Walking the Green Line

Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel Ian Black Allen Lane, pp.606 If books about the Israeli-Arab conflict were building blocks, the Palestinians would have their own state already and then some. Most volumes bring little that is fresh or challenging, so selectivity is key. Daniel Gordis and Benny Morris are essential,Continue reading "Walking the Green Line"

Holyrood sketch: No more Mr Nice Guy… The return of Angry John

To Holyrood for First Minister’s Questions, where there is a distinct lack of a First Minister. In her place sits John Swinney. Zimbabweans have ousted Robert Mugabe after a long, colourful tyranny. Could a military coup have claimed our own snazzily-dressed megalomaniac? Nicola Sturgeon would be blissfully unaware if there were tanks in the streetsContinue reading "Holyrood sketch: No more Mr Nice Guy… The return of Angry John"

How bounders, chancers and charlatans took over politics

They can’t hide it anymore. The contempt in which the political class holds the rest of us has erupted from the confines of the bubble and oozed its way across the entire body politic. The worst politicians no longer pretend they respect us or seek our approval. Ego is all and the best interests ofContinue reading "How bounders, chancers and charlatans took over politics"

Tax talk sends the Sturgeometer into overdrive

The Sturgeometer, the most reliable scale of outrage in Scottish politics, was pealing full pitch.  A growing part of the First Minister's job involves condemning things that are already deplored and don't require her opprobrium but which she must be seen to be against all the same. So she summons all her lamentations and informsContinue reading "Tax talk sends the Sturgeometer into overdrive"

America’s unheeded prophet

Catholic, conservative, controversial — US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas seldom speaks but when he does journalists’ notebooks flip open.  Recently he gave a rare interview in the course of which he diagnosed the malaise afflicting America. He asked: 'What binds us? What do we all have in common anymore? I think we have to think about that. WhenContinue reading "America’s unheeded prophet"

If the fight to lead Labour took place in my garden – I’d draw the curtains

Amid the weary laments that politics in the age of Trump and Brexit has become too interesting, it is reassuring to know that torpor still has a place. Scottish Labour is doing its all to prove it with a seemingly interminable leadership contest of studied banality. Following unexpected gains in the General Election and aContinue reading "If the fight to lead Labour took place in my garden – I’d draw the curtains"

Whenever politicians call for consensus, hide your cash

Whenever a politician calls for consensus, hide your wallet. Nothing good ever comes of the words 'cross-party cooperation'. Working together is the surest sign they're up to no good because, for all their grudges and enmities, the one thing they agree on is that more of your money should be in their hands. Nicola SturgeonContinue reading "Whenever politicians call for consensus, hide your cash"

Neither bank of the Jordan

'Two banks has the Jordan,’ runs Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s verse of Revisionist Zionism. 'This is ours and that is as well.' The Betar leader’s vision of Eretz Yisrael Hashlemah exists today only in songs sung by old men who remember, barely, when the lyrics carried possibility rather than lament. Even on the nationalist Right, the EastContinue reading "Neither bank of the Jordan"

Nicola’s ‘freedom fighters’ take up arms (and enjoy a few days in the sun!)

Like those gap yah Tristrams who backpack from one war zone to the next, bagging a few selfies with traumatised locals along the way, Scottish Nationalists have arrived at their latest destination. The rest of the world looks at the Spanish constitutional crisis with a mixture of bafflement and boredom. Is Europe hellbent on tearingContinue reading "Nicola’s ‘freedom fighters’ take up arms (and enjoy a few days in the sun!)"