy territory, as far as I'm concerned.

Connecticut: My Battle Against Google's Goliath

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:44:15 +0000

Doctors on the Deck

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:28:57 +0000

The Jibon Tari is a floating hospital, launched in April 1999, which takes medical treatment to the poorest people of rural Bangladesh. Though the statistic keeps changing, and is likely to change for the worse, it is estimated that half of Bangladesh is about six metres under water.

The result is that tens of thousands of the country's population scratch out a primitive, often nomadic, existence on flat silt islands known as chars that are often no more than a metre above sea level.

Schiller's Poetics of Freedom

Louis Amis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:26:15 +0000

The search for freedom was the driving force behind Friedrich Schiller's stunning poetic, dramatic and philosophical oeuvre. His plays, in particular, examine the "complex interaction between morality and politics, the difficulty of moral choices", as John Guthrie put it. Schiller's plays lead us into moral mazes, but there is always a guiding thread of emancipation from oppressive conditions of almost any kind. His ambition was to offer a guide to self-guidance. We have, once again after 2005, the year of the bicentenary of his death, good reason to celebrate him. In the year Georg Friedrich Händel died, 1759, Schiller was born — 250 years ago on 10 November.

Justice Just About Served

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:23:16 +0000

What Her Majesty's Court Service didn't mention in my jury summons was that my main duty would involve waiting. Waiting to be selected for a trial, waiting in the jury's retiring room, waiting while the prosecution had something photocopied, waiting for the defence barrister to get to the point... It was perhaps no accident that the jury pool assembly room resembled an airport lounge, with rows of wide blue chairs and a canteen selling bad coffee and unsatisfactory sandwiches. My fellow wannabe jurors and I wallowed in enforced passivity like holidaymakers whose flight home had been delayed. During all this inactivity I had plenty of time to ponder: is the right to trial by jury really worth all the fuss?

Resurrecting Thatcher's Finances

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:15:14 +0000

Could Britain go bust? Or, more precisely, could the government fail to meet its debt obligations? And could that fate befall the next government, whatever its political complexion, if it does not take early action to bring the budget deficit under control? The short answer to the first question is "no, as long as Britain has its own currency". The explanation is that it can borrow from the central bank, which is a state-owned concern and cannot refuse.

Magnus the Great

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:06:49 +0000

Sometimes — perhaps once every 100 years or so — a talent emerges who defies the normal rules of intellectual development. Musicians would put Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in this special category. Mozart's chess equivalent would probably be José Raúl Capablanca, born in 1888, who taught himself chess at the age of four and became the strongest player in his native Cuba by the time he was 12. Capablanca duly became world champion in 1921, at which point he was described as "the unbeatable chess machine". But his own assumption that this was the case made him indolent, and to his — and the chess world's — astonishment he lost the ultimate crown just six years later to the prodigiously hard-working Russian Alexander Alekhine.

Broken Pension Promises

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:59:01 +0000

Writing in the Daily Mail in October, the editor of Standpoint Daniel Johnson accurately identified Labour and Conservative plans to raise the state pension age as a "violation of contract": Britons have paid National Insurance for decades on the understanding that they will net some meagre subsistence in return at the age of 65. Thus Johnson raises the larger issue of what such "contracts" with government are worth. The simple answer is "nothing".

Deadly Possibilities

Louis Amis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:50:46 +0000

"Why can't one do that? Why can't one, according to you, go around beating people up and killing them?" The question is put to the narrator, Jaime — or Jack or Jacopo — Deza, by his boss, Tupra, who also goes by other names — Reresby, Ure, Dundas — and who heads a department of the Security Services, operating from "a house with no name". We might think the answer obvious. That indeed appears to be Deza's position. He had been horrified by the episode that concluded the previous novel in Javier Marias's trilogy which saw Tupra take a sword to an obnoxious diplomat from the Spanish Embassy in London, assaulting him in a night club's toilet for the disabled, wounding him and frightening him close to death. Tupra's argument is simple. Fear works — so why restrain oneself? Deza will come to see its cogency.

Scandinavian Scandals

Louis Amis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:32:42 +0000

"So let me get this straight, Mr Larsson, you intend to write a trilogy set in contemporary Sweden which will assume a close knowledge of recent Swedish politics. All three novels will be closely interconnected, so that anyone starting, say, with Book Two will have only the haziest idea of what's going on. And finally, your heroine Lisbeth Salander is going to be a stick-thin bisexual computer genius who's also borderline autistic... Mr Larsson — may I call you Stieg? — welcome aboard, this train is bound for Bestsellerdom."

Retaining Rights

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:29:49 +0000

An incoming Conservative government will repeal the Human Rights Act, Dominic Grieve promised his party conference last month. Sounds tough. But the reality is a little different.

As the shadow justice secretary explains, this controversial legislation would be replaced by a "British" Bill of Rights. But when? "I would like to think we could do it in the course of a parliament," Grieve tells me.

By my reckoning, it would take the best part of five years to bring new legislation into force. In the meantime, Labour's 1998 Act will remain law. Unlike Lord Irvine, who had a carefully crafted bill ready to launch as soon as Labour came to power in 1997, the Tories' Lord Chancellor-in-waiting is in no hurry.

The Craze for Counter-Insurgency

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:17:55 +0000

Sometimes writers who were ignored in their day receive their just deserts decades later. This is true of the French soldier-intellectual David Galula (1919-1967) whose thoughts on population-centric counter-insurgency (Coin) warfare permeate the doctrine of the US army today, notably the strategy proposed by General Stanley McChrystal for defeating the Taliban.

Genius at Work

Louis Amis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:15:25 +0000

To write a biography of Michelangelo is a daunting task. He was a titan whose life spanned almost nine decades at the centre of European politics, an artist who gave the world its archetypes of Biblical figures such as Adam and David, a man equally adept in the three arts of sculpture, painting and architecture and a writer who created some of the most beautiful Italian poetry since Dante. Long before his death in 1564, Michelangelo achieved mythic status as a godlike figure.

Our Friends in Iran

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:11:47 +0000

A deceptive calm has fallen on the streets of Iran's big cities after last summer's post-election repression. Although there is a veneer of restored order, the embers of rebellion still burn. The ayatollahs have missed their appointment with the hangman, but the question remains: for how long? The life of the Islamic Republic can be prolonged only by the crushing of its restive youth or by its attaining nuclear weapons. The latter may not ensure eternal life, but it can shield Iran from foreign enemies and enable Tehran to hold on to its subversive place in the sun for decades to come.

Dublin's Disappointment

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:06:11 +0000

Let's get it out of the way: yes, the idea of a united Europe has suffered a lot recently.

The rerun of the Irish referendum, like the referenda in France, Denmark and Holland, failed to transmit an image of nations working together happily to create a powerful Über-state based on shared interests and values. Rather, it seemed as if a hollow, perhaps even dated concept of unity was getting the better of them, a Kafkaesque bureaucratic monster from Brussels was
forcing them to join in and swallow their concerns. So far, so bad — but the real question is: who is the culprit?

Conference Charades

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:57:56 +0000

The most vacuous and wasteful spectacle of the year is at last over. But before getting on to the party conference season I want to acknowledge the end of Anthony Gormley's fourth plinth display in Trafalgar Square. I don't know how many readers saw people take up vacant statue space on the fourth plinth. The rolling hour-long stints were filmed and screened live on the web.

In the square where Nelson, Havelock and Napier are commemorated, members of the public high on self-promotion strutted a vacant hour on the vacant plinth: a sort of X Factor for the less gifted.

Seven Minutes that Shook the World

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:40:34 +0000

The Cold War was the first conflict that came close to annihilating Western civilisation — the first but almost certainly not the last. Yet the story of this global 40 Years War ended happily: it concluded almost bloodlessly in the European Revolution of 1989.

DPP Supports Human Rights Shock

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:23:54 +0000

I enjoyed Keir Starmer's lecture last night, and not just because he quoted recent comments by a "well-respected legal commentator".

A Cry for Freedom

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:15:39 +0000

It was not about bananas — which were unavailable in East Germany — or Western cars or shopping trips to Frankfurt. It was about freedom. To gain their freedom, East Germans took great personal risks and rose up in 1989 against their communist police state. And they liberated themselves, which is more than can be claimed by Germans who survived the Third Reich and lived in the free and prosperous West through the Cold War.

That assessment, in a new book entitled Endspiel (Endgame), by the East German-born historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, reflects a more positive re-evaluation in Germany about the "people power" revolution of 20 years ago, compared to the negative stereotypes that some West Germans have clung to of their Eastern cousins as scroungers, moaners or prisoners of their stale old Marxist ideology.

In League With the Extreme Right?

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:03:53 +0000

English Defence League demonstrations in Manchester last month

What does it take for one 60-year-old man to run up to another 60-year-old man, whom he has never seen before in his life, and attack him in the middle of the street? The answer may never be entirely clear. As far as indicators of a complex situation go, a pensioner punch-up ranks pretty high.

The High Price of Patriotism

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:44:33 +0000

Derek Pasquill: The whistleblower who wanted to be caught (PA)

Mum's the Word

Louis Amis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:33:42 +0000

This is a long, important and remarkable book about a long, important and remarkable life. Do not read it for revelations because there aren't any. Read it for the charm and gently ironic wit of a strong-willed woman who knew everyone who mattered in 20th-century Britain. This book does not force us to change our understanding of the Abdication Crisis or the monarchy's role during the Second World War, but it is crammed with interesting information and delightful quotations from the Queen Mother's letters, or at least as much of them as survived Princess Margaret's ruthless auto-da-fé of her correspondence.

A Military Solution for Afghanistan

Frances Weaver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:30:09 +0000

The scene after a roadside bomb is detonated east of Kabul

Throughout the US presidential campaign, Barack Obama lambasted the Bush administration for fighting "the wrong war" in Iraq while ignoring the right one in Afghanistan. Iraq had been a war of choice, Obama claimed, while Afghanistan was a war of necessity. He repeatedly claimed that if elected, he would unveil a new "stronger, smarter and comprehensive strategy".

Judge Speaks Up for Human Rights

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:27:06 +0000

A leading appeal judge has praised the European Court of Human Rights for forcing the United Kingdom to re-examine long-established practices under which individuals had been denied their rights.

A Good Look at Logic

Louis Amis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:18:32 +0000

What do Superman and Bertrand Russell have in common? More than you might think, according to this innovative graphic novel, based on the life of the British philosopher. Both are heroes whose stories are worthy of a comic book. The comic format traditionally demands a strong narrative, a battle between good and evil, and a hero at its centre. Russell's story provides all three — a man who spent his life searching for the logical foundations of mathematics, with chaos and unreason as the villains.

1688 and All That

Louis Amis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:50:00 +0000

"Why on earth was William of Orange? (Seriously, though)" asks a sample exam question in the historical spoof 1066 and All That. The joke would not work quite so well perhaps if the faintly ridiculous ring to William's title did not also attach to the event for which he is best remembered, the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. After leading the last successful invasion of England, the Dutch ruler and head of the French principality of Orange was installed on the throne in place of the Stuart king James II. A revolution that merely replaces one hereditary monarch with another is difficult to take too seriously, surely? But Steve Pincus, a professor of history at Yale, thinks otherwise. In 1688: The First Modern Revolution, he has written a swashbuckling book on what has become, over the centuries, a somewhat tame subject.

Voting is Open...

Jessica Duchen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:25:58 +0000

...for Dilettante Music's digital composer-in-residence competition.

More Double Standards in the Far Left-Islamist Alliance

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:10:29 +0000

BY ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS

The Times reports today that former London Mayor Ken Livingstone will spearhead tomorrow's Unite Against Fascism protest against Nick Griffin's appearance on BBC's Question Time. Considering his role in giving Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal a platform in the New Statesman, his objection to giving the same treatment to the BNP smacks of the double standards we have come to expect from the far left-Islamist alliance.

A Bluffers Guide to the BNP

Nick Cohen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:51:47 +0000

The Community Security Trust, which works to protect Britain's Jews from fascism in all its forms, has a very good guide to how the BNP uses media friendly language to cover up its racism. I was very critical of how the broadcasters give neo-Nazis powder puff interviews in the Observer at the weekend. (You can see Andrew Marr's dismal effort here.) So I should say in fairness that the tape showing Griffin explaining to American neo-Nazis how he would play the media was dug out by the BBC's better journalists.

Principled Prosecutions

Joshua Rozenberg — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:44:45 +0000

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales expressed concern today about a proposal that would allow a prosecutor to drop a case if it was not "a proportionate response to the specific offending".

Mythblasting

Jessica Duchen — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:57:04 +0000

My colleagues at The Independent on Sunday had some fun the other day putting together a list of 50 myths about modern Britain that required debunking, under the heading The Emperor's New Clothes.

Preventing Needless Hysteria

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:34:48 +0000

BY ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS

For the past couple of days, the Guardian has been running scare stories about the Government's Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) programme. Gleefully feeding Islamist propaganda about the government's supposed demonisation of Muslims, it is an irresponsible and potentially dangerous attack.

The Operation That Can Ruin Your Life

Frances Weaver — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:04:35 +0000

A photographic exhibition at the Hammer Museum, University of California Los Angeles, shows a comparative study between teenage girls and adult male-to-female transsexuals

'Living Wills' Leave Patients to Die

Frances Weaver — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:46:49 +0000

Kerrie Wooltorton asked not to be treated after attempting suicide

A young woman arrives by ambulance at A&E, having taken an overdose. It's a routine event, with what — in the past — amounted to a clinical routine for management. A suicide note would probably be filed, the contents mostly examined only for mention of relatives' contact details and what pills were taken. An experienced nurse would pump her stomach (they don't do it now) and a junior doctor would assess the need for any further specific treatment.

The Passing of Greatness

Frances Weaver — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:27:53 +0000

Chaos and civilisation are never far apart. For this reason, we need to confront the forces of chaos wherever and in whatever form they appear. In practice, though, it is a rare individual who dares to look the adversary in the eye and risk ridicule or worse. In the past few months, the West has lost two such individuals: Leszek Kolakowski and Irving Kristol. In their very different situations, both fought for freedom and truth.

Killing Miss Austen

Frances Weaver — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:05:10 +0000

Over-sexed: Romola Garai as Emma in the new BBC adaptation

Emma Woodhouse, "handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition", seemed to unite most of the blessings TV drama producers ever wanted. Nothing in her life could vex them. They could hire an actress who was more ravishing than "handsome", without doing undue violence to Miss Austen's intentions. They could instruct her to turn Emma's "happy disposition" into the feisty style that so commends itself to today's commissioning editors. And if the location manager decided that Emma's "comfortable home" should be a Georgian mansion of the type long coveted by Britons of all classes, no one but a cavilling critic could object.

New Prosecution Code

Joshua Rozenberg — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:40:51 +0000

Prosecutions that are more trouble than they're worth could be dropped under a new draft Code for Crown Prosecutors launched for consultation today.

The BNP at the BBC

Nick Cohen — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:49:39 +0000

To paraphrase Chesterton, when the working class stop believing in Labour they don't believe in nothing they believe in anything - the BNP in Dagenham, Jamaat-e-Islami and the SWP in Tower Hamlets and the Christian People's Alliance in south London.

And now for something completely different...

Jessica Duchen — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:12:51 +0000

Meet Michel Lauziere. Something to brighten your Saturday. Enjoy!

ROH Tristan: The Reckoning

Jessica Duchen — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:37:31 +0000

Maybe it's impossible for any new Wagner production to be mounted without the word 'controversial' appearing somewhere. The exception, I guess, is the Glyndebourne Tristan by Nikolaus Lehnhoff with its magical lighting and mythical timelessness (download it from the Glyndebourne site here).

Magnum Opera...

Jessica Duchen — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:40:07 +0000

Last night at the ROH's Tristan und Isolde I saw two things I've never seen before: 1) George Osborne - the shadow chancellor at an arts event. The only time I've spotted a government minister at a classical performance before was David Miliband at the LSO, but his wife is a member of the orchestra so maybe that doesn't count. 2) A longer queue for the men's room than the ladies'.

Supreme Confusion

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:41:01 +0000

The Supreme Court has now issued three versions of its first judgment. As I write, all are available on its website - although the link on this page takes you only to version 3.

Islamist Uses Carter Ruck to Silence Guardian

Nick Cohen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:08:36 +0000

FROM HARRY'S PLACE

Last week, The Guardian ran an excellent article by the academic, Delwar Hussain, on the legacy of the Bangladesh War of Liberation.

Beethoven didn't write Für Elise

Jessica Duchen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:18:49 +0000

Back from France to discover some news that might, um, set the musical world on fire: new research shows that 'Für Elise' may not have been composed by Beethoven, or at least not entirely.

False As-sumption?

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:51:03 +0000

Francis Gibb reports in The Times today that the expected appointment of Jonathan Sumption QC direct from the Bar to the Supreme Court is strongly opposed by senior judges because he has no experience as a full-time judge.

Taxonomy in Mytholmroyd

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:27:54 +0000

What is a taxonomy and why did I find it in Mytholmroyd? To find out, I recommend this week's column in the Law Society Gazette.

Japan backs down over International Prosecutor

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:11:11 +0000

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has seen off a damaging challenge to his powers from the country that makes the biggest contribution to the court's budget.

High Court Gives Mr Justice Eady a Good Kicking

Nick Cohen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:16:32 +0000

More good news from what is turning into a good week for freedom of expression.