Summer holidays are too short

Frank Field is and always will be one of the Heroes of the People. Tony Blair is unnecessarily rude about him in A Journey, saying: “His thoughts were not so much unthinkable as unfathomable.”
But his thoughts about cutting the length of school summer holidays on the front page of today’s Times (pay wall) are not [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 11 September 2010 at 4:55 pm

How Journalism Works, pt 102

Today’s innuendo special in the Daily Mail about the former Prime Minister (right) has an eye-catching third paragraph about a hotel in Abu Dhabi in which Tony Blair sometimes stays:

Its proud owners have recently announced the acquisition of the world’s first gold bar vending machine, so its filthy rich guests can stock up on bullion, [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 11 September 2010 at 3:45 pm

Vote for a Stepping Stone

Sunder Katwala makes a good point about the launch of the first Yes campaign for the referendum on the Alternative Vote (right):
Curious that a six-strong steering group does not seem to contain even one person who is actually in favour of the Alternative Vote as their preferred electoral system.
All its members are supporters of proportional [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 11 September 2010 at 3:28 pm

Three Sorry Stories

I know this is old; I meant to note it at the time and then lost it. Kenneth Morgan’s historical take on Conservative-Liberal coalitions, in a letter in August’s Prospect, is a gem:
25th June 2010
Dick Leonard’s summary of past Lib-Con coalitions (July) deals admirably with those of 1895 and 1931. Both ended up with Liberals [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 10 September 2010 at 6:27 pm

Must watch (if you dare): Kings of Leon new single Radioactive

The Kings of Leon are back with a new song, and next month a new album entitled Come Around Sundown. With any luck this will finally eradicate the image of X Factor contestant Jamie Archer singing Sex on Fire to a Simon Cowell physically oozing with smarm.
The tune appears to be carrying on the commercially [...]

By Simon Rice | Notebook | Friday, 10 September 2010 at 2:18 pm

Cowgirls, fashion week and ‘Kissing Cousins’

The best of the web.

By Alice-Azania Jarvis | Digital Digest, Notebook | Friday, 10 September 2010 at 2:07 pm

Wayne Rooney must rally on Saturday

A verbal rollicking awaits Wayne Rooney on Saturday. As he stands facing the light at the end of the tunnel, waiting to wander out onto the field to face Everton, Goodison Park will morph into a cauldron filled with caustic ribald remarks, reminding him of the self-inflicted tawdry tabloid story that will have shattered his [...]

By Giles Lucas | Sport | Friday, 10 September 2010 at 1:11 pm

Kings of Leon’s new album: top of the pops or genuine rock?

Right, OK, so they sold out a little (a lot!) in a very successful attempt at commercial recognition, but is the Kings of Leon’s up-coming album destined to be another gravy train release crammed with high production values and mindless faux Americana “Sex on Fire” song writing? Let’s hope not.
While the newer, perhaps more chart-guided [...]

By Gareth Vipers | Arts | Friday, 10 September 2010 at 12:17 pm

Must watch: The best campaign speech of the year

If you haven’t yet seen this video, you must stop what you’re doing and watch it right now.

By Larry Ryan | The Foreign Desk | Friday, 10 September 2010 at 11:35 am

The Paranoid Style

The Times carries a leading article today (pay wall), with the headline above, that is worth quoting in full — for the purposes of criticism, review and reporting current events.
Tony Blair’s memoirs have broken sales records, with 92,000 copies sold in the four days after publication. Yet Mr Blair cancelled a book signing and the launch party this [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 10 September 2010 at 10:18 am