Freedom of expression without limits
by Stephen Tall on February 28, 2005
Few subjects rouse as much noise, generate as much heat, or conclude in such disagreement as free speech. Why baffles me. After all, a slim majority of us pride ourselves on being civilised, progressive, small-l-liberals. Our parents and grandparents fought (…)
Charles & Camilla: the Gretna Green option
by Stephen Tall on February 27, 2005
Gretna Green must be looking pretty attractive to HRH Prince Charles and the Duchess-select of Cornwall right now. A quick elopement, and, in one bound, they would be free. Free of the expense, the worry, the interference, the publicity, the (…)
A Boy Named Cruz
by Stephen Tall on February 21, 2005
Frankly, today’s news was drably tedious. The top three stories on the BBC News website currently are ‘100 more foods on cancer dye list’, ‘Prince’s staff defend household’ and ‘Over-65s promised Tory tax cuts’. Food scares, Royal nano-scandals and desperate (…)
Setting the city budget – an outsider-insider’s view
by Stephen Tall on February 15, 2005
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that insiders very soon forget what it’s like to be an outsider. When this happens they become insider-insiders: timid, parochial and inefficient. Any organisation led by insider-insiders forgets its real purpose. What you want is (…)
It’s not going Howard’s Way
by Stephen Tall on February 12, 2005
At what point do you think Michael Howard’s advisors thought letting Michael Cockerell film a BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary was a good idea? And at what point do you think they concluded it had been a big mistake? Of course, the (…)
‘Forward Not Back’: un homage to The Simpsons or Michael Howard?
by Stephen Tall on February 7, 2005
‘Forward Not back’ proclaims the Labour Party’s new election slogan. Well, they’re clearly not aiming to break the poetry bank. Indeed, it’s defensive un-ambition smacks of the D:Ream song whose battlecry was the easy-to-achieve ‘Things can only get better’. It (…)
‘Axe The Tax’, or ‘Why the licence fee should be abolished’
by Stephen Tall on February 6, 2005
You get home from a hard day’s work, switch on the television, and settle back for an evening’s perfect viewing. What would your ideal schedule look like? Everyone will have their own favourites, but here are mine: a couple of (…)
Intelligent political advertising? Pigs might fly
by Stephen Tall on February 1, 2005
A fair old rumpus has been raised by Labour’s election posters depicting Michael Howard as a Fagin-esque miser, and super-imposing his head, and that of his Chancellor, Oliver Letwin, onto two flying pigs. Labour election strategists say the message is (…)
