http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Tue, 21 May 2013 18:48:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/11/03/freedom-of-information-spellbinding-pain-in-the-butt/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/11/03/freedom-of-information-spellbinding-pain-in-the-butt/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:23:33 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=29637 There was a good exchange on the Freedom of Information Act between Alastair Campbell and Chris Mullin at a Chatham House event last month. This was the subject of Campbell’s second disagreement with Tony Blair during the conversation (the first was over whether Labour did enough in its first parliamentary term). Campbell said that FoI was [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/11/03/freedom-of-information-spellbinding-pain-in-the-butt/feed/ 9 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/18/the-lie-machine-is-back/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/18/the-lie-machine-is-back/#comments Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:46:41 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26476 I see that the Guardian-Mail axis has mobilised to counter Tony Blair’s wish to re-engage with British public life. Interestingly, the Guardian’s contribution, by John Harris yesterday, was notably mild and willing to entertain the proposition that Blair might have something to offer. Even so, it was shot through with the hardening anti-war conviction that no right-thinking [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/18/the-lie-machine-is-back/feed/ 31 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/29/top-of-the-posts-the-bullingdon-club-king-kong-and-parents-got-talent/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/29/top-of-the-posts-the-bullingdon-club-king-kong-and-parents-got-talent/#comments Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:19:51 +0000 Laura Davis http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25793 The most read blogs this week, as determined by stats.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/29/top-of-the-posts-the-bullingdon-club-king-kong-and-parents-got-talent/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/21/alastair-campbell-i-have-never-been-asked-that-question-before/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/21/alastair-campbell-i-have-never-been-asked-that-question-before/#comments Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:54:11 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25564 We had a terrific evening with Alastair Campbell at the Mile End Group at Queen Mary, University of London, yesterday. The video and transcript are here.* The Pepys of New Labour told how he kept a diary in tiny handwriting full of shorthand and abbreviations in exercise books and scraps of paper including the back of a White House menu.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/21/alastair-campbell-i-have-never-been-asked-that-question-before/feed/ 5 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/19/ill-have-that-on-my-gravestone-not-far-wrong/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/19/ill-have-that-on-my-gravestone-not-far-wrong/#comments Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:08:57 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25200 Me, me, me. The first thing I did when I got a review copy of the fourth volume of Alastair Campbell's diaries was to look myself up in the index. On 24 September 2001, he wrote: "John Rentoul had a very good line on the 'psychologically flawed relationship' and it wasn't far wrong."]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/19/ill-have-that-on-my-gravestone-not-far-wrong/feed/ 13 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/17/brown-saved-by-iraq-blair-had-decided-to-sack-him/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/17/brown-saved-by-iraq-blair-had-decided-to-sack-him/#comments Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:00:56 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25377 Remarkable stuff in the fourth volume of Alastair Campbell's unexpurgated diaries, which are serialised in The Guardian yesterday and tomorrow.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/17/brown-saved-by-iraq-blair-had-decided-to-sack-him/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/02/has-he-got-history-for-you/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/02/has-he-got-history-for-you/#comments Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:52:41 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=24910 Alastair Campbell is launching the fourth volume of his unexpurgated Diaries at the Mile End Group at Queen Mary, University of London, at 6.30pm on 20 June. He will be “In Conversation With” me, before taking questions. Details of how to apply for tickets are here. The Burden of Power completes the quartet of the complete diaries, [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/02/has-he-got-history-for-you/feed/ 35 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/07/worthwhile-enmities/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/07/worthwhile-enmities/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:33:07 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=20198 Alastair Campbell has a powerful extract from his e-book, The Happy Depressive, in the Guardian today. I shall certainly be paying £1.71 for it when it is released on Thursday. The meditation on happiness, depression and the death of his friend Philip Gould is moving. I continue to admire Campbell for his openness about the Black [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/07/worthwhile-enmities/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/08/09/the-catch-up-service/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/08/09/the-catch-up-service/#comments Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:41:21 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=14984 Most important, Alastair Campbell received a reply from David Cameron, 28 July: The Prime Minister’s statement about you was no more than political knockabout which got a bit carried away. I can see why Campbell was so polite, but if I could just say: What a pile of insulting yellow custard. The Prime Minister, in the House of Commons, [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/08/09/the-catch-up-service/feed/ 19 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/07/16/spies-put-pressure-on-alastair-campbell/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/07/16/spies-put-pressure-on-alastair-campbell/#comments Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:07:23 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=14169 A detail from volume three of Alastair Campbell's Diaries, which is pertinent to the small spasm of anti-war reporting of the latest documents published by the Iraq Inquiry. My fine colleague Kim Sengupta, and others, reported the comments of SIS2, an intelligence officer, that Campbell had unhelpfully "leaked" MI6 information before the Iraq invasion.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/07/16/spies-put-pressure-on-alastair-campbell/feed/ 28 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/06/06/caught-social-like-a-downing-street-dossier-campbell-declares-charity-match-%e2%80%98tasty-in-parts%e2%80%99/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/06/06/caught-social-like-a-downing-street-dossier-campbell-declares-charity-match-%e2%80%98tasty-in-parts%e2%80%99/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:29:35 +0000 Luke Blackall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=12868 Daily gossip from the world of celeb]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/06/06/caught-social-like-a-downing-street-dossier-campbell-declares-charity-match-%e2%80%98tasty-in-parts%e2%80%99/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/03/12/conversional-wisdom/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/03/12/conversional-wisdom/#comments Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:00:00 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=9902 I missed this from Alastair Campbell on Monday, which sums up the “Col Gaddafi is Tony Blair’s Fault” idiocy better than any other: A lot of this is about our media, which moves so easily from one conventional wisdom – ‘Gaddafi is changing’ – to another – ‘It was so obvious he was never changing at [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/03/12/conversional-wisdom/feed/ 9