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Dropping the drawbridge; state-school intake and academic success at Cambridge

You have to be very careful identifying causality in education. Boris Johnson’s belief that since he learned Latin and turned out alright our children should learn Latin and will, in the end, turn out alright, is one example of an inference too far, for example. Today’s story about how a spate of state school applications [...]

By Jack Riley | Notebook | Friday, 9 July 2010 at 1:53 pm

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The coalition Budget’s toll on jobs – part 3

Why did the OBR not declare all its assumptions when it released its projections on the impact of the budget on public sector jobs?

By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye | Friday, 9 July 2010 at 12:53 pm

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Tony Blair, meet Tonibler, and Tonibler …

And here is a picture of Tonibler meeting a group of children, all called Tony Blair, in Pristina, Kosovo. Or the other way round.

So I’m told. (Actually, he met nine children called Toni or Tonibler. See previous post.)
Blair’s fine speech to the National Assembly should be here shortly.

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 9 July 2010 at 12:18 pm

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How George Osborne saved us from the invisible bond vigilantes

The right-wing argument on the deficit has shifted from “the bond vigilantes are coming” to “the bond vigilantes have been successfully appeased”. But were the bond vigilantes ever at the gates in the first place?

By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye | Friday, 9 July 2010 at 12:08 pm

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The real village of Boot

Living two doors away from the notorious taxi rank where Derrick Bird’s shootings first became public, you can understand why I would want to get away from it all. What might surprise you is that my partner and I headed for the village of Boot.
Boot is where Bird ended his shooting spree by taking his [...]

By Alan Cleaver | Arts, Notebook | Friday, 9 July 2010 at 12:05 pm

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Angela Gheorghiu – once more with feeling

Richard Eyre’s rather tired staging of Verdi’s La Traviata is where it all began for Gheorghiu and her fabulous instrument still makes comparatively light of Violetta’s emotive pyrotechnics. 16 years on, there’s little sign of wear and tear on her creamy, evenly produced, tone. No intrusive hardening or spreading vibrato. And she sings the role [...]

By Edward Seckerson | Arts | Friday, 9 July 2010 at 10:22 am

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Tonibler Dajaku

Tony Blair – or Tonibler – is in Pristina, making a speech to the Kosovo Assembly tomorrow morning.

They have a fair and balanced view of him there, as this billboard shows, and this account of his visit from Balkan Insight:
Tony Blair is regarded as a hero in Kosovo due to his role during the NATO [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 8 July 2010 at 10:53 pm

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World Cup: Five lessons England can learn from Spain

For the past few years Spain and their Barcelona brigade have been playing pretty football and winning, ¿entiendes?
Nou Order: During the Ferguson era the England team and the Republik of Mancunia have endured a strained relationship. There is fault to be found on both sides with loyal servants such as Gary Neville unmercifully booed by [...]

By Tim Sturtridge | Sport | Thursday, 8 July 2010 at 9:21 pm

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The Destruction of Pompeii—God’s Revenge?

A correspondent draws my attention to the latest edition of Biblical Archeology Review. He says he is not sure the journal is admissible, but of course it is. “The Destruction of Pompeii—God’s Revenge?” is not just number 361 in my series of Questions to Which the Answer is No, it is one of the [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 8 July 2010 at 8:30 pm

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Dave Sitek’s balloons take flight

TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek goes on a solo run with the help of some friends and esteemed guests.

By Larry Ryan | Arts | Thursday, 8 July 2010 at 7:27 pm