Rory Stewart’s Occupational Hazards
Better late than never, I read this memoir which is destined to be a classic, surely. Read more...
Politics & campaigns.
This is not a party political site and not very partisan in any way. My emphasis has tended to be on the quality of debate and campaigning, and especially on the need to appreciate represtentative democracy (government through elected representatives whose own views matter), and to be sceptical of the claims of vox pop, "the people", social media, Crowd Wisdom, and "direct action".Page 12
Coalition news: lowest taxation since the 50’s
Evan Davis lightly mentioned in Programme 1 of his Evan Loves Tax (BBC Radio 4) that on current plans the Coalition might (intends to?) end its first term with a 36 percent tax-take (as against total GDP). I always thought the Con-Libs were conducting an extraordinary coup, but this confirms it, if true. Here are two cheers. Read more...
RDN, the Pope’s visit, and BBC R4’s “Sunday”
I had a v brief outing on Radio 4's Sunday religious current affairs programme, and it's a privilege to be asked. Here's the crib I prepared for the event, in which I was asked about the protest dimension of the Pope's forthcoming visit. Read more...
Roger Harrabin’s “Uncertain Climate”, part 2
RH, the BBC's environment analyst, promised us a soul-searching assessment of his track record in reporting climate change over 20 years. Here's a rather unenthusiastic assessment of his assessment. Read more...
Bjorn Lomborg’s game-changing “volte face”
Climate change politics is creeping into a kind of inevitable realism. (If you will forgive me, I'll mention that I have argued for nearly 25 years that it would, sooner or later.) It is becoming clearer that it is now legitimate and necessary to say that there will be no silver bullet. Bjorn Lomborg's new book (discussed in 2 new Guardian prepublication pieces, here and here) looks like helping quite a bit. Read more...
Roger Harrabin’s Radio 4 “Uncertain Climate”
This show sounded like a major apologia and a minor mea culpa from the BBC's chief climate change analyst . It was, though, mostly depressingly familiar. Read more...
Will the BP spill transform the oil business?
I was asked to appear on Radio 4's special programme BP: Beyond the horizon and the Macondo disaster. Would it transform the firm and the oil business? I'm clinging to the idea that it won't much, but with one big caveat. Here's the crib I prepared.... Read more...
Efraim Karsh on Islamic Imperialism, arabism and Palestine
These books certainly fit my prejudices, but also tally with my 4o years of following the news in a middlebrow sort of way. If they're wrong in any particular, or their general conclusions, it'd be fascinating to see the evidence. Read more...
Rational Optimist: RDN’s still one
It's not often a good ploy to whinge, and this isn't exactly a moan. Well, only a bit of one. I want to stand up for my Life On a Modern Planet (1995) and Rich Is Beautiful (2005) as works of "rational optimism". Read more...
BP oil spill update, 15 June 2010
It's been a spectacularly bad few days for BP. Things looks set to get a bit worse. But they may yet turn out less than apocalyptic. Without shouting the odds, here're some thoughts. Read more...