Current Affairs

Barry Goldwater, arch conservative, speaking in 1964, and quoted on Fierce Planet: “The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on

If you ever doubt that the wingnuts are really nuts, listen to the discussions on the Schiavo autopsy over at Free Republic. (Comments are below the tendentious news story).

Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state, it seems, and Michael Schiavo hadn’t physically abused her. Humble pie all round. More discussion chez Margolis.

Congratulations to prominent Manchester United fan Gus O’Donnell, who has been appointed Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of The Home Civil Service.

The Swiss have voted to join the Schengen border-free zone, meaning that I won’t have to be woken at 2 a.m. to get my passport out when travelling from Brussels to Italy by train. More interestingly, the UK and Ireland are not members, even though the non-EU Norwegians

A leading Scottish QC has been making sectarian jokes at a Rangers supporters’ dinner. Sectarianism, it’s hard to get your head round.

In the Spectator this week (use bugmenot), Peter Oborne writes: The Conservative party has won all the great intellectual and political battles of the last quarter-century. It has defined – and continues to define – the public argument over the role of the state, the acceptable level of taxation, the nature of

Latvia’s parliament has ratified the European Constitution treaty. And, as the horse gallops over the horizon…

A truly depressing piece on Jim and Kathy Link in the New York Times. Most depressing elements – the rapid relocations (something I can sympathise with, being in the middle of a house move across London), and the constant driving. It’s no wonder the environment is screwed.

Le Monde has an interesting map of the referendum results département-by-département. I don’t know enough about French political geography to understand all the permutations, but there’s no surprise in seeing leftish areas like Nord-Pas de Calais voting strongly non. More surprising, for a British observer, is that Brittany