Articles from Contributor
Don’t Mention the War? Brits Can’t Help Themselves
Schedule clashes are inevitable during the festive season, and on the evening of Dec. 19, the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, held Christmas drinks at opposite poles of the city …
After Falling Out with Europe, U.K.’s Cameron Faces Fallout at Home
“Ou est Nick Clegg?” cried one Labour MP, quite possibly demonstrating the beginning and end of his French language skills. His colleagues contented themselves with shouting the question in English. It didn’t need an interpreter …
Not So Great, Britain: After E.U. Summit, U.K. Drifts Toward Isolationism
“Mommy, daddy, where were you when Britain left Europe?” David Cameron’s deployment in the early hours of Dec. 9 of the British veto over a Franco-German plan to save the euro will be seen as a pivotal moment by future …
Why Is Donald Rumsfeld on This Package of Spicy Peanuts?
There are, in this salty tale of frolics, politics and peanuts, a number of what Donald Rumsfeld, might call known knowns. These are things we know that we know — like how a photograph of a young Rumsfeld, a chopstick balanced …
London Protestors 1 God 0: Anti-Capitalism Camp Scores PR Victory Against St Paul’s
The Church of England has had 468 years to work on its public relations strategy. The Occupy London protestors camped around St Paul’s Cathedral have had rather less time to perfect theirs. And when the two movements first collided on Oct. 15, it looked like experience would triumph over greenhorn enthusiasm. After the protestors’ …
Outsider Odds: Ireland’s Herman Cain No Longer a Cert for the Presidency
Until three days before the Oct. 27 ballot for the Irish presidency, Sean Gallagher’s 20-point lead looked unassailable. Then scandal blemished his campaign. It wasn’t your usual tawdry tale of a candidate who couldn’t keep it zipped—slacks or unwise opinions. Nor was it about venality in any direct sense. Gallagher doesn’t stand …
Rage Against the Machine: British MPs Set a Global Trend for Rebellion
It wasn’t quite Tahrir Square or Zuccotti Park, but the Oct. 24 uprising that saw 81 Conservative MPs defy their party leadership to support a rebel motion calling for a referendum on U.K. membership of the European Union may well signal the end of politics as we know it. That’s not because of the ostensible cause of the rebellion—a …
Tunisian Elections: From Yesterday’s Most Wanted to Tomorrow’s Leaders
“No one will dare propose himself as a dictator. No one. The best institution we have now is the street,” says Mohamed Ali Harrath. The description could easily fit Libya, feverishly celebrating the death of Muammar Gaddafi, or Egypt, gearing up for parliamentary elections in November, the first since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. But Harrath …
Fox Outfoxed: Fresh Revelations Force U.K. Defense Secretary to Quit
Liam Fox must have realized he could not outrun his fate. And so on Oct. 14 Britain’s Secretary of State for Defense delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street. “I have repeatedly said that the national interest must always come before personal interest,” he wrote. “I now have to hold myself to my own standard.”
Fox’s resignation …
A Question of 140 Characters: British MPs Vote for Twitter
A glance at the Reporters’ Gallery of the House of Commons indicates how rich and deep Britain’s tradition of political satire runs. Sketch writers—journalists employed to distill their rare understanding of Westminster’s doings and beings into intense bursts of snark—hog the front seats, craning to capture details that transform the …
Will Britain’s Defense Secretary Lose His Shirt in Gamble on a Close Friend?
Say what you like about Britain’s beleaguered Defense Secretary Dr Liam Fox—and substantial sections of Westminster’s press corps have been doing just that as questions mount up about the proprieties of one of Fox’s closest friendships—he’s well connected. The compact Scot and former medical doctor was once linked by the tabloid …
Politicians in Pyjamas and Other Startling Revelations from the U.K. Conservatives’ Annual Conference
Choreographed political events rarely provoke serious questions, much less existential ones. After all, a key aim of the choreographers is to skirt debate lest debate reads to the wider public like dissent. In that respect, Britain’s Conservatives can judge their four-day conference in the northern English city of Manchester, which …