Author Archives: Michael White
Express pawns avoid the P-word at Leveson inquiry
Express owner Richard Desmond may have bristled with confidence, but his editors were decidedly less sure-footedEven the dullest passages of Lord Justice Leveson’s phone-hacking inquiry are punctuated by outbursts of discreet sniggering, none more welc… Continue reading
Alex Salmond’s scapegoat politics | Michael White
The SNP leader is similar to English Eurosceptics – who reduce complex issues to the simplicity of the national dimensionListening to Alex Salmond discussing Scottish independence with the BBC’s Jim Naughtie in Edinburgh this morning I was struck by a … Continue reading
High speed rail: beware of politicians in love with big projects… | Michael White
… and politicians without the confidence to take big decisionsCall it defeatism if you like, but us bus pass-holders aren’t eager to book a ticket for the opening of the HS2 high speed rail line from London to Birmingham, which the transport secretar… Continue reading
Executive pay: what would Margaret Thatcher have done?
Mrs T might have taken a dimmer view than David Cameron apparently does of the global market in mediocre bossesWhen David Cameron criticised salary excesses evident among leaders of “crony capitalism” at the weekend, I thought of a recent remark made b… Continue reading
The Iron Lady is a strange tribute to Margaret Thatcher | Michael White
Meryl Streep and Phyllida Lloyd’s film will be remembered for an unavoidably cruel portrait of old age, loneliness and decayIt would be easy to imagine saying to Meryl Streep “I knew Margaret Thatcher, you’re no Margaret Thatcher,” as an American polit… Continue reading
Ten years of the euro: the sceptics got it wrong too | Michael White
While eurosceptics are correct about the wisdom of Britain not joining the euro, their suggested alternatives are not credibleThrowing out piles of mouldering print as part of my annual new year rubbish-cleansing ritual I came across an upbeat pamphlet… Continue reading
Politics in 2012: what would Margaret do? Plan B, of course | Michael White
David Cameron will apply lessons from Thatcherite history while Ed Miliband looks to the squeezed middleEven more than 12 months ago, the fate of David Cameron’s coalition in 2012 lies in the grip of forces far beyond its control. As an economic and po… Continue reading
New Year honours’ dishonourable past | Michael White
Now, street sweepers and celebrities get these gongs, but the honours list has a colourful historyIf the New Year honours list is dull and mostly decent again (it is), we only have ourselves to blame. In the good old days (or were they the bad one… Continue reading
Leveson inquiry: I’m lobbing it – MacKenzie tells it like it woz
Past and present Sun editors present different versions of life at the Murdoch tabloidKelvin MacKenzie dropped into the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday to give the Leveson inquiry on press standards a piece of his lively mind – or lob it … Continue reading »