This is it. Rarely do you get a second chance in politics but Alex Salmond gets one tonight in the BBC’s referendum debate with Alistair Darling. Of course, Salmond is a man accustomed to overcoming tough odds. He is leader (for the second time) of a party which once expelled him for left-wing agitation. InContinueContinue reading “Salmond vs Darling debate is chance to win undecideds”
Author Archives: Editor
Against complacency and despondency after referendum debate
Pitfalls of media groupthink, example no. 486. Going into STV’s live referendum debate, most journalists and commentators – this observer included – expected a clear victory for Alex Salmond. If Alistair Darling could hope for anything, it would be a close fight or a draw. Mr Salmond was a warm, engaging populist who never letContinueContinue reading “Against complacency and despondency after referendum debate”
The Team Scotland tartan, the Scottish cringe and the indyref
Couldn’t they just go back to blowing up blocks of flats? The Team Scotland parade uniforms for the Commonwealth Games were unveiled on Sunday and confirmed Glasgow’s determination to win gold in the neck-reddening category. First Glasgow 2014 proposed an uplifting opening ceremony in which the Red Road flats would be blown to smithereens; nowContinueContinue reading “The Team Scotland tartan, the Scottish cringe and the indyref”
Eyal, Gilad and Naftali — a response
How should Israel respond to the brutal murder of three schoolboys? “Proportionately,” The World says. “With restraint.” As if it is the hallmark of a civilised society that it views coolly and dispassionately the slaughter of its young. “They were illegal settlers,” say the fellow-travellers with Palestinian rejectionism. “They shouldn’t have been there in theContinueContinue reading “Eyal, Gilad and Naftali — a response”
10 Christmas horror movies to get you in the festive spirit
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas: eggnog lattes, mince pies, inappropriate kissing of work colleagues. But nothing says Christmas like a Yuletide slasher movie, and there are more to choose from than you might think. Mostly, this is due to the slasher boom of the early Eighties, when low-budget film-makers sliced and dicedContinueContinue reading “10 Christmas horror movies to get you in the festive spirit”
Song of Ascent
Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation By Yossi Klein Halevi Harper, 608 pages When the 18th World Zionist Congress met in Prague in August 1933, delegates were asked to choose an official anthem for the Jewish national movement. The two main contenders were Naftali Herz Imber’s HatikvahContinueContinue reading “Song of Ascent”
Conservatives in crisis
Amid the angry exchanges which have ensued between true believers and “the establishment” since Congressional Republicans, led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, failed to defund Obamacare by shutting down the federal government, a discordant note demanding attention. The always tempered and considered Jonathan S. Tobin, an editor at Commentary magazine, threw up this possibility: AContinueContinue reading “Conservatives in crisis”
9/11/13
The twelfth anniversary of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks seems to have crept up on us, in a way that previous anniversaries did not. Every year of the first decade of the new world, we prepared ourselves for that awful configuration of numbers, 9/11. We stiffened our sinews and watched again, for brief andContinueContinue reading “9/11/13”
Neocon Zombie War
World War Z (Marc Forster, 2013) Paramount Pictures “The earth belongs to the living and not to the dead,” Thomas Jefferson once counseled, albeit musing on generational obligations rather than zombie property rights. The undead antagonists of World War Z would have bitten his face off and used his powdered wig as a napkin. ForContinueContinue reading “Neocon Zombie War”
Helen Thomas’s right of reply
“You ought not to speak ill of the dead,” a friend chided me. “They have no right of reply.” I had just remarked that Helen Thomas, who died on Saturday aged 92, was a “bigot and journalist”. Of course, my friend was right: in general, one should not speak ill of the dead, or atContinueContinue reading “Helen Thomas’s right of reply”
Stephen Daisley 