Romney campaign update

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Thursday, 1 November 2012 at 7:59 pm Now there are two ways to identify a political campaign that is going down the toilet. 1 It talks about a need to energise its base. 2 It needs “a polling disaster on the scale experienced in Britain at the 1992 election”.

Why Heathrow will never expand

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Friday, 2 November 2012 at 1:54 pm Boris Johnson had some fun on the Today programme this morning, saying that the third runway at Heathrow “simply will not happen”. He is right about that. As indeed was this commentator in December 2008. But the reason why it will not happen is not well understood. The green …

Is China more democratic than the West?

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Friday, 2 November 2012 at 9:15 pm Monster Question To Which The Answer Is No, asked by my former colleague Martin Jacques* on the BBC News website. That is number 872 in my classic series, now a book, an e-book and a competition. Extra marks to the BBC for Jacques’s question’s being included in a series called “A …

Freedom of Information: “Spellbinding Pain in the Butt”

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Saturday, 3 November 2012 at 3:23 pm There was a good exchange on the Freedom of Information Act between Alastair Campbell and Chris Mullin at a Chatham House event last month. This was the subject of Campbell’s second disagreement with Tony Blair during the conversation (the first was over whether Labour did enough …

The Man Who Saved the Union

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Sunday, 4 November 2012 at 12:01 pm I have written about Michael Moore, Secretary of State for Scotland, in The Independent on Sunday today. He was once such an anonymous Cabinet minister that he featured in this Times photograph (right) illustrating a story about civil service job cuts. But I think that he might come to …

The “Pony Politics” of the Living Wage

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Monday, 5 November 2012 at 1:18 pm Obviously the Living Wage is a lovely idea. And so is the offer of a free iPhone 5 for anyone who wants one. Hopi Sen has coined the term “pony polling” for the sort of opinion survey that asks, “Would you like a pony …

It’s time for a ban

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Monday, 5 November 2012 at 3:52 pm The writ of the Banned List inquisitors runs far, wherever the English language is spoken and especially wherever it is written down. But there is a specialist squad that devotes itself purely to the banning of undesirable headlines on comment articles. After a conversation last weekend …

Free schools or academies improve all schools

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Friday, 9 November 2012 at 4:50 pm Fraser Nelson draws attention to a “substantially updated and revised” study of schools reform in Sweden, which concludes that free schools (eventually) improve all schools in their municipality: We find that an increase in the share of independent-school students improves average performance at the end of compulsory school …

Ed Balls: Things Should Be Cheaper

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Monday, 12 November 2012 at 2:59 pm In my capacity as the Shadow Chancellor’s auxiliary press officer, here is a transcript of him on BBC Radio 4 The World at One explaining why petrol should be cheaper. Ed Stourton: I imagine that this step would be extremely popular but would it be wise? Ed …

Why does Michael Gove want to leave the EU?

By John Rentoul Eagle Eye Monday, 12 November 2012 at 6:26 pm To go back to one of the most significant political moments of this year, the un-denied report by the Mail on Sunday on 14 October that Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, wants to renegotiate the terms of the UK’s membership of the European Union under threat …