James Purnell: Renaissance Man

James Purnell is quoted in the Guardian today as saying: “When Brian [McMaster, a former director of the Edinburgh International Festival who wrote a policy review to be published on Thursday commissioned by Purnell] talks about the potential for a new Renaissance, I don’t think that’s an overstatement. It’s exactly true.” There can be only… Continue reading James Purnell: Renaissance Man

My prediction for 2008: the Tories will have a bad year

One of the things I find amusing about the modern media, and society in general, is how quickly well-known-facts become orthodoxy after an amazingly short period of time. Six months ago, Cameron was looking extremely shaky. Then, following Brown’s wobble and Gideon Osborne’s promise of tax breaks for dead rich people, it became an established… Continue reading My prediction for 2008: the Tories will have a bad year

Going nuclear?

One developing story I didn’t get around to blogging about over the past couple of weeks is nuclear policy. There have been several stories in the papers recently on this. Most recently, the Nuclear Consultation Working Group issued a damning condemnation of the government’s second consultation on nuclear energy. This is bad news for them… Continue reading Going nuclear?