8

Iraq, land of opportunity

There is an excellent article in The Times today (pay wall) about the revival of Iraq. “Reconstruction is visible right across the country,” its says.
Today [Baghdad] is a boom town, rather than a bomb site. If I were a young man, looking to make my fortune, I would be off to Iraq like a shot. [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 5:53 pm

7

The Labour Party: not dead yet

Best news all day: Rushanara Ali, my excellent MP, has decided to vote for David Miliband for the leadership, although she nominated Diane Abbott and her constituency party, Bethnal Green and Bow, nominated Ed Miliband.
Ten other MPs have also said that they will be giving David M their first preference votes: David Winnick, Jim Dowd, Chris Bryant, Meg Hillier, Denis MacShane, Fiona [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 5:39 pm

0

Italian Football: The death of La Moviola

A controversial and distinctly Italian aspect of football culture came to an end today when, after 50-odd years of torment for referees, it was announced ‘la moviola’ is set to disappear from Italian football analysis.
For those of you who don’t know what the moviola is, its basically a hugely popular trial by slow motion where [...]

By John Hall | Sport | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 4:52 pm

1

The Richard Nixon Litmus Test

Why don’t we cut to the chase and simply ask politicians what are their feelings about Richard Nixon before they run for high office? It could save us all a lot of time in the long run.

By Larry Ryan | Eagle Eye | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 4:35 pm

0

Ed Miliband’s “private email”

Something odd going on here. Labour Uncut refers to a report in the Mail on Sunday that seems to have been replaced.
Ed Balls had hoped to win the support of Unite’s political committee but was defeated 24 votes to four. Mr Balls’s backers claimed Ed Miliband had promised Unite ‘pro-union legislation’. They also criticised a [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 4:28 pm

1

How long?

Colleagues are interested in a post by Mark Field, the Conservative MP, at Conservative Home, suggesting that the Tories and Liberal Democrats might agree not to fight each other’s seats at the 2015 election.
I, however, am interested in the article because it breaches one of the injunctions of the Banned List. Albeit in an original [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 4:02 pm

0

I should have cocoa‘d: dark dealings in the chocolate world

Brace yourselves chocolate fans, because you could be in for a bit of a bumpy ride this year – there’s a feller trying to buy up the world’s supply of cocoa.
Hedge Fund manager Anthony Ward is looking ominously like a Bond villain for the modern era, with the news that he’s bought up 241,000 tonnes [...]

By Tom Mendelsohn | Notebook | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 2:56 pm

0

Politically acceptable economic stresses

The organiser of the bank stress tests itself admits that, the event of a sovereign default, the actual losses of the banks would be significantly greater than anything it is talking about in its report.

By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 1:55 pm

4

Must watch: Amazing penalty from Spain

The under-19 European Championships are currently taking place in France. Admittedly, not the most enthralling prospect – but this penalty from Calvente for Spain in their match against Italy is a classic, regardless of the level it was scored at (stick around for the slow-motion replay)…

…and on this evidence, expect Spain to rule for the [...]

By Simon Rice | Sport | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 1:30 pm

3

The case for breaking up Barclays

When Lehman Brothers collapsed in autumn 2008 it had estimated Tier 1 capital of 11 per cent, which was considered more than adequate by the regulatory authorities.

By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye | Monday, 26 July 2010 at 1:24 pm