Here’s a snatch from Goldsmith’s epitaph for Burke, quoted in this piece from Christopher Lydon in conversation with David Bromwich: Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much; Who, born for the universe, narrow’d his mind, And to party gave up what was meant ...
Things are getting heavy for Gordon Brown as he heads for his premiership’s first real electoral test in May. Between them, the local government elections, the London Assembly and Mayoral elections, will provide him with a stern test as his first full year draws to a close. Over at Brassneck, I’ve argued that in the ...
Interesting to see how things shift in a short time ago. A year ago, Guido was getting attacked for (admittedly amongst other things) his attacks on the lobby system at Westminster. Now the venerable Peter Wilby is taking up Guido’s argument with a will. In parts it chimes heavily with my own CiF piece earlier ...
Kevin March employs Onora O’Neill’s Reith Lecture formula to identify a major flaw with lobby journalism: it is a prime piece of non-assessable communication. Why? Marsh writes: The formula: “the minster said this … but what he really meant was this …” is such a familiar formula in political coverage, we journalists don’t even question ...
In March I was asked to respond informally to a presentation by George Osbourne at the RSA on the need to for government to listen to and respond to those outside the official political and professional cadres in central government. The main thrust of his speech related to the economic and technological good sense of ...
Originally blogged on Slugger: The politicians and blogging meeting was interesting, not least because with the exception of the Lib Dem chair, Richard Allan the other MP panelists were Labour. Not I hasten to add, a result of bias on the part of the organisers, but an accurate reflection of who is blogging in Westminster. ...