Was a Mosquito trailed by a flying saucer?

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

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mrs Brown”

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

Tony’s progress

Blair’s abuse of the prestige of his office to fill his pockets is not a sideshow to the tragedy of New Labour but the very heart of it

By C J Schuler | Arts, Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 4:15 pm

Catch-Up Service

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

There are 10 types of people in the world

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

Why is this news exactly, Daily Mail?

On page 4 of today’s Mail is an interesting little think-piece about motherhood and ethnicity in modern Britain.
A shy headline bellows: ‘Baby divide: Where just 1 in 10 mothers is white and British’, above a helpful map demonstrating the areas of Britain with the largest numbers of non-white or non-British new mothers.
The article continues in [...]

By Tom Mendelsohn | Eagle Eye | Monday, 9 August 2010 at 4:42 pm

Our justice system must embrace innovation as a necessity

Ken Clarke says bring prison numbers down through a “rehabilitation revolution”; Teresa May wants to move away from ASBOs, which have limited effectiveness, in favour of more constructive interventions. The Chief Inspector of Probation has talked about making grown up choices over who gets released when. It seems everyone agrees that justice reform is needed [...]

By Anton Shelupanov | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 8 August 2010 at 2:04 pm

Choosing data protection over child protection

ContactPoint, a £224 million government database containing records of all UK children, will be switched off at noon today.
One of the boldest moves made so far by the new Coalition Government in its first 100 days of power, the decision to scrap Labour’s ambitious child protection initiative is being greeted with a mixture of applause [...]

By Matilda Battersby | Eagle Eye | Friday, 6 August 2010 at 12:16 pm

Dear liberals: No, Obama can’t be ‘black enough’ for you

Obama is exactly what you wanted—a smart, but culturally middle of the road black guy who won’t do anything to scare you or your friends.

By Black Canseco | Eagle Eye, The Foreign Desk | Thursday, 5 August 2010 at 12:49 pm

Services PMI decline hints at a double dip recession

It’s a bit of a pity the general public don’t take more notice of the surveys the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply conduct of managers at the “sharp end” of business (more on the PMI decline here). For, unlike most economic predictions, they have an almost uncanny ability to predict what will be happening [...]

By Sean O'Grady | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Wednesday, 4 August 2010 at 12:37 pm