Kate Chisholm 19 January 2019 9:00 AM 19 January 2019 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp Whether by accident or design, Zoë Ball took over the coveted early-morning slot on Radio 2 this week just as Radio 4 launched another of its Riot Girls series, celebrating ‘extraordinary’ women writers, those who have overturned convention, risen up against the status quo, proved themselves to be just as capable as their male oppressors (if not more so). Ball launched herself on to the airwaves on Monday morning at a pace it was hard to keep up with when it was still dark outside and the house had not yet warmed up. Her first track, that key statement of how she intends to reshape the breakfast show, give it a woman’s own makeover, was of course from Aretha Franklin. It just had to be. And the track — ‘Respect’. It could hardly have been anything else, given the overexcited anticipation that Ball’s … [Read more...] about Zoë Ball has the voice and warmth but not so much the chat
Nick Boles’s plan is certainly crazy. But it just might work
Nikki da Costa 19 January 2019 9:00 AM 19 January 2019 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp At first, it seems fanciful. A backbench MP, Nick Boles, proposes to take power away from the government and place it in the hands of an alternative opposition. Not a party or a faction, but the Liaison Committee, the 36 MPs who chair other committees. They’d call the shots. Can one backbencher usurp power in this way? It’s ambitious. But under the British system, government reports to parliament, not the other way around. Usually the distinction is moot, because government can control the Commons. But when that control collapses, every kind of mischief becomes possible. Until a couple of months ago I was director of legislative affairs under Theresa May in No. 10, where it was my job to look at parliamentary procedures. It’s quite a minefield. Right now, the civil servants will be asking what it means to have … [Read more...] about Nick Boles’s plan is certainly crazy. But it just might work
It’s not communist buildings that are bleak – it’s capitalist budget hotel chains
Paul Mason 19 January 2019 9:00 AM 19 January 2019 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp A few of us on the Labour left decide to see if it is possible to conjure, from nowhere, a #FinalSay campaign for a second referendum. The Labour front bench does not sound ecstatic about a second referendum, and Chuka Umunna’s lot are bound to screw it up if they’re in charge. So we schedule a meeting in the Commons, commission a meme and spread the word. Not long after this goes public, numerous Twitter users with random numbers in their handles begin accusing me of being a ‘pro-Nato White Helmet shill’, a ‘coup-monger’ and a ‘neoliberal’. The reaction at my Labour branch is more positive. We pass a motion calling for an emergency party conference to decide the line in any second referendum. Our MP, pro-Brexiteer Kate Hoey, does not attend. Ms Hoey’s positions on Northern Ireland, Brexit, urban … [Read more...] about It’s not communist buildings that are bleak – it’s capitalist budget hotel chains
How Eric Clapton’s racism sparked a musical revolution
Dorian Lynskey 19 January 2019 9:00 AM 19 January 2019 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp Never Again: Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League 1976–1982 David RentonRoutledge, pp.192, £75 On 13 August 1977, a demonstration by the National Front was routed in the streets of Lewisham by thousands of anti-fascist activists. The latter’s elation palled, however, when they saw the evening news frame the event as a battle between rival extremists. Among the critical voices were Labour’s deputy leader Michael Foot and the Daily Mirror, which branded the anti-fascists ‘as bad as the National Front’. The NF’s opponents learned a valuable lesson at remarkable speed. Just weeks later, they launched the Anti-Nazi League at the House of Commons, with Neil Kinnock and Peter Hain on the steering committee and a medley of celebrity supporters that included Iris Murdoch, Brian Clough, Melvyn Bragg, Dave Allen, … [Read more...] about How Eric Clapton’s racism sparked a musical revolution
Taking back control: parliament’s plan for Brexit
James Forsyth 19 January 2019 9:00 AM 19 January 2019 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp Straight after the government’s epic defeat in the House of Commons on Tuesday night, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, the Business Secretary, Greg Clark, and the Brexit Secretary, Steve Barclay, held a conference call with business leaders to try to reassure them. The principal worry was about ‘no deal’. The Chancellor’s message of comfort was revealing of where power has shifted to. He emphasised how backbenchers are manoeuvring to stop no deal. In other words, they needn’t take his word that it wasn’t going to happen; they should take parliament’s. It was an admission that the government is no longer in control of Brexit. Further evidence of this power shift came from Clark, who said the scale of the defeat and the need to reach out to parliament meant that the UK would now end up negotiating a deal that was … [Read more...] about Taking back control: parliament’s plan for Brexit