When David Cameron heard this week that the House of Lords had just defeated his Government’s plans for a £26,000-a-year household benefit cap he might have felt a flash of envy at the law-making freedom enjoyed in the National Assembly and the Scottish Parliament.
The Welsh Government does not have to worry about a troublesome second chamber. But if checks and balances are considered essential at Westminster to prevent the executive whipping through hasty and dangerous legislation, why are such safeguards not in place in Cardiff, not to mention Edinburgh or Belfast?
Many politicians will tell you that (a) people do not want to pay for more politicians and (b) the Assembly has a splendid record of performing “pre-legislative scrutiny” before drafting laws.
Especially in the wake of last year’s referendum on full law-making powers for the Assembly, these two arguments are increasingly unsatisfactory.
On the first point, there is no need to build a great Gothic House of Lords in Cardiff Bay.
There are other ways of enhancing scrutiny. If groups of citizens can be brought together in juries to rule on murder cases and high crimes why should they not be able to debate and amend individual pieces of legislation?
A far more controversial suggestion would be that if Welsh MPs (soon to be cut from 40 to 30) are banned from touching English legislation in Westminster they could serve their electorate in Wales by performing the function of a second chamber for the Assembly.
The argument the Assembly does not need such a safety valve because it performs a higher standard of scrutiny before producing legislation is troubling if not patronising. Essentially, it is saying that Welsh people should trust AMs to consult and think about things in more detail than MPs.
A campaigner against plans for presumed consent on organ donation recently described in astonishment how the soon-to-close consultation does not ask the public whether they want the policy to go ahead or not. Instead, there are questions such as: “Do you agree discussions between clinicians and family in the event of an individual’s death, will identify and safeguard those who lack capacity?”
The situation is made more urgent in Wales because there is no equivalent of the restless army of backbenchers that keeps the coalition on its toes. Of the 30 Labour AMs, eight are in the cabinet, three are deputy ministers one is a presiding officer, and another is a chief whip.
The 2004 Richard Commission called for 20 more AMs and the new power and prominence of the Assembly means the case for reform should not be ignored.
A Thursday Column.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Republicans and Dennis Skinner
Republican party grassroots voters have spent the past four years looking for a candidate who shares their passions and predilections and instead opted to pick a winner.
Instead of embracing a zealot who has an unflinching commitment to the core tenets of the conservative creed it appears they have decided to back the contender with the best chances of evicting Barack Obama.
Mitt Romney does not have the rock-solid social conservative credentials of Rick Santorum or the fervour for right-of-centre policy innovations which lights up the eyes of Newt Gingrich.
But the latest poll suggests he would beat Obama by two points, in contrast with Santorum who would lose by 11 and Gingrich who would be thrashed by 12.
Romney now enjoys an 11-point lead over his Republican rivals in the conservative bastion of South Carolina and one poll puts him at +26 in Florida. Unless Romney is photographed shooting kittens while wearing JFK’s sunglasses with a copy of Das Kapital in his back-pocket it looks like the nomination is his.
Party supporters reckon what Romney lacks in conservative credentials he makes up for in electability. He is the man most likely to give Obama sleepless nights.
This strategy of picking the candidate best placed to frighten your enemy is one which left-wing Labour stalwart Dennis Skinner would applaud.
The “Beast of Bolsover” backed the elder Miliband brother, David, in 2010 over Ed, arguing: “The big question is who are the Tories afraid of? Who is the best candidate to stand up against Cameron at the despatch box?”
Labour’s electoral college placed Ed Miliband at the helm of the party. In the Brown Government he was a pugnacious performer in television interviews and his readiness to take on his brother for the leadership cemented his reputation as a conviction politician willing to fight anyone in the battle of ideas.
But does he pass the test of performing better than the alternative leaders opposite the prime minister at noon on a Wednesday? This strange fusion of Oxford Union theatrics and celebrity cage-fighting is not where he thrives.
His left-wing vision excited his party’s electoral college just as Republicans were enamoured of the right-wing rhetoric of Herman Cain, Gingrich and a jalopy-full of unlikely presidential aspirants.
The Labour leader is no clown but he urgently needs to show there is a serious chance of him winning the keys to No 10 in 2015. Otherwise, the party will look around for a left-of-centre answer to Romney; someone who may not set their pulses racing but could convince the voters of Middle England to go red.
A Thursday Column.
Instead of embracing a zealot who has an unflinching commitment to the core tenets of the conservative creed it appears they have decided to back the contender with the best chances of evicting Barack Obama.
Mitt Romney does not have the rock-solid social conservative credentials of Rick Santorum or the fervour for right-of-centre policy innovations which lights up the eyes of Newt Gingrich.
But the latest poll suggests he would beat Obama by two points, in contrast with Santorum who would lose by 11 and Gingrich who would be thrashed by 12.
Romney now enjoys an 11-point lead over his Republican rivals in the conservative bastion of South Carolina and one poll puts him at +26 in Florida. Unless Romney is photographed shooting kittens while wearing JFK’s sunglasses with a copy of Das Kapital in his back-pocket it looks like the nomination is his.
Party supporters reckon what Romney lacks in conservative credentials he makes up for in electability. He is the man most likely to give Obama sleepless nights.
This strategy of picking the candidate best placed to frighten your enemy is one which left-wing Labour stalwart Dennis Skinner would applaud.
The “Beast of Bolsover” backed the elder Miliband brother, David, in 2010 over Ed, arguing: “The big question is who are the Tories afraid of? Who is the best candidate to stand up against Cameron at the despatch box?”
Labour’s electoral college placed Ed Miliband at the helm of the party. In the Brown Government he was a pugnacious performer in television interviews and his readiness to take on his brother for the leadership cemented his reputation as a conviction politician willing to fight anyone in the battle of ideas.
But does he pass the test of performing better than the alternative leaders opposite the prime minister at noon on a Wednesday? This strange fusion of Oxford Union theatrics and celebrity cage-fighting is not where he thrives.
His left-wing vision excited his party’s electoral college just as Republicans were enamoured of the right-wing rhetoric of Herman Cain, Gingrich and a jalopy-full of unlikely presidential aspirants.
The Labour leader is no clown but he urgently needs to show there is a serious chance of him winning the keys to No 10 in 2015. Otherwise, the party will look around for a left-of-centre answer to Romney; someone who may not set their pulses racing but could convince the voters of Middle England to go red.
A Thursday Column.
The Vanishing Kingdom
It is highly unlikely David Cameron wants to go down in history as the answer to the pub quiz question: “Who was the last prime minister of the United Kingdom?”
But it now seems certain that a referendum will be held on Scottish independence in the lifetime of this parliament. Polls show a majority don’t plan to vote Yes but if Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond pitches the debate as a battle between meddling Westminster unionists and a proud party of government in Scotland he could pull off the coup of his career.
Scotland’s exit would mean a new nation state of England and Wales (plus Northern Ireland) would be born. The Scots would not be the only people to wake up in a brand new political reality.
A sense of precarious fragility and imminent change haunts Western states. American pundits compare their creaking superpower to the Ottoman empire which is now more famous for the speed at which it vanished than its erstwhile splendour.
A favourite Christmas book among politicos was Norman Davies’ Vanished Kingdoms, which recounts how many of Europe’s greatest countries disappeared from the map.
He describes how the Rzeczpospolita of Poland-Lithuania was once the “the largest state in Europe” but “in little more than two decades at the end of the eighteenth century, [it] was destroyed so comprehensively that few people today have even heard of it.”
He also mentions the extinguishing of the Republic of Venice, the Holy Roman Empire and the Soviet Union.
Utopian ambition was once focused on the European Union. Contrast the pessimism in this season of crisis summits with the way US conservative guru Samuel Huntington described the prospects for integration back in 1988: “The European Community, if it were to become politically cohesive, would have the population, resources, economic wealth, technology and actual and potential military strength to be the preeminent power of the 21st century.
“Japan, the United States and the Soviet Union have specialised respectively in investment, consumption and arms. Europe balances all three.” In British politics, at least, the concept of such a superstate has failed to inspire.
Despite the battering of the recession, Western states remain lands where citizens enjoy unprecedented access to advanced healthcare, education and technology. But debates are dogged by a sense past achievements are unsustainable.
The language of hope and idealism is common in nationalist politics – something former Welsh Secretary John Redwood senses is stirring among English Tories – but the prime minister must kindle an excitement about a future UK if this fragile alliance is to survive.
A Thursday Column.
But it now seems certain that a referendum will be held on Scottish independence in the lifetime of this parliament. Polls show a majority don’t plan to vote Yes but if Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond pitches the debate as a battle between meddling Westminster unionists and a proud party of government in Scotland he could pull off the coup of his career.
Scotland’s exit would mean a new nation state of England and Wales (plus Northern Ireland) would be born. The Scots would not be the only people to wake up in a brand new political reality.
A sense of precarious fragility and imminent change haunts Western states. American pundits compare their creaking superpower to the Ottoman empire which is now more famous for the speed at which it vanished than its erstwhile splendour.
A favourite Christmas book among politicos was Norman Davies’ Vanished Kingdoms, which recounts how many of Europe’s greatest countries disappeared from the map.
He describes how the Rzeczpospolita of Poland-Lithuania was once the “the largest state in Europe” but “in little more than two decades at the end of the eighteenth century, [it] was destroyed so comprehensively that few people today have even heard of it.”
He also mentions the extinguishing of the Republic of Venice, the Holy Roman Empire and the Soviet Union.
Utopian ambition was once focused on the European Union. Contrast the pessimism in this season of crisis summits with the way US conservative guru Samuel Huntington described the prospects for integration back in 1988: “The European Community, if it were to become politically cohesive, would have the population, resources, economic wealth, technology and actual and potential military strength to be the preeminent power of the 21st century.
“Japan, the United States and the Soviet Union have specialised respectively in investment, consumption and arms. Europe balances all three.” In British politics, at least, the concept of such a superstate has failed to inspire.
Despite the battering of the recession, Western states remain lands where citizens enjoy unprecedented access to advanced healthcare, education and technology. But debates are dogged by a sense past achievements are unsustainable.
The language of hope and idealism is common in nationalist politics – something former Welsh Secretary John Redwood senses is stirring among English Tories – but the prime minister must kindle an excitement about a future UK if this fragile alliance is to survive.
A Thursday Column.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Winning for What?
The contrast between the Welsh Conservative and Plaid Cymru leadership elections is striking.
The largely affable and low-key Tory race between Nick Ramsay and the eventual winner, Andrew RT Davies, did not result in wild shifts in policy. The Conservatives seem delighted to have overtaken Plaid to become the second group in the Senedd and are confident they can cement their position as a major player in devolved politics.
Meanwhile, Plaid faces a choice of four potential leaders but also great questions about the party’s purpose, goals and electoral strategy.
Essentially, do Plaid members want (a) a seat-winner who will take the party back into government at the earliest possible date; (b) somebody who will use the position to win the battle of ideas and push all the parties to support greater autonomy for Wales as part of the long-term goal of securing support for independence?
Since 1999, Plaid has failed to end Labour’s position as the largest party in the Assembly. It also passed up the opportunity to lead a potentially unstable non-Labour coalition in 2007.
However, it has arguably enjoyed much greater success pursuing option B.
The overwhelming cross-party support in the Assembly for last year’s referendum and bilingualism testify to the culture change which has taken place in Welsh politics.
Traditionally, parties in UK politics seek power the way an athlete seeks a gold medal and regard opposition as a wretched experience. New Labour under Tony Blair was absolutely focused on getting through the door of No 10, not on liberalising the Conservative party.
But Plaid is not a traditional UK party. It would be a success for Plaid if its Senedd rivals embraced fiscal independence for Wales and gradually became independent from the UK parties.
For many Plaid supporters, seeing their own AMs serve as ministers of the crown will be less important than ensuring that more decisions are made in Wales and that the renaissance in the use of Welsh strengthens.
However, it would be a dangerous and false dichotomy for Plaid to think electoral success and cultural power are not inextricably linked. It was in response to Plaid’s electoral potency that parties moved their tanks onto its lawn.
The SNP are now in a position to stage a referendum on Scottish independence because it presented itself as a competent custodian of the economy and guardian of public services. Its electoral success was not rooted in a surge of nationalist idealism among the Scots but the success of Alex Salmond and his colleagues in championing unromantic bread and butter policies.
If Plaid wants to shape tomorrow’s Wales it needs to win a nation’s trust today.
A Thursday Column.
The largely affable and low-key Tory race between Nick Ramsay and the eventual winner, Andrew RT Davies, did not result in wild shifts in policy. The Conservatives seem delighted to have overtaken Plaid to become the second group in the Senedd and are confident they can cement their position as a major player in devolved politics.
Meanwhile, Plaid faces a choice of four potential leaders but also great questions about the party’s purpose, goals and electoral strategy.
Essentially, do Plaid members want (a) a seat-winner who will take the party back into government at the earliest possible date; (b) somebody who will use the position to win the battle of ideas and push all the parties to support greater autonomy for Wales as part of the long-term goal of securing support for independence?
Since 1999, Plaid has failed to end Labour’s position as the largest party in the Assembly. It also passed up the opportunity to lead a potentially unstable non-Labour coalition in 2007.
However, it has arguably enjoyed much greater success pursuing option B.
The overwhelming cross-party support in the Assembly for last year’s referendum and bilingualism testify to the culture change which has taken place in Welsh politics.
Traditionally, parties in UK politics seek power the way an athlete seeks a gold medal and regard opposition as a wretched experience. New Labour under Tony Blair was absolutely focused on getting through the door of No 10, not on liberalising the Conservative party.
But Plaid is not a traditional UK party. It would be a success for Plaid if its Senedd rivals embraced fiscal independence for Wales and gradually became independent from the UK parties.
For many Plaid supporters, seeing their own AMs serve as ministers of the crown will be less important than ensuring that more decisions are made in Wales and that the renaissance in the use of Welsh strengthens.
However, it would be a dangerous and false dichotomy for Plaid to think electoral success and cultural power are not inextricably linked. It was in response to Plaid’s electoral potency that parties moved their tanks onto its lawn.
The SNP are now in a position to stage a referendum on Scottish independence because it presented itself as a competent custodian of the economy and guardian of public services. Its electoral success was not rooted in a surge of nationalist idealism among the Scots but the success of Alex Salmond and his colleagues in championing unromantic bread and butter policies.
If Plaid wants to shape tomorrow’s Wales it needs to win a nation’s trust today.
A Thursday Column.
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Cinematic Review of 2011
Not all the films below were released in 2011. Some are decades old. But this is the order in which I saw them.
The King's Speech ****
This imagining of a real-life drama of a stammering king contains much to enjoy. Helena Bonham-Carter's performance elevates the film from being a charming tea-time Laura Ashley drama into a fascinating portrayal of a marriage. It's the moments when it touches on universal themes that the film edges towards greatness.
Nixon in China *****
Not strictly a film, but I watched this live telecast of the John Adams opera in a Cardiff cinema and loved it. The Nixon White House was not Aaron Sorkin's West Wing and Mao's China is a harsh place, but the politics and the spectacle are interspersed with glimpses of humanity on the (world) stage.
Greenberg ****
Ben Stiller and Noah Baumbach pen a love letter to LA in a movie which finds tenderness in the lives of disappointed, often caustic, sometimes selfish souls adrift in the sprawl.
Winter's Bone ***
I watched this portrayal of criminality and deprivation in rural America seen through the eyes of a brave young woman struggling to provide for her siblings while on a train going through rural Wales. The hardship experienced of the communities on the screen mirrored the deprivation glimpsed outside the window. It's a harrowing picture of a neglected world.
Whatever Works **1/2
Woody Allen and Larry David are two of my heroes. This Woody-directed David-starring movie, alas, fails to soar.
The Fighter *****
This is a gold-standard masterpiece by David O Russell. It's a film with an opening sequence shot with such bravura you know this is going to be a joyous cinematic ride. Not since Magnolia have I seen a film which makes the viewer as much a part of the community on screen. You are cheering wildly in the final fight of this boxing epic not because Mark Wahlberg might not win but because you know what a loss will mean in the lives of the people who have come to care about. It also portrays personal redemption with neither cynicism nor romance.
Moon *****
The magic of science-fiction is revived in this extraordinary tale of a man on a mining base who may not be alone. It would be schlockly to describe it as Star Trek imagined by Beckett but if such a concept appeals to you then you will find much to be thrilled by.
The Social Network *****
When word spread that Aaron Sorkin was doing a movie about Facebook there were a few half-groans. Surely the greatest chronicler of democracy of our times was turning to subject matter lacking suitable greatness? How wrong we were. Together with David Fincher he tells a spellbinding story of how computing genius is found in personalities which are still learning to navigate the adult world. Like Sorkin's best work, it takes an exciting story and uses it to explore ancient virtues such as trust, love and friendship.
Pierrepoint ***
The story Britain's last hangman captures the sweeping transformation of social attitudes which followed World War II. Timothy Spall and Juliet Stevenson deliver fine performances but this is grim fare.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams ****
Werner Herzog took 3D cameras into a cave that contains paintings that had been hidden for tens of thousands of years. Choral music and philosophising abound, and the closing minutes are delightfully offbeat.
Little White Lies *****
A bunch of thirtysomething friends choose not to postpone their summer holiday when one of their number is knocked off his motorcycle and left in a coma. This is France's answer to the American classic The Big Chill and Kenneth Branagh's Peter's Friends. It's vibrant, often fun, and frank about early ageing and unrequited love. As with Greenberg, it acknowledges an unsettling selfishness but it also celebrates the joy of lasting friendship with unbridled and quite Gallic emotion.
Pina ****
Wim Wenders gives modern ballet the 3D treatment. Some of it is wonderful. All of it is eye-opening.
Howl ***1/2
This exploration of the events surrounding Allen Ginsberg's obscenity trial pulls in several directions but features a brilliant animation to accompany his eponymous poem. Really, there's an HBO box-set to be made dramatising the story of the Beats.
The Tree of Life ****1/2
Terrence Mallick draws wonderful performances out of Brad Pitt and his screen family as he unapologetically drills into the minutiae of family life and juxtaposes this with images of galaxies and explorations of the greatest spiritual themes.
Zizek! ***
If Eddie Izzard decided to spend a year pretending to be Karl Marx and had an engaging American filmmaker follow him around the world with a camera the end result might look like this.
Megamind ***
Will Ferrell and Tina Fey are two of the very best comic actors of their generation and it would be great to see them on screen together. Instead, we get to hear their voices as they say the lines of the computer-generated characters of this superior animated comedy.
Hopscotch *
This is one of my parents' favourite films and while Walter Mathau is one of the three greatest mammals in the history of human evolution this is not one of his works which has aged especially well. Sorry!
The Big Sleep ****
Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose stylists the English language has ever known. Who cares if the plots don't make sense when the writing is this good? But would his convoluted whimsy survive the translation to celuloid. Mais oui, if Howard Hawks is directing, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are starring, and William Faulkner is on screenplay duty.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy *****
I'm not convinced it's possible to understand all the elements of the plot just by watching the film (I had to check Wikipedia when I stumbled out of the Brixton Ritzy). There were moments when I had no idea what was going on. But this suited the themes of this exploration of fidelity and betrayal against the muted colours of 1970s London. So much is unknown and unspoken in the intelligence "community" inhabited by Gary Oldman's portrayal of John le Carré's spy that I didn't begrudge my own confusion. The excursions to Budapest and Istanbul are thrilling and frightening, and the closing sequence reveals that Oldman's stillness contained not just hurt but power and for that you want to cheer.
Melancholia ****1/2
This would be a very interesting double-bill with Armageddon because both feature large objects about to hit the earth and wipe out all life. In Michael Bay's epic a team of mining experts jetted off to blow up a meteorite. In Lars Von Trier's film a manically depressed ex-bride played by Kirsten Dunst responds by bathing in the blue light of the approaching planet and embracing the moment of annihilation as one of liberation. There's black comedy galore with Kiefer Sutherland as a know-it-all husband who is actually the less heroic character. Von Trier is much more than an enfant terrible oddball. A great writer will portray emotions and thoughts that you thought were unique to your own experience of life; Von Trier actually kindles these into life on the cinema screen. He can jump between dreamlike imagery which rings true in the subconcious to depictions of the agonies and embarrassments of modern life with a brilliance matched by no other living director I know. It might offend his avant-garde status, but at heart he's a cracking good storyteller.
Crazy Heart *****
Jeff Bridges is my favourite actor and his depiction of an alcoholic country-music star is, as you would expect, brilliant. He tosses his own ego aside when he takes on a part and brings out outstanding performances from all those who share the screen. What's special about Crazy Heart is that a wonderful film and the splendid performances adorn a beautifully crafted story. It shows how the pain in the music of the genre is rooted in lived sorrow, but how the values and hopes in the pain-bent lyrics point to a redemption which is as real as it is healing. This is a modern classic in which highly imperfect characters flash with genius, love and honour.
The Guard *****
I wanted to stand up, punch both fists in the air and cheer in delight when this fantastic Irish movie reached its glorious conclusion. The story of a loose women-loving, contraband-sampling politically-incorrect policeman who is paired up with a black FBI agent on the search for a drugs shipment could have been a wearisome (and the trailer is a ghastly butchery of the film) journey down cliche road. Instead, it's Ireland's answer to the Big Lebowski, with a touch of plot-transcending Chandleresque whimsy. At its heart is a character of vast intelligence and epic courage and grand appetite who is utterly ill-suited to the jargon-filled, petty and corrupt world of state bureaucracy. This Irish Falstaff is the last man standing when the world turns to ruin and he plods his way into a blaze of glory.
The Salt of Life ***
Gianni knows he is a chair away from becoming one of the old Italian men who sit on the street all day watching life roll past. He and his brother want one last shot at romance at a time when financially and personally each day seems to offer diminishing returns. This gentle, episodic comedy has touching moments and an extraordinary closing montage to the soundtrack of the Pixies. It is as light as a pastry served in a piazza cafe.
The King's Speech ****
This imagining of a real-life drama of a stammering king contains much to enjoy. Helena Bonham-Carter's performance elevates the film from being a charming tea-time Laura Ashley drama into a fascinating portrayal of a marriage. It's the moments when it touches on universal themes that the film edges towards greatness.
Nixon in China *****
Not strictly a film, but I watched this live telecast of the John Adams opera in a Cardiff cinema and loved it. The Nixon White House was not Aaron Sorkin's West Wing and Mao's China is a harsh place, but the politics and the spectacle are interspersed with glimpses of humanity on the (world) stage.
Greenberg ****
Ben Stiller and Noah Baumbach pen a love letter to LA in a movie which finds tenderness in the lives of disappointed, often caustic, sometimes selfish souls adrift in the sprawl.
Winter's Bone ***
I watched this portrayal of criminality and deprivation in rural America seen through the eyes of a brave young woman struggling to provide for her siblings while on a train going through rural Wales. The hardship experienced of the communities on the screen mirrored the deprivation glimpsed outside the window. It's a harrowing picture of a neglected world.
Whatever Works **1/2
Woody Allen and Larry David are two of my heroes. This Woody-directed David-starring movie, alas, fails to soar.
The Fighter *****
This is a gold-standard masterpiece by David O Russell. It's a film with an opening sequence shot with such bravura you know this is going to be a joyous cinematic ride. Not since Magnolia have I seen a film which makes the viewer as much a part of the community on screen. You are cheering wildly in the final fight of this boxing epic not because Mark Wahlberg might not win but because you know what a loss will mean in the lives of the people who have come to care about. It also portrays personal redemption with neither cynicism nor romance.
Moon *****
The magic of science-fiction is revived in this extraordinary tale of a man on a mining base who may not be alone. It would be schlockly to describe it as Star Trek imagined by Beckett but if such a concept appeals to you then you will find much to be thrilled by.
The Social Network *****
When word spread that Aaron Sorkin was doing a movie about Facebook there were a few half-groans. Surely the greatest chronicler of democracy of our times was turning to subject matter lacking suitable greatness? How wrong we were. Together with David Fincher he tells a spellbinding story of how computing genius is found in personalities which are still learning to navigate the adult world. Like Sorkin's best work, it takes an exciting story and uses it to explore ancient virtues such as trust, love and friendship.
Pierrepoint ***
The story Britain's last hangman captures the sweeping transformation of social attitudes which followed World War II. Timothy Spall and Juliet Stevenson deliver fine performances but this is grim fare.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams ****
Werner Herzog took 3D cameras into a cave that contains paintings that had been hidden for tens of thousands of years. Choral music and philosophising abound, and the closing minutes are delightfully offbeat.
Little White Lies *****
A bunch of thirtysomething friends choose not to postpone their summer holiday when one of their number is knocked off his motorcycle and left in a coma. This is France's answer to the American classic The Big Chill and Kenneth Branagh's Peter's Friends. It's vibrant, often fun, and frank about early ageing and unrequited love. As with Greenberg, it acknowledges an unsettling selfishness but it also celebrates the joy of lasting friendship with unbridled and quite Gallic emotion.
Pina ****
Wim Wenders gives modern ballet the 3D treatment. Some of it is wonderful. All of it is eye-opening.
Howl ***1/2
This exploration of the events surrounding Allen Ginsberg's obscenity trial pulls in several directions but features a brilliant animation to accompany his eponymous poem. Really, there's an HBO box-set to be made dramatising the story of the Beats.
The Tree of Life ****1/2
Terrence Mallick draws wonderful performances out of Brad Pitt and his screen family as he unapologetically drills into the minutiae of family life and juxtaposes this with images of galaxies and explorations of the greatest spiritual themes.
Zizek! ***
If Eddie Izzard decided to spend a year pretending to be Karl Marx and had an engaging American filmmaker follow him around the world with a camera the end result might look like this.
Megamind ***
Will Ferrell and Tina Fey are two of the very best comic actors of their generation and it would be great to see them on screen together. Instead, we get to hear their voices as they say the lines of the computer-generated characters of this superior animated comedy.
Hopscotch *
This is one of my parents' favourite films and while Walter Mathau is one of the three greatest mammals in the history of human evolution this is not one of his works which has aged especially well. Sorry!
The Big Sleep ****
Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose stylists the English language has ever known. Who cares if the plots don't make sense when the writing is this good? But would his convoluted whimsy survive the translation to celuloid. Mais oui, if Howard Hawks is directing, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are starring, and William Faulkner is on screenplay duty.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy *****
I'm not convinced it's possible to understand all the elements of the plot just by watching the film (I had to check Wikipedia when I stumbled out of the Brixton Ritzy). There were moments when I had no idea what was going on. But this suited the themes of this exploration of fidelity and betrayal against the muted colours of 1970s London. So much is unknown and unspoken in the intelligence "community" inhabited by Gary Oldman's portrayal of John le Carré's spy that I didn't begrudge my own confusion. The excursions to Budapest and Istanbul are thrilling and frightening, and the closing sequence reveals that Oldman's stillness contained not just hurt but power and for that you want to cheer.
Melancholia ****1/2
This would be a very interesting double-bill with Armageddon because both feature large objects about to hit the earth and wipe out all life. In Michael Bay's epic a team of mining experts jetted off to blow up a meteorite. In Lars Von Trier's film a manically depressed ex-bride played by Kirsten Dunst responds by bathing in the blue light of the approaching planet and embracing the moment of annihilation as one of liberation. There's black comedy galore with Kiefer Sutherland as a know-it-all husband who is actually the less heroic character. Von Trier is much more than an enfant terrible oddball. A great writer will portray emotions and thoughts that you thought were unique to your own experience of life; Von Trier actually kindles these into life on the cinema screen. He can jump between dreamlike imagery which rings true in the subconcious to depictions of the agonies and embarrassments of modern life with a brilliance matched by no other living director I know. It might offend his avant-garde status, but at heart he's a cracking good storyteller.
Crazy Heart *****
Jeff Bridges is my favourite actor and his depiction of an alcoholic country-music star is, as you would expect, brilliant. He tosses his own ego aside when he takes on a part and brings out outstanding performances from all those who share the screen. What's special about Crazy Heart is that a wonderful film and the splendid performances adorn a beautifully crafted story. It shows how the pain in the music of the genre is rooted in lived sorrow, but how the values and hopes in the pain-bent lyrics point to a redemption which is as real as it is healing. This is a modern classic in which highly imperfect characters flash with genius, love and honour.
The Guard *****
I wanted to stand up, punch both fists in the air and cheer in delight when this fantastic Irish movie reached its glorious conclusion. The story of a loose women-loving, contraband-sampling politically-incorrect policeman who is paired up with a black FBI agent on the search for a drugs shipment could have been a wearisome (and the trailer is a ghastly butchery of the film) journey down cliche road. Instead, it's Ireland's answer to the Big Lebowski, with a touch of plot-transcending Chandleresque whimsy. At its heart is a character of vast intelligence and epic courage and grand appetite who is utterly ill-suited to the jargon-filled, petty and corrupt world of state bureaucracy. This Irish Falstaff is the last man standing when the world turns to ruin and he plods his way into a blaze of glory.
The Salt of Life ***
Gianni knows he is a chair away from becoming one of the old Italian men who sit on the street all day watching life roll past. He and his brother want one last shot at romance at a time when financially and personally each day seems to offer diminishing returns. This gentle, episodic comedy has touching moments and an extraordinary closing montage to the soundtrack of the Pixies. It is as light as a pastry served in a piazza cafe.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Think Quick
In many a manic restaurant waiters flash with irritation when they ask diners for orders and are told: “Oh, we haven’t looked at the menu yet.”
This coming year will be a time when voters and politicians will have to make decisions in a hurry, even if none of the choices look particularly palatable.
There were probably very few Christmas Day dinners in Wales at which families talked with rapt excitement about whom they would like to see elected in November as the local police and crime commissioner.
But just as many of us have had to make a split-second choice between General Tso’s chicken and shredded chilli beef, we may find ourselves confronted in the ballot box with the names of well-known politicos promising to banish criminality from Wales.
May’s local elections will determine the composition of councils across Wales but none of the parties will be in a position to dangle juicy promises of high-calorie spending projects. The contest is about whom you want in control of public belt-tightening.
Labour will hope to make gains across Wales, and anger at the lack of economic growth is much more likely to focus on the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats than the party of government in the Senedd.
Before then, Plaid Cymru members must choose a new leader. He or she will have to use the March conference to present themselves and their vision to the Welsh public and then jump into a daunting council election campaign; a disappointing result would be another morale blow to a party which has yet to come to terms with its ejection from government.
The Westminster Government must decide how it wants this epic of uncertainty which has hit the EU to conclude.
Many Tory backbenchers were delighted when David Cameron blocked a new EU treaty and left the eurozone governments to thrash out a rescue deal. But would the transformation of euroland into a German-dominated fiscal union be a triumph for British foreign policy?
This would be preferable to the economic collapse of a continent but ministers know that if the UK passes up the chance to shape the new EU the UK will be shaped by the beast which emerges from the crisis.
Scores of Tory MPs argue the proper way forward is to ask the British public if they want to quit the EU or at least radically renegotiate the terms of membership but at the top of Government there is no appetite for another referendum.
Meanwhile, American Republicans are still searching for a credible challenger to President Obama ahead of November’s election.
On both sides of the Atlantic, it’s time to study the menu.
A Thursday Column.
This coming year will be a time when voters and politicians will have to make decisions in a hurry, even if none of the choices look particularly palatable.
There were probably very few Christmas Day dinners in Wales at which families talked with rapt excitement about whom they would like to see elected in November as the local police and crime commissioner.
But just as many of us have had to make a split-second choice between General Tso’s chicken and shredded chilli beef, we may find ourselves confronted in the ballot box with the names of well-known politicos promising to banish criminality from Wales.
May’s local elections will determine the composition of councils across Wales but none of the parties will be in a position to dangle juicy promises of high-calorie spending projects. The contest is about whom you want in control of public belt-tightening.
Labour will hope to make gains across Wales, and anger at the lack of economic growth is much more likely to focus on the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats than the party of government in the Senedd.
Before then, Plaid Cymru members must choose a new leader. He or she will have to use the March conference to present themselves and their vision to the Welsh public and then jump into a daunting council election campaign; a disappointing result would be another morale blow to a party which has yet to come to terms with its ejection from government.
The Westminster Government must decide how it wants this epic of uncertainty which has hit the EU to conclude.
Many Tory backbenchers were delighted when David Cameron blocked a new EU treaty and left the eurozone governments to thrash out a rescue deal. But would the transformation of euroland into a German-dominated fiscal union be a triumph for British foreign policy?
This would be preferable to the economic collapse of a continent but ministers know that if the UK passes up the chance to shape the new EU the UK will be shaped by the beast which emerges from the crisis.
Scores of Tory MPs argue the proper way forward is to ask the British public if they want to quit the EU or at least radically renegotiate the terms of membership but at the top of Government there is no appetite for another referendum.
Meanwhile, American Republicans are still searching for a credible challenger to President Obama ahead of November’s election.
On both sides of the Atlantic, it’s time to study the menu.
A Thursday Column.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
On the North Coast
Christmas last year featured deep snow and frozen fields but Portstewart today was unusually mild.
We had coffee on "the prom" and watched the sea shift through a galaxy of greys and greens.
Another wonder has illuminated the Christmas season and made me an uncle.
It's a time of change for everyone but the seafront's almost unaltered since I waddled along it with my grandmother three decades ago.
The Atlantic air guarantees you a good night's sleep and the horizon stills your soul. This is why I miss the cragged concrete and the lonely huts of a cherished dimple of a town on the north face of Ireland.
Talk About their Generation
A zealous political campaigner once told me that the greatest danger facing her party was death.
In short, members were dying out at a faster rate than new ones were joining.
Any institution, whether a political party, a charity or a church, can invest in grand buildings in its heyday but unless it wins a new wave of members it can be dead in a generation.
Yes, parties have to make young members welcome if they are to stick around and there has to be some an effort to speak their language.
But a party wanting to win people for whom the ability to vote is something new and exciting will not gain new foot-soldiers by hiring a consultant to spray the organisation in a haze of synthetic hype.
Rather, young people will go where there is a sense of promise and possibility.
Parties depend on such members to trudge pavements on cold nights and risk the wrath of dogs by putting flyers through letterboxes. But a party that sees young members primarily as cheap labour – or, worse, as naive utopians in need of being brought down to earth – will miss an important opportunity to adapt to survive and thrive in a fast-changing culture.
New – not just young ones – members can identify opportunities that professional strategists may not. Veteran activists should sit down with fresh arrivals and listen to their ambitions and, after some basic due diligence, then work out how to make these a reality.
Wales’ four main parties are all adjusting to the challenges and opportunities presented by devolution. But for members under the age of 20, they have come of age in the past decade and a half and a Cardiff skyline without a Senedd would look odd.
Some young activists will want to win election to the Assembly while others will set their hearts on Westminster. They may well have a clearer idea than older peers of precisely why they want to enter a particular institution, of how they think they can get there, and what they want to achieve.
These men and women have witnessed coalitions at both a UK and Welsh level and are not scared of the concept of hammering out a deal and working with rivals. Far from being anathema, this is what normal politics looks like to those who have grown up in an age of Labour-Plaid and Tory-Liberal Democrat governments.
It should be a New Year Resolution for any party that wants to wield power rather than retreat to the cosy corners of protest to become places where ambition for Wales and the UK is embraced.
A Thursday Column.
In short, members were dying out at a faster rate than new ones were joining.
Any institution, whether a political party, a charity or a church, can invest in grand buildings in its heyday but unless it wins a new wave of members it can be dead in a generation.
Yes, parties have to make young members welcome if they are to stick around and there has to be some an effort to speak their language.
But a party wanting to win people for whom the ability to vote is something new and exciting will not gain new foot-soldiers by hiring a consultant to spray the organisation in a haze of synthetic hype.
Rather, young people will go where there is a sense of promise and possibility.
Parties depend on such members to trudge pavements on cold nights and risk the wrath of dogs by putting flyers through letterboxes. But a party that sees young members primarily as cheap labour – or, worse, as naive utopians in need of being brought down to earth – will miss an important opportunity to adapt to survive and thrive in a fast-changing culture.
New – not just young ones – members can identify opportunities that professional strategists may not. Veteran activists should sit down with fresh arrivals and listen to their ambitions and, after some basic due diligence, then work out how to make these a reality.
Wales’ four main parties are all adjusting to the challenges and opportunities presented by devolution. But for members under the age of 20, they have come of age in the past decade and a half and a Cardiff skyline without a Senedd would look odd.
Some young activists will want to win election to the Assembly while others will set their hearts on Westminster. They may well have a clearer idea than older peers of precisely why they want to enter a particular institution, of how they think they can get there, and what they want to achieve.
These men and women have witnessed coalitions at both a UK and Welsh level and are not scared of the concept of hammering out a deal and working with rivals. Far from being anathema, this is what normal politics looks like to those who have grown up in an age of Labour-Plaid and Tory-Liberal Democrat governments.
It should be a New Year Resolution for any party that wants to wield power rather than retreat to the cosy corners of protest to become places where ambition for Wales and the UK is embraced.
A Thursday Column.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Cameron's Agincourt Hitch
David Cameron is alleged to have told backbenchers last night that 2012 will be “tougher than the first two years under Thatcher”.
Margaret Thatcher fought recession and riots in her first term in government, with plunging poll numbers and rising unemployment.
But this is not remembered as a dark chapter in Conservative annals but a turning point in British history. It was in 1980 that Margaret Thatcher declared “the Lady’s not for turning” and pressed on with unpopular economic policies that – in the eyes of the Tory faithful who cherish memories of her reign – worked.
Like Britain’s first female PM, Cameron is under constant pressure to abandon his economic strategy – and yesterday’s unemployment figures gave ammunition to his opponents.
But there is another reason for him to ready his footsoldiers for the political equivalent of war. Many of these men and women are convinced that the UK has a genuinely historic opportunity to leave the European Union – or at least to renegotiate radically different terms of membership – and carve out a new role and identity on the world stage.
There are also MPs who would have been candidates for ministerial jobs if the Liberal Democrats were not coalition partners; it’s easy for such individuals to start dreaming of a snap election resulting in a Tory majority.
Cameron’s warning that his Government faces the fight of its life may have been an attempt to banish such distracting and destabilising thoughts and force MPs to prepare for a campaign that will test the mettle of their convictions.
The PM's ability to deliver a cracking speech should not be underestimated; and his words last night may go down in Commons folklore as the Tory equivalent of the Agincourt address.
But there is a hitch. The road to the 2015 election features not just battles with the unions and Labour and the challenge of dealing with Lib Dems in swing seats; there is also the prospect of dozens of miniature civil wars.
Cameron’s cull of constituencies will see the number of MPs falling from 650 to 600, with Wales losing 10 of its contingent of 40.
MPs who slog through weekend surgeries, trying to encourage the jobless and reassure the worried about welfare changes, may well face selection battles against colleagues from neighbouring seats when they compete for a redrawn constituency.
There are few spectacularly wealthy MPs. For most, politics is not just a vocation but their main source of livelihood.
All MPs effectively re-apply for their job at an election, but the prospect of having to compete against someone who shares a foxhole with you in today’s firefights must sap the morale.
A Thursday Column.
Margaret Thatcher fought recession and riots in her first term in government, with plunging poll numbers and rising unemployment.
But this is not remembered as a dark chapter in Conservative annals but a turning point in British history. It was in 1980 that Margaret Thatcher declared “the Lady’s not for turning” and pressed on with unpopular economic policies that – in the eyes of the Tory faithful who cherish memories of her reign – worked.
Like Britain’s first female PM, Cameron is under constant pressure to abandon his economic strategy – and yesterday’s unemployment figures gave ammunition to his opponents.
But there is another reason for him to ready his footsoldiers for the political equivalent of war. Many of these men and women are convinced that the UK has a genuinely historic opportunity to leave the European Union – or at least to renegotiate radically different terms of membership – and carve out a new role and identity on the world stage.
There are also MPs who would have been candidates for ministerial jobs if the Liberal Democrats were not coalition partners; it’s easy for such individuals to start dreaming of a snap election resulting in a Tory majority.
Cameron’s warning that his Government faces the fight of its life may have been an attempt to banish such distracting and destabilising thoughts and force MPs to prepare for a campaign that will test the mettle of their convictions.
The PM's ability to deliver a cracking speech should not be underestimated; and his words last night may go down in Commons folklore as the Tory equivalent of the Agincourt address.
But there is a hitch. The road to the 2015 election features not just battles with the unions and Labour and the challenge of dealing with Lib Dems in swing seats; there is also the prospect of dozens of miniature civil wars.
Cameron’s cull of constituencies will see the number of MPs falling from 650 to 600, with Wales losing 10 of its contingent of 40.
MPs who slog through weekend surgeries, trying to encourage the jobless and reassure the worried about welfare changes, may well face selection battles against colleagues from neighbouring seats when they compete for a redrawn constituency.
There are few spectacularly wealthy MPs. For most, politics is not just a vocation but their main source of livelihood.
All MPs effectively re-apply for their job at an election, but the prospect of having to compete against someone who shares a foxhole with you in today’s firefights must sap the morale.
A Thursday Column.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
The Octopus of Possibility
The danger to Wales of a “corrupt octopus” loomed large in the mind of Lord Pearson of Rannoch when he gazed across the waters of Cardiff Bay last year.
The then-Ukip leader compared the European Union to a tentacled beast that would swallow Wales whole.
He had the demeanour of a lone knight on a tired steed who could see the rival forces of a mighty empire marshalling on the horizon.
For years, many people have been sceptical about the chances of the single currency flourishing but to identify as a euro-sceptic has been as fashionable as wearing a union jack shell-suit.
But, today, these foes of Brussels detect a change in the zeitgeist. Prophets of doom who were once dismissed as old codgers are now honoured as visionary seers.
They sense that a moment of wild opportunity to rewrite the UK’s relationship with the EU has arrived.
Just in case nobody could think of what powers should be clawed back the EU, the Taxpayers’ Alliance were on the march this week, distributing a 29-page shopping list.
Daniel Hannan, the zealous and articulate Conservative MEP, has a wish-list of his own for this Christmas season: “We should repatriate control over essentially domestic matters, including defence, immigration, regional policy, social policy, employment law, human rights, criminal justice, agriculture, taxation, fisheries and financial services.”
He considers it “utterly ludicrous” that ministers are reluctant to press for changes because they do not want to stage a referendum.
Mr Hannan works in the bowels of Lord Pearson’s octopus and – like a bazooka-wielding Jonah – he wants to blast his way out of the monster.
We have a generation of Conservative activists who are itching for action. Labour kept them out of office from 1997 to 2010; the electorate denied them a majority last year; the presence of the Lib Dems in Government gives a yellow hue to their blue-sky plans; an SNP Scot is in power in Edinburgh who threatens to shatter the UK; Labour are still in power in Wales; and the empty coffers at the Treasury mean the military is cut and big capital projects are impossible.
But on the subject of Europe there is the chance, it seems, to embrace a possibility more spectacular than anything that has existed in their wildest dreams.
If David Cameron disappoints this tribe he will battle scores of angry foes for the remainder of his premiership but pursuing their goals will mean abandoning political certainties, straining the coalition to the point of rupture and taking a debt-laden nation on a voyage into the unknown just when a hurricane is blowing.
A Thursday Column.
The then-Ukip leader compared the European Union to a tentacled beast that would swallow Wales whole.
He had the demeanour of a lone knight on a tired steed who could see the rival forces of a mighty empire marshalling on the horizon.
For years, many people have been sceptical about the chances of the single currency flourishing but to identify as a euro-sceptic has been as fashionable as wearing a union jack shell-suit.
But, today, these foes of Brussels detect a change in the zeitgeist. Prophets of doom who were once dismissed as old codgers are now honoured as visionary seers.
They sense that a moment of wild opportunity to rewrite the UK’s relationship with the EU has arrived.
Just in case nobody could think of what powers should be clawed back the EU, the Taxpayers’ Alliance were on the march this week, distributing a 29-page shopping list.
Daniel Hannan, the zealous and articulate Conservative MEP, has a wish-list of his own for this Christmas season: “We should repatriate control over essentially domestic matters, including defence, immigration, regional policy, social policy, employment law, human rights, criminal justice, agriculture, taxation, fisheries and financial services.”
He considers it “utterly ludicrous” that ministers are reluctant to press for changes because they do not want to stage a referendum.
Mr Hannan works in the bowels of Lord Pearson’s octopus and – like a bazooka-wielding Jonah – he wants to blast his way out of the monster.
We have a generation of Conservative activists who are itching for action. Labour kept them out of office from 1997 to 2010; the electorate denied them a majority last year; the presence of the Lib Dems in Government gives a yellow hue to their blue-sky plans; an SNP Scot is in power in Edinburgh who threatens to shatter the UK; Labour are still in power in Wales; and the empty coffers at the Treasury mean the military is cut and big capital projects are impossible.
But on the subject of Europe there is the chance, it seems, to embrace a possibility more spectacular than anything that has existed in their wildest dreams.
If David Cameron disappoints this tribe he will battle scores of angry foes for the remainder of his premiership but pursuing their goals will mean abandoning political certainties, straining the coalition to the point of rupture and taking a debt-laden nation on a voyage into the unknown just when a hurricane is blowing.
A Thursday Column.
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