John Rentoul is chief political commentator for The Independent on Sunday, and visiting professor at Queen Mary, University of London, where he teaches contemporary history. Previously he was chief leader writer for The Independent. He has written a biography of Tony Blair, whom he admired more at the end of his time in office than he did at the beginning. Click here and 'like' to receive updates on Facebook
Thanks to Michael Ezra at Harry’s Place for writing up my encounter with Chris Nineham (right) on Radio 2 yesterday.
Chris Nineham is from the Stop the War Coalition and a former leading activist within the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party. John Rentoul, Tony Blair’s biographer, had the misfortune of having to debate with Nineham on BBC Radio 2. (The [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 18 August 2010 at 9:49 am
Good summary of the state of undeclared war in the Conservative Party between David Cameron and Boris Johnson by Rachel Sylvester in The Times today (pay wall). The key paragraphs:
The Cameroons fear that Mr Johnson is unreliable, lazy and disloyal. “Boris is Boris” is the official line from Tory HQ, an echo of Mr Blair’s [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Tuesday, 17 August 2010 at 9:24 pm
I’ve written for The Independent today on John Prescott’s foolish charge of “collaborator” thrown at Frank Field, John Hutton and Alan Milburn.
Conor Ryan had already made the main point on his excellent blog, namely that Labour can help to persuade independent-minded voters by lending its best minds to the Government in pursuit of laudable aims.
Field [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Tuesday, 17 August 2010 at 7:33 pm
I wondered how the Daily Mail would manage to report Tony Blair’s donation of the £4m advance for his book, A Journey, to the British Legion in a way that sought to diminish him. As usual, I under-estimated the sheer ingenuity, professionalism and malice brought to the challenge.
Getting the word “guilty” onto the front page [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Tuesday, 17 August 2010 at 6:03 pm
Still in holiday mode, I offer these while you wait for the Catch-Up Service to bring you up to date on the past two weeks.
What do you call a one-storey pedal-powered boat? A bungalo.
And what do you call an inarticulate pedal-powered boat with a deep voice? A gruffalo.
What do you call a really impressive rowing [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 15 August 2010 at 4:18 pm
While I was away, the Mail titles continued their tasteless obsession with the David Kelly conspiracy cult. The Mail on Sunday carried an interview with Detective Constable Graham Coe, the police officer who found Kelly’s body (right). Coe does not suspect foul play and said:
In my view he took his own life. Only he will know [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 13 August 2010 at 9:18 am
Oliver Kamm took advantage of my absence to try to reclaim the series of Questions to Which the Answer is No, the idea for which I copied from him in the first place, with this classic from my own newspaper, The Independent: “Did Churchill and Eisenhower cover up UFO encounter?”
I had seen only the version [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 9:23 am
We’ve got some serious catching up to do.
But first.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mrs Brown, but the last rites are just prayers and a cracker. You’re thinking of the Make a Wish Foundation.”
From Eoin Butler via Larry Ryan.
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 4:51 pm
While I was away. Alastair Campbell’s sister and some unusual red-coloured diamonds. Last week the Daily Mail led its front page every day on the problem of eating the same cow twice. And it is less likely that it will be Charles Kennedy who leads the Continuing Lib Dems out of the coalition.
More catching up [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 9:49 am
Those who understand binary numbers and those who don’t.
Yes, I read Alex’s Adventures in Numberland, by Alex Bellos, on holiday. That line isn’t in there, but a lot of other good things are. Bellos has a wonderful quotation on p324 from Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple, about a change made to the shuffle function [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 8:31 am
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