Photo of the month: Ultra-Orthodox Jews collect water for matzah-baking from a spring near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit Horon ahead of Passover, which this year starts on 19th April. The settlement, north of Jerusalem, is on land that Palestinians claim for a future state
Banking commission reports
Many of the reports, enquiries and commissions triggered by the financial crisis have been quickly forgotten. But the interim report from the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), published on 11th April, is shaping up to be more influential. Set up last year by George Osborne, and chaired by Sir John Vickers, its job is to tell the government how banks can be restructured to “promote financial stability and competition.” Early signs suggest that a full-scale break-up will not be recommended. Instead, the Commission has looked closely at “subsidiarisation,” whereby banks are divided into sealed compartments so that problems in one part of the business do not spread to others. The US passed legislation in 2010 which split commercial banking from riskier activity. The ICB is not expected to go this far, but “subsidiarisation” would cause whingeing from Britain’s banks nonetheless.
Where Lib Dems win
Say what you like about Charles Kennedy—the former Lib Dem leader who won more seats for his party than any predecessor since Lloyd George—but he has not lost his popular touch. In March, Kennedy became the first rector of Glasgow University to be re-elected for a second three-year term since Benjamin Disraeli. The post is elected by all students, and Kennedy won 82 per cent of the votes cast, easily beating his namesake, the writer AL Kennedy. As the Lib Dems approach their most testing month in a year of coalition, with heavy defeats looming in May’s local elections and a possible “No” to AV in the electoral reform referendum, they might take comfort from the sight of one of their number winning a happy berth.
Gorgeous Gordon, difficult Gus
Sarah Brown’s recently published diaries, Life Behind the Black Door, hardly set out to cause controversy, other than by describing Gordon as “gorgeous” and “the finest leader imaginable.” But one aspect has apparently caused upset at the heart of government. Gus O’Donnell, head of the civil service, is said to be hurt by Mrs Brown’s description of him as “difficult.” Mrs Brown, who refused to shake hands with the mandarin on her departure from Downing Street, indicates that Sir Gus obstructed the possibility of Brown clinging to office by forming a Lib-Lab alliance in the wake of the general election. Prospect has learned that Sir Gus has written to Mrs Brown, contesting the charge.
Another nuclear risk
Peter Florence, director of the Hay Festival, has managed to secure Mohammed ElBaradei as one of the top names for this year’s festival. ElBaradei, a joint winner of the 2005 Nobel peace prize while director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, intends to stand for the Egyptian presidency when the starting gates finally open. US and British officials feel the Nobel prize went to his head and led him, while he was head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, to give Iran an easier time over its nuclear programme. One question for his interrogators at Hay: if he became president, would he licence an expansion of nuclear power in Egypt, and would he allow it to make its own nuclear fuel—which could put weapons within reach? British and US officials, fearing that the Arab uprising will lead the region to pursue nuclear capability, hope he will say no, but doubt it.
Obama’s rivals hold back
April sees America’s great rite of spring, the opening day of the baseball season. Maybe it’ll produce something else, too: a major Republican presidential candidate. By 1st April in 2007, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee had long since declared and were prepping for the first debates. This year, there is only silence. Sundry governors and ex-governors are weighing their options. Former Republican speaker Newt Gingrich has dipped a toe in the water (only to attract ridicule for blaming his earlier adultery on an excess of patriotism). Sarah Palin says nothing. Indeed, the Tea Party standard-bearer may be not her, but Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, aka “Palin-lite” (see p42). So far the only declared candidate is Herman Cain, columnist, talkshow host and former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza (“A Pizza You Can’t Refuse.”) Why the hesitancy? Money and family concerns top the list; potential candidates reckon it’s not impossible to beat Barack Obama, but very, very expensive.
Gross national happiness
In April the Office for National Statistics launches its “national wellbeing project,” aiming to provide an index of Britain’s welfare in terms other than GDP. In Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom northeast of India, this idea is old news. In 1976, the king declared he was more interested in Gross National Happiness, and the pursuit of GNH is now enshrined in the constitution.
Bhutan’s most recent survey of GNH, in 2008, had a strong Buddhist flavour, asking: “How often do you experience compassion?” and “How well do you rate your knowledge of local legends?” That these questions got poor results hints at a subtext of the project: the attempt to preserve traditional culture in the face of modernity. But ask a typical Bhutanese person what he or she thinks of GNH, and the response will likely be a shrug. A recent article in Kuensel, the national newspaper, was entitled “GNH fatigue.” Most people simply want better roads, communications, and jobs. Even in a land that tourist agencies call “the last Shangri-la,” it’s the economy, stupid.
One to watch
In the annals of Irish history, no name is more potent than Pearse. The figurehead of the 1916 uprising, Pádraic Pearse, executed by the British, is the ghost on the shoulder of Irish republicanism: “Blood is a cleansing and sanctifying thing,” he whispers in their ears.
So it was fitting that the new star in republican politics, Sinn Féin’s 33-year-old Pearse Doherty, should quote his namesake in one of his first speeches to the Irish parliament. Responding to December’s austere budget, he levelled a poem by Pearse as accusation at the Fianna Fáil-led government: “My great shame:/ My sons who sold out their mother.”
A penchant for rhetoric is nothing new among Irish republicans, but much else about Doherty is. He had won his seat just weeks earlier, following a bold legal challenge to the government’s failure to hold an overdue byelection; having won the case, he took a massive 40 per cent of the vote.
To Sinn Féin in the Republic of Ireland, bedevilled by an uninspiring, ageing leadership, he has brought youth and energy. Given the finance brief, he outclassed Labour’s long-time spokesperson, Joan Burton (now a minister in the new government), in the budget debate. He has helped Sinn Féin to a near tripling of parliamentary representation, from five seats to 14.
To outsiders, the sight of the recently relocated Gerry Adams leading Sinn Féin in parliament may be more striking. But Adams has been weak on the nuances of southern Irish politics. By the centenary of the 1916 uprising, five years from now, many expect Pearse Doherty to be the leading force in southern republicanism.
Banking commission reports
Many of the reports, enquiries and commissions triggered by the financial crisis have been quickly forgotten. But the interim report from the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), published on 11th April, is shaping up to be more influential. Set up last year by George Osborne, and chaired by Sir John Vickers, its job is to tell the government how banks can be restructured to “promote financial stability and competition.” Early signs suggest that a full-scale break-up will not be recommended. Instead, the Commission has looked closely at “subsidiarisation,” whereby banks are divided into sealed compartments so that problems in one part of the business do not spread to others. The US passed legislation in 2010 which split commercial banking from riskier activity. The ICB is not expected to go this far, but “subsidiarisation” would cause whingeing from Britain’s banks nonetheless.
Where Lib Dems win
Say what you like about Charles Kennedy—the former Lib Dem leader who won more seats for his party than any predecessor since Lloyd George—but he has not lost his popular touch. In March, Kennedy became the first rector of Glasgow University to be re-elected for a second three-year term since Benjamin Disraeli. The post is elected by all students, and Kennedy won 82 per cent of the votes cast, easily beating his namesake, the writer AL Kennedy. As the Lib Dems approach their most testing month in a year of coalition, with heavy defeats looming in May’s local elections and a possible “No” to AV in the electoral reform referendum, they might take comfort from the sight of one of their number winning a happy berth.
Gorgeous Gordon, difficult Gus
Sarah Brown’s recently published diaries, Life Behind the Black Door, hardly set out to cause controversy, other than by describing Gordon as “gorgeous” and “the finest leader imaginable.” But one aspect has apparently caused upset at the heart of government. Gus O’Donnell, head of the civil service, is said to be hurt by Mrs Brown’s description of him as “difficult.” Mrs Brown, who refused to shake hands with the mandarin on her departure from Downing Street, indicates that Sir Gus obstructed the possibility of Brown clinging to office by forming a Lib-Lab alliance in the wake of the general election. Prospect has learned that Sir Gus has written to Mrs Brown, contesting the charge.
Another nuclear risk
Peter Florence, director of the Hay Festival, has managed to secure Mohammed ElBaradei as one of the top names for this year’s festival. ElBaradei, a joint winner of the 2005 Nobel peace prize while director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, intends to stand for the Egyptian presidency when the starting gates finally open. US and British officials feel the Nobel prize went to his head and led him, while he was head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, to give Iran an easier time over its nuclear programme. One question for his interrogators at Hay: if he became president, would he licence an expansion of nuclear power in Egypt, and would he allow it to make its own nuclear fuel—which could put weapons within reach? British and US officials, fearing that the Arab uprising will lead the region to pursue nuclear capability, hope he will say no, but doubt it.
Obama’s rivals hold back
April sees America’s great rite of spring, the opening day of the baseball season. Maybe it’ll produce something else, too: a major Republican presidential candidate. By 1st April in 2007, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee had long since declared and were prepping for the first debates. This year, there is only silence. Sundry governors and ex-governors are weighing their options. Former Republican speaker Newt Gingrich has dipped a toe in the water (only to attract ridicule for blaming his earlier adultery on an excess of patriotism). Sarah Palin says nothing. Indeed, the Tea Party standard-bearer may be not her, but Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, aka “Palin-lite” (see p42). So far the only declared candidate is Herman Cain, columnist, talkshow host and former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza (“A Pizza You Can’t Refuse.”) Why the hesitancy? Money and family concerns top the list; potential candidates reckon it’s not impossible to beat Barack Obama, but very, very expensive.
Gross national happiness
In April the Office for National Statistics launches its “national wellbeing project,” aiming to provide an index of Britain’s welfare in terms other than GDP. In Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom northeast of India, this idea is old news. In 1976, the king declared he was more interested in Gross National Happiness, and the pursuit of GNH is now enshrined in the constitution.
Bhutan’s most recent survey of GNH, in 2008, had a strong Buddhist flavour, asking: “How often do you experience compassion?” and “How well do you rate your knowledge of local legends?” That these questions got poor results hints at a subtext of the project: the attempt to preserve traditional culture in the face of modernity. But ask a typical Bhutanese person what he or she thinks of GNH, and the response will likely be a shrug. A recent article in Kuensel, the national newspaper, was entitled “GNH fatigue.” Most people simply want better roads, communications, and jobs. Even in a land that tourist agencies call “the last Shangri-la,” it’s the economy, stupid.
One to watch
In the annals of Irish history, no name is more potent than Pearse. The figurehead of the 1916 uprising, Pádraic Pearse, executed by the British, is the ghost on the shoulder of Irish republicanism: “Blood is a cleansing and sanctifying thing,” he whispers in their ears.
So it was fitting that the new star in republican politics, Sinn Féin’s 33-year-old Pearse Doherty, should quote his namesake in one of his first speeches to the Irish parliament. Responding to December’s austere budget, he levelled a poem by Pearse as accusation at the Fianna Fáil-led government: “My great shame:/ My sons who sold out their mother.”
A penchant for rhetoric is nothing new among Irish republicans, but much else about Doherty is. He had won his seat just weeks earlier, following a bold legal challenge to the government’s failure to hold an overdue byelection; having won the case, he took a massive 40 per cent of the vote.
To Sinn Féin in the Republic of Ireland, bedevilled by an uninspiring, ageing leadership, he has brought youth and energy. Given the finance brief, he outclassed Labour’s long-time spokesperson, Joan Burton (now a minister in the new government), in the budget debate. He has helped Sinn Féin to a near tripling of parliamentary representation, from five seats to 14.
To outsiders, the sight of the recently relocated Gerry Adams leading Sinn Féin in parliament may be more striking. But Adams has been weak on the nuances of southern Irish politics. By the centenary of the 1916 uprising, five years from now, many expect Pearse Doherty to be the leading force in southern republicanism.
