Is World War II Still Being Fought?

Number 895 in the series of Questions To Which The Answer Is No is asked by Frontpage magazine.

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 31 December 2012 at 11:35 am

Is the Snowman a Masculine Role Model for 2013?

From The Times last week, number 894 in the inexhaustible series, spotted by Alex White. (With bonus point for “role model”, which is, of course, on the Banned List.)

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 24 December 2012 at 12:37 pm

“Mayan apocalypse: are there any facts behind this doomsday scenario? (No)”

An unusual example of a Headline Which Answers Its Own Question in the Guardian’s US News Blog, spotted by my esteemed colleague Paul Bignell.

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 22 December 2012 at 12:11 pm

Can you teach a baby to read?

Spotted by Rob W. He probably didn’t know he was entering a competition, but he has won a signed copy of Questions To Which The Answer Is No.

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 14 December 2012 at 10:16 am

Are Hobbits Blue Labour?

Joe Oliver wins a signed copy of Questions To Which The Answer Is No for spotting this fine double example of the form: Is the Shire one nation? Are hobbits blue Labour?

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 7 December 2012 at 12:41 pm

Rentoul’s Little Shop of Stocking Presents

Just what someone needs for Christmas. The book Questions To Which The Answer Is No. Just to remind you what it is about, here is a question asked by New Zealand television:
Can you teach a dog to drive?

Number 885 in my series, spotted by Paddy Briggs, who has already won a signed copy of the book. [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 6 December 2012 at 4:15 pm

Could Britney Spears write the next Great American Novel?

No idea what this is about or why anybody is asking this question, which appears as a sub-headline on an MTV webpage in the middle of words that include “collabo” but do not include any explanation of Spears’s connection with novel-writing.
Whatevs, pop pickers. The answer is no, and the spotter of this question, Mitchell Stirling, [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 30 November 2012 at 12:11 pm

Are we literally starving students into submission?

Magnificent. Epic in its stupefied leftism. A paragon of self-obliviousness. An unbeatable Question To Which The Answer Is No. Barbara Ellen is a fifth columnist at the heart of rightonness, trying to make The Observer look ridiculous, and succeeding.
She was trying to explain why fewer students had turned up for a demo than she thought should [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 25 November 2012 at 4:48 pm

Should Cameron Set His Europe Policy to Woo UKIP Voters?

Yes the answer is no.
I have written about David Cameron’s successful Brussels summit for The Independent on Sunday, pointing out that his party’s Euroscepticism ought to be a winner with the British voters, were it not for his party’s tendency to squabble over which kind of Euroscepticism is the correct one.
One argument for which I [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 24 November 2012 at 6:17 pm

Was Barack Obama inspired by 1990s Berkshire visit?

It’s Friday, and time to announce another two winners of the Questions To Which The Answer Is No competition.
Tom Wein spotted the above, in the finest traditions of local journalism, the Get Reading local website report of the President’s re-election, which it linked to his 1996 visit to Wokingham. Kezia, Barack Obama’s father’s first wife, [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 23 November 2012 at 11:53 am