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
Just done a turn with Hilary Stauffer of Reprieve on Islam Channel (updated link) in which she argued (a) that the British government could take Shaker Aamer (pictured) back from Guantanamo because the Justice and Security (“secret courts”) Bill would allow it to keep its complicity in his torture secret; (b) that the obstacle to [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 22 April 2013 at 2:51 pm
Although most informed observers thought the European Court of Human Rights would rule against the UK’s ban on political advertising on television, the Grand Chamber has done the opposite. By the narrowest margin of nine votes to eight it has ruled that the ban is proportionate, and is therefore compatible with the freedom of expression, [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 22 April 2013 at 11:25 am
My column for The Independent on Sunday today is a big fat “don’t know”. I thought my esteemed colleague Andrew Grice’s front-page lead in The Independent on Friday was one of those moments that will appear in those chronologies we instant historians like to put at the back of our books:
19 April 2013: Labour’s decision [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 21 April 2013 at 3:25 pm
Political Betting is back on form with this Question To Which The Answer Is No, number 931 in my series, last week. The book of QTWTAIN is still available, just £6.14 for the download.
Meanwhile, number 933 has just been asked by Mehdi Hasan:
I’ve long been a critic of the explosion in CCTV/public surveillance, but the Boston bombings [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 21 April 2013 at 2:50 pm
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights is likely to rule tomorrow against the British ban on political advertising on television. Jacob Rowbottom, fellow at University College, Oxford, expects the Chamber to decide that the ban contravenes the right of freedom of expression in article 10 of the Convention on Human Rights.
This might [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 21 April 2013 at 9:53 am
I think I may have inadvertently broken my own embargo on She Who Used To Be Obeyed by replying to someone on Twitter this morning. So I might as well say that the evidence from the extracts from Charles Moore’s book in The Daily Telegraph is that the early life, as so often in biography, [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 20 April 2013 at 5:45 pm
Philip Collins has a superb column in The Times today (pay wall), which dismantles Ed Miliband’s attempt to substitute a slogan for policy making:
One Nation has a clear meaning in its original Conservative incarnation. To be a One Nation Tory was a retort to the suspicion that, in the battle between the two nations of [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 19 April 2013 at 2:06 pm
Ed Miliband in a speech in Scotland:
Back in the 1970s, it was clear the country needed a new way of doing things – a new settlement – and so too today. The old way of running our economy just doesn’t work any more: deregulation; the dominance of finance over industry; allowing large private-sector vested interests [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 19 April 2013 at 10:09 am
It is gratifying when my matchsticks economics turns out to be endorsed by top brackety serious people such as Gavyn Davies.* I posted this on Wednesday as an update:
The fuss over Rogoff and Reinhart getting their spreadsheets wrong ought to be a minor test case of right versus wrong (wrong, in this case) rather than ideology. [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 19 April 2013 at 9:52 am
I like lists. You may have noticed. This blog is the home of the Banned List (now more than 750 words or phrases) and the list of Questions To Which The Answer Is No (now up to number 930, although it did start at number 94). I have done a few shorter lists over the years. I [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 18 April 2013 at 10:26 am
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