http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Tue, 22 May 2012 23:01:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/22/blair-rage-its-still-there-you-know/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/22/blair-rage-its-still-there-you-know/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 18:15:11 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24514 The madness: it is still distorting reality, only the fever has abated somewhat and so it rumbles barely audibly like a malfunctioning subwoofer. Blair rage. I never really got to the bottom of the psychological trauma, and much of it has now been redirected towards other targets: the “extreme right-wing policies” of the Coalition Government; the [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/22/blair-rage-its-still-there-you-know/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/22/draw-a-line-in-the-sand-over-the-ceiling/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/22/draw-a-line-in-the-sand-over-the-ceiling/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 12:14:52 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24229 An American called Laura writes to say nice things about my Banned List book, and encloses a cutting from The Wall Street Journal: "Boehner drew a line in the sand over the debt ceiling." Delightful. Meanwhile, there are more things that I have to ban.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/22/draw-a-line-in-the-sand-over-the-ceiling/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/boris-johnson-and-the-euro-brick-wall/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/boris-johnson-and-the-euro-brick-wall/#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 15:54:35 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24436 I don't mind Boris Johnson. In fact, I voted for him as mayor of London, twice. But it has come to something when I agree with him about the euro. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/boris-johnson-and-the-euro-brick-wall/feed/ 4 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/wow-miliband-now-best-performing-leader/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/wow-miliband-now-best-performing-leader/#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 08:37:04 +0000 Matt Chorley http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24393 Last month I blogged on how Ed Miliband was performing better, and his supporters would be looking for an uptick in his poll ratings. As the Labour party extended its lead over the Tories, there was still the feeling that this was an anti-government vote, and that Miliband was being out-polled by his party. In April, [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/21/wow-miliband-now-best-performing-leader/feed/ 3 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/20/the-growth-agenda/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/20/the-growth-agenda/#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 20:36:27 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24399 “Agenda” is on the Banned List, unless it refers to a list of things to be discussed in a meeting. But it is what everyone calls plans for a package of measures (also banned) that Dave and George and Vince and Nick are always hoping to announce in a few days’ time. The next agendum on the list [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/20/the-growth-agenda/feed/ 7 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/20/blairite-and-brownite-coalition-re-forged/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/20/blairite-and-brownite-coalition-re-forged/#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 14:39:25 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24395 In my column for The Independent on Sunday today I wonder at the genius of David Cameron in allowing the Blairites to rally behind Ed Miliband. There is a chunk of voters that is crucial to the Conservatives’ chances at the next election that I call the AB liberals. They identified with New Labour but [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/20/blairite-and-brownite-coalition-re-forged/feed/ 22 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/19/poll-labour-gain-as-tories-suffer-from-euro-crisis/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/19/poll-labour-gain-as-tories-suffer-from-euro-crisis/#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 18:30:49 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24389 Labour’s lead is up to nine points in a ComRes opinion poll for The Independent on Sunday, shared with the Sunday Mirror, tomorrow. * Ed Miliband’s personal rating is better than David Cameron’s for the first time in a ComRes poll. * Cameron-Osborne are equal with Miliband-Balls in being “trusted to take the right decisions on the [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/19/poll-labour-gain-as-tories-suffer-from-euro-crisis/feed/ 16 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/19/poll-alert-19/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/19/poll-alert-19/#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 10:41:37 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24366 We have a ComRes opinion poll in tomorrow’s Independent on Sunday, shared with the Sunday Mirror. Our last poll (22 April) had a Labour lead of six points, but since then YouGov’s five polls a week have recently showed leads of between 12 and 14 points. We shall also be tracking the party leaders’ personal ratings and [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/19/poll-alert-19/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/18/you-are-dumb/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/18/you-are-dumb/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 20:47:32 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24379 I have never watched The West Wing, and I know nothing of Syracuse University, but the commencement address given by Aaron Sorkin, the writer of The West Wing, at Syracuse last Sunday shows that America knows something about speech-making. There is a lot of schmalz in it, but some great lines and above all a sense of rhythm, [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/18/you-are-dumb/feed/ 4 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/18/some-constructive-advice-from-the-right-on-spending-cuts/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/18/some-constructive-advice-from-the-right-on-spending-cuts/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 13:39:47 +0000 Ben Chu http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24361 What Fraser Nelson seems to advocate is spending cuts of 2.9 per cent of GDP over the next 12 months. That translates into £43.5bn of cuts, rather than the relatively modest £15bn the Coalition has planned. Will the Chancellor take this advice?]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/18/some-constructive-advice-from-the-right-on-spending-cuts/feed/ 10 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/17/osborne-saying-in-public-what-he-was-saying-in-private-about-the-euro/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/17/osborne-saying-in-public-what-he-was-saying-in-private-about-the-euro/#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 16:14:18 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24326 I will write about something other than the euro in a moment, but first let me record George Osborne’s “genie out of the bottle” comments. In the same Commons debate on the Queen’s Speech on which I commented earlier, he said: When eurozone central bank governors and Finance Ministers openly speculate on the possibility of Greek [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/17/osborne-saying-in-public-what-he-was-saying-in-private-about-the-euro/feed/ 5 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/17/what-to-do-about-greece/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/17/what-to-do-about-greece/#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 15:20:32 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24315 Further reading on the euro crisis. Kitty Ussher, Labour former Treasury minister, has a clear argument for why Greece cannot be forced out of the euro, in the New Statesman. Andrew Lilico, director of Europe Economics and formerly chief economist at Policy Exchange, has a slightly less clear but forceful argument for why Greece will be forced [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/17/what-to-do-about-greece/feed/ 1