April 2013
1 post
The Promised Land
This night, 45 years ago, Martin Luther King came off his sickbed to the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, where a large crowd had gathered for a campaign rally in support of striking sanitation workers.
Memphis encapsulated the problem that the Civil Rights Movement faced after 1965, once its focus switched from civil rights and voting rights in Southern states to the problems of Black poverty,...
March 2013
4 posts
2010: A Particularly Sharp Intake
This feels like deja-vu, but I had a quick thought on Ben Brogan’s latest essential article on the mood inside the Tory party, especially his conclusion that its next leader may come from the hugely ambitious and variously-talented group of MPs first elected in 2010.
There are many Labour types who look at the superb calibre of its own 2010 intake, and think the same thing. Well, what...
Standard Practice
A quick comment on the Standard controversy, just because a few people have asked me what the practice was under Gordon Brown.
Obviously, The Standard are in a hideous position on Budget day, especially lunchtime Budgets, with an edition usually going off stone while the Chancellor’s on his feet, but hitting the streets after he’s sat down, in which they’re required to have maybe 3-4 pages of...
The Budget and The Bloke In The Pub
Two immediate thoughts on Ben Brogan’s superbly insightful and well-informed piece about Wednesday’s Budget and the Lynton Crosby impact on Tory messaging.
1. First, the latter. It sounds eminently sensible on paper for the Government to talk solely about the issues that are the public’s priorities for the two years until the election. But how do you decide what their priorities...
Going To The Mattresses: the art of surviving a...
Yet again, the Sunday papers are full of speculation about the threats to David Cameron’s leadership, revolving this time around yesterday’s (what we might charitably call) ‘wide-ranging’ speech by the Home Secretary about what it will take to win the next election.
This stuff will rumble on interminably unless Plan A eventually comes up trumps - no other issue will matter in the meantime - or...
February 2013
2 posts
Of Swimming, Subsidies and Civil Servants
Dominic Lawson’s excellent article in today’s Independent asks why the state ‘subsidy’ which allows our major national museums and galleries to be open free of charge to the public is considered more important than the right to free swimming for children and pensioners scrapped by the Coalition.
His article also repeats the complaint by the increasingly-luminous Labour MP,...
Extreme Lenting 2013
“Tell me why”, Neil Young sang, “is it hard to make arrangements with yourself?”
Why do we find it so hard to give things up, even for a temporary period, and not just things to which we are chemically addicted, but even bad habits or over-indulgences?
This week, now that the amateurs behind ‘Dry January’ have concluded their warm-up act, the professionals will take the stage: millions of...
January 2013
2 posts
Why Did The Grid Wither?
Having argued yesterday that the demise of the grid system explains a lot of the problems the Government has been having, as well as the oddly stoical response of Steve Hilton, I’m going to consider today the possible rationale for that demise.
Let’s remember that, in the early days of this Government, it leaked like an old church roof. Michael Gove was almost destroyed by leaks in his first...
Whither the Grid?
There was one passage in The Sunday Times’ expose of Steve Hilton’s Stanford lecture which told me everything about the problems the Government is currently facing. According to the report, Hilton dramatically produced a 1-foot high bundle of paper for his audience representing 4 days worth of documents circulated to Cabinet committees. He then said:
“It just shows you the scale of what...
December 2012
2 posts
The Unemployment Figures: A Taxman's View
I’m a great believer in the old adage that if you want to know what’s really happening to the economy, ask the taxman. So when I met one of my old pals from HMRC recently, I asked him what was going on with unemployment. Why are the recent figures so good when other economic data is so weak, and when the Job Programme doesn’t seem to be doing anything? This is what he said:
So imagine...
Paradise Regained or Damnation Postponed?
I got that Autumn Statement totally wrong. Besides the prospect of no further micro-tinkering with the tax system – which everyone could forecast – my other confident predictions were as follows:
1. George Osborne would suck up the terrible numbers on growth and borrowing, accept he would miss his fiscal targets, get all the bad news out of the way, write it off as a rubbish year, and play the...
November 2012
2 posts
"Is Little Nell dead?" - Not on this evidence.
For a policy geek like me, who spent 3 years in charge of policy on alcohol duties, hearing that the Government was publishing proposals on a Minimum Unit Price (MUP) today felt like being part of the mob at New York Harbour waiting for the arrival of the final chapters of The Old Curiosity Shop to see if Little Nell had died.
Having driven through my own seemingly radical reform of the alcohol...
Downing Street Does Need New People
The two most important civil servants in No10 are the PM’s Official Spokesman and the PM’s Principal Private Secretary. One runs his press office; the other runs his private office. Put another way, one controls what the PM thinks, says and does publicly; the other controls his diary and the work he does behind closed doors.
If those two offices are not run fluently and coherently, Downing Street...
October 2012
6 posts
Pip Monks, "a strong and solid character"
70 years ago today, Philip ‘Pip’ Monks, an old boy of Finchley Catholic Grammar School (FCGS), died in hospital of injuries sustained while preparing for active service in the Royal Tank Corps.
Pip was born in Cricklewood in 1922, and joined FCGS as a 10 year old boy in the Preparatory School. The Albanian records that:
“Although he achieved no outstanding distinction, he was of a...
Why Dave needs Artie, Paula & Beverly
Does David Cameron believe in karma? If so, he must wonder whether the current state of his Premiership is some cosmic payback for the events of 5 years ago, when it was Gordon Brown experiencing one ‘worst week ever’ after another, and Cameron leading the gleeful taunts.
The Election that Never Was, the feuding of Gordon’s inner circle, Anthony Seldon’s ‘Blair Unbound’ biography, the Scottish...
Flight 571 - The Miracle in the Andes
On this day, 40 years ago, a rugby team set off from Montevideo in Uruguay for their second tour of Chile. They were accompanied by two dozen friends and family helping to pay for the charter of the Uruguayan Air Force plane.
After bad weather halted their first attempt to cross the Andes, they tried again the next day. Flying in thick cloud above the mountains, the pilots of Flight 571 got their...
Jimmy Saville's Knighthood: The Civil Service...
I’m going to take a wild guess on something, based on 3 reasonable assumptions and a bit of background knowledge:
1. I don’t think there’s any way The Sun would launch a front page campaign to strip Jimmy Saville of his knighthood - along with a detailed description of the law change required to make it happen - unless No10 had given them some kind of nod that they were...
5 Years On: The Election That Never Was
Preface
Ever since I started writing this blog, I’ve had the date October 6th* in my mind – 5 years on from the election that never was, undoubtedly the worst day of my working life, and a disastrous day for the Labour Party and for Gordon Brown in particular. It’s not the pain of remembering that day that’s been on my mind, but how to write about it without simply giving ‘my side’ of a story...
The seven basic plots of politics
There are seven basic plots in politics.
Just as in Christopher Booker’s analysis of literature and film, I believe there are seven basic stories being played out in the careers of almost all significant politicians, which repeat themselves endlessly, and have done for centuries:
1. Principled or maverick individual succeeds because of their principled or maverick approach; power changes them,...
September 2012
5 posts
The Seven Year Hitch
8 years ago today in Washington DC, I endured – no other way to describe it – one of the toughest days in my working life. And it had all started so well.
Still a civil servant at that stage, I watched the 2004 Labour party conference in Brighton from my office in the Treasury. Compared to the acrimony of the 2003 conference (‘Best when we are Labour’, etc.), Brighton had been relatively...
The Heroism of Sgt. Frank Mitchell
Frank Mitchell was one of three brothers from Barnet who attended Finchley Catholic Grammar School in its earliest years. He joined the small classroom in the Dale Grove presbytery in 1927, and remained at FCGS for seven years. A year in the seminary at St Edmund’s followed, where he gained his school certificate and played rugby for the First XI, but he decided not to pursue a career in the...
The tragic tale of John Barron
When I was researching the lives and deaths of Finchley Catholic Grammar School students who died in the Second World War and its aftermath, one of the most tragic I came across was that of John Barron, who died on this day 70 years ago. That was even before I discovered a sad twist to his story, courtesy of his nephew, Robert.
John was born in 1929 into a large family which split its time between...
For the Love of Luther
30 years ago today, Luther Vandross issued his second album, Forever For Always For Love, one of four all-time classic soul/R&B albums he produced, alongside Never Too Much, The Night I Fell In Love and Give Me The Reason. You could make another by taking the best songs from his other albums.*
Luther’s career – as songwriter, arranger, backing singer and solo artist – spanned 4 decades. Those...
What Dave can learn from the Manxmen
There’s a simple question David Cameron must answer today:
If he believes that a temporary relaxation of planning laws on extensions will stimulate the market, why does he not accept Labour’s proposal for a temporary reduction in the VAT rate on home repairs and improvements to help achieve that same effect?
Predictably, he will answer that Labour’s solution is always to borrow more and spend...
August 2012
3 posts
James 'Mustang' Kelly: a true pioneer
James Kelly joined Finchley Catholic Grammar School as a nine year old in 1927, its second year of operation in the presbytery of the St Alban’s Parish Church in North Finchley. The school magazine, The Albanian records:
“He was therefore a pioneer member and for seven years his own development grew apace with that of the School, and when he left us in 1934 he could look back on a record of...
A Glory Through The Gloom
I am the greatest pessimist who has ever watched a football match. Nothing Arsenal do can ever disappoint me because I go into every match with expectations set at Absolute Zero. Walking to The Emirates, I feel like a follower of William Wallace attending his execution at Smithfield: a sense of duty to be there despite the ordeal I’m expecting.
If we win, I only actually enjoy it for the...
5 Years On: 24 Hours of Crisis Micro-Management
“Right, that bedroom window, that side window and that bit of the garden – make sure you’re fully-clothed at all times” I said, a bit exhausted and muddy in the doorway of Gordon and Sarah’s holiday cottage in Dorset.
I’d just tramped round all the neighbouring fields examining potential vantage points for photographers, and had identified all the points of the property where they could be...
July 2012
1 post
Clifford Kirkby, 1920-1942: "Such a Grand Fellow"
Clifford Kirkby arrived at Finchley Catholic Grammar School as a 12 year old boy in 1931 and stayed for two years before moving with his family to Kent.
His father – Captain Percy Oscar Kirkby – was an Army man, and it was no surprise that Clifford completed his education at Sandhurst, joining the Army in 1938 and rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant.
In late 1941, when the Axis’ 240-day...
June 2012
2 posts
Five Years On....The day GB became PM
5 years ago today, Gordon Brown became Prime Minister. Here are some personal memories and reflections….
It’s not often you’re paid to hurl abuse at someone who’s about to become the most powerful man in the country, but that’s how the day started. Sue Nye and I joined Gordon and Sarah in one of the large rooms on the Treasury’s ministerial corridor where he was rehearsing the speech he’d...
Errol Barrow and the Mirror Image
25 years ago today, one of my heroes, Errol Barrow died at the age of 67. His was an incredible life. Born and educated in Barbados, he gave up his academic career aged 20 to join the RAF. He survived more than 45 bombing missions over mainland Europe, rising to the rank of Flying Officer and serving on the private plane of future Air Marshal Sholto Douglas. He trained for the Bar in London,...
May 2012
2 posts
"So Gallant A Son"
70 years ago tomorrow, Mick McCluskey took off in his torpedo bomber to lead a raiding party on Axis ships bombarding the island of Malta. He never returned, and his body was never found.
Mick was just 21 years old, born to Irish parents and brought up in Golders Green. He attended Finchley Catholic Grammar School from 1933-37, described as “a boy of pleasant disposition and great promise”, who...
A Trip to the Vets
Today’s coverage about Andy Coulson’s vetting prompts me to write a little blog about what developed vetting is, and why people have to go through it.
When I started my job as Head of Communications at the Treasury in 2003, every induction conversation ended up with me being asked: ‘Have you been DV’d yet?’ ‘Not yet.’ ‘You’ve got to get that done.’ I soon found out why. Briefing sessions with the...
April 2012
3 posts
RIP Bill Halpin, 1929-2012
My Uncle, Bill Halpin, died at the end of March at the age of 82 at his nursing home in the Prime Minister’s constituency. His memorial service was held yesterday in the presence of his wife, Audrey, and his large extended family.
Bill left school aged 14 to work on the railways. Over a career of more than 40 years, he worked his way up to be station-master at Paddington and on many occasions he...
40 Days In The Desert (46 actually)
I am a big drinker. I enjoy it. I’m good at it. I drink far more than is good for my health, my finances or my relationships, but that’s never stopped me having one more pint, on the grounds that there’s no point worrying about one more after the first twelve. That’s been the way of it since I was 14. Since then, the longest I’ve ever been without a drink was in 1998, when I was laid up...
The Exam Boards Racket
Having spent 2 of the last 3 years working in a top performing comprehensive school, I spent a fair amount of time listening to the gripes and groans of teachers about what was wrong with the education system.
Ministers interfering with the curriculum, OFSTED paperwork, and health & safety bureaucracy were always high on the list. But one complaint stood out above all: “Bloody Exam...
March 2012
3 posts
Jerry Lordan, A 50th Anniversary Tribute
50 years ago today, an instrumental named Wonderful Land by The Shadows began 8 weeks at No.1 in the UK charts. It was the biggest hit in the career of songwriter Jerry Lordan, an Old Boy of Finchley Catholic Grammar School.
Finchley has always had a strong musical tradition, and many talented artists have passed through its gates. However, none have had more impact on the world of modern music...
At half-time in last night’s Arsenal game, I was talking to a pal about the Budget and – in the context of explaining where I thought George Osborne had gone wrong – I described how the Budget process works. He suggested I write a blog about it, so here goes.
Starters and Scorecards
Bear with me while I explain some basics.
Anyone can come up with an idea for the Budget: members of the public...
A St Patrick's Day Playlist
I may be denied one of the usual pleasures of St Patrick’s Day due to my Lent booze ban, but nothing can detract from the other pleasure, a day indulging in Irish music: the thigh-slapping choruses and tear-jerking ballads alike; songs written decades and even centuries ago which sound as fresh and visceral as anything in today’s charts.
From the house where I was born and my childhood summers in...
February 2012
3 posts
Remembering the Riviera Earthquake
125 years ago today, the French Riviera and adjacent Italian Coast were struck by an earthquake which claimed more than 2,000 lives and created panic amongst most of the wealthy holiday-makers in Cannes and Nice. Most but not all.
This was the record of the event made by the great Sir Richard Burton:
“A little before 6 a.m., on the finest of mornings, with the smoothest of seas, the still...
Don't throw the Beer out with the Buckfast
Imagine a world where, like eating food in pill form, we consumed alcohol in 10ml shots of pure ethanol. Taxing that consumption would be simple: 50p per unit would keep the basic price high enough to discourage excessive consumption. And people sensible enough to dilute each shot with 90mls of water would pay 50p per 100mls of liquid consumed, compared to £5 for those drinking it neat. This is...
WatchIn 1979, a 16- year old Whitney Houston recorded backing vocals for Chaka Khan’s album track, “Our Love’s In Danger”. Her performance convinced Luther Vandross that she was going to be “one of the greatest singers that ever lived”. Also singing backing vocals on the track are Luther himself and Whitney’s mother, Cissy. RIP Whitney.
