View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Politics
6 April 2010

Ten stories I spotted while on hols

From Obama and health care to Rod Liddle and multiculturalism.

By Mehdi Hasan

As I mentioned in a recent column, I’ve been away on holiday, visiting the in-laws in the United States.

But I thought I’d do a quick run-through of the top ten stories I spotted — and wanted to blog about but couldn’t — while I was on vacation.

In no particular order:

1) Health care: Barack Obama persuaded a recalcitrant, divided and dysfunctional Congress to pass his historic health-care reform bill. This was no small achievement, in a nation where one American woman I bumped into compared buying health insurance to buying car insurance: it should be each person’s individual responsibility. Writing on our letters page in this week’s double-issue of the magazine, LabourList’s Alex Smith takes us to task for Andrew Stephen‘s “tepid and more than a little begrudging” praise of Obama’s legislative achievement. But here’s the problem. While I agree with Vice-President Joe Biden that the reform was a “big f–king deal“, as it will ultimately provide coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans, it will still leave at least 15 million Americans uninsured in the long run. Nor does the law introduce a single-payer system, or even the much-discussed, centrist and popular “public option“. It is a bad law. But I do support the (bad) law because anything — anything! — is better than the current, awful US health-care system.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

2) Israeli-US relations: Talking of Biden, it was amusing and amazing to see the self-destructive Israeli right embarrass and insult one of America’s most pro-Israeli politicians during his visit to the Jewish state by announcing a new planning and expansion phase for 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem. Binyamin Netanyahu apologised — but only for the timing. Or, in the words of Daniel Levy, a former adviser to Ehud Barak and now Middle East analyst at the New America Foundation: “I’m sorry I slapped you on Monday: next time, I promise, it won’t be on a Monday.” But it wasn’t just Biden who was insulted. Here is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s brother-in-law, commenting on the “anti-Semitic” Barack Obama: “It needs to be said clearly and simply: There is an anti-Semitic president in the US. It’s not that Obama doesn’t sympathise with [Netanyahu]. He doesn’t sympathise with the people of Israel.” Hilarious.

3) BNP divisions: The Sunday Times reported at the weekend how “Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, has told police that a senior colleague threatened to kill him after an investigation into a political ‘conspiracy’. Mark Collett, the BNP’s head of publicity, has been arrested and suspended from the party after the discovery of an alleged plot by a ‘small clique’ of officials to overthrow its leadership.” Is this the behaviour one would expect from the officials of a mainstream political party? Will the BBC and others now get the message that the British National Party is a collection of loons and thugs, and not a normal party? Can you imagine Tony Blair reporting Alastair Campbell to the police, claiming Ali C was trying to kill him?

4) MPs for hire: My reaction to the secretly filmed footage of Geoff Hoon, Patricia Hewitt and Stephen Byers prostituting themselves to a fictional US public relations firm, courtesy of Channel 4’s Dispatches? Disgust. But not surprise. I’m proud to point out that I skewered this trio of venal Blairite ultras in two separate blog posts in recent months. I despise their money-grubbing antics, which have further undermined trust in our political classes. These three former cabinet ministers were, in the words of Geoffrey Wheatcroft in today’s Guardian, “soliciting work more like whores than taxi drivers”. Hats off to my former Channel 4 colleagues Dorothy Byrne and Kevin Sutcliffe for commissioning this excellent sting operation, and to my friend Antony Barnett for reporting it.

5) Paedophiles and the Catholic Church: In the wake of revelations that the Church covered up decades of sexual abuse and beatings by priests and nuns, I find it difficult to disagree with the verdict of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, that the Catholic Church has “lost all credibility”.Given the current Pope’s alleged involvement, I also wonder whether it isn’t time for Catholic cardinals and theologians to re-evaluate the 140-year-old doctrine of “papal infallibility“. Meanwhile, Geoffrey Robertson, QC is calling for the Pope to be tried at the International Criminal Court.

6) Tories, big business and National Insurance: Shock! Horror! Right-wing business leaders support Tory tax cut. Shock! Horror! The business leaders backing the Tory proposal to stop the rise in National Insurance include a number who’ve given close to half a million pounds in personal donations to the Tory party. Hold the press!

7) Afghanistan deaths: In under-reported remarks, the near-deified commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, said: “We’ve shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force.” Meanwhile, Afghan officials have stated that Nato jets killed four civilians, including a child, during a firefight with Taliban militants in Helmand Province this week. Fantastic. Winning hearts and minds, I guess . . .

8) Iraq elections (and deaths): Did you know that Iraq’s much-awaited and much-praised parliamentary elections last month, in the words of National Public Radio, “left no clear winner, promising months of horse-trading among the Shia, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish blocs”? You might not, given the meagre coverage Iraq gets in our newspapers these days. Did you know that the top Shia bad boy, Moqtada al-Sadr, is now the Nick Clegg of Iraqi politics? With some 40 seats, the Sadrists are the new kingmakers in Baghdad. What an irony. Oh, and have you seen the disturbing and graphic Wikileaks video (dated 12 July 2007) of two US helicopter gunships opening fire on, and killing, 12 unarmed Iraqis, including two journalists who worked for the Reuters news agency? “Look at those dead b******s,” one crew member says. “Nice,” another responds.

9) Blair’s return: I’m sorry to have missed Tony Blair’s speech to Trimdon Labour Club in his former constituency, Sedgefield. The perma-tanned ex-premier praised Gordon Brown’s “experience, judgement and boldness” and rightly described the Tories’ claim that it was Time for Change as “the most vacuous slogan in politics”. But did the multimillionaire consultant to JPMorgan and Louis Vuitton, who arrived in a BMW 7-Series, make any contribution to the cash-strapped and struggling Labour Club? From the Times: “Keith Thompson, 50, vice-chairman of the club and a parish councillor who has voted Labour all his life, said: ‘We have written to Blair four times since last August and not even received a reply. He has come and used and abused it. There are a lot of people who think that. That is the talk in the club.’ ” Lovely . . .

10) Rod Liddle and the Press Complaints Commission: I can’t say I wasn’t pleased to see the toothless PCC censure the Spectator journalist for crass and inaccurate remarks last year, on his blog, about the “overwhelming majority” of violent crime in London being perpetrated by young African-Caribbean men. I’m just astonished it had nothing to say about his concluding remarks: “The overwhelming majority of street crime, knife crime, gun crime, robbery and crimes of sexual violence in London is carried out by young men from the African-Caribbean community. Of course, in return, we have rap music, goat curry and a far more vibrant and diverse understanding of cultures which were once alien to us. For which, many thanks.” What were you thinking, Rod?

 

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU