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Jonny Franzen and the Disappearing Spectacles: an update

Last night, in my capacity as The Independent’s Jonathan Franzen correspondent (see previous Franzen-based examples of my work here, here and here), I attended the launch of his hotly anticipated, previously misprinted new novel Freedom – and witnessed the theft of the great man’s specs. This morning, some further developments. The perpetrator, who left a [...]

By Tim Walker | Arts | Tuesday, 5 October 2010 at 9:55 am

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How Mark Zuckerberg could sue over The Social Network

Some of America’s finest legal minds have today been pondering the question of whether Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg could pursue lawsuits against the makers of The Social Network, which for all its undoubted brilliance as a piece of film-making takes more than a few liberties with his life story.
In the New York Times, (here) a [...]

By Guy Adams | Arts, The Foreign Desk | Tuesday, 5 October 2010 at 5:18 am

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Post-Lula Brazil: a country of the future?

Brazil’s presidential election has gone to a second round. Victory for the Workers Party’s Dilma Rousseff, President Lula’s chosen successor and long-time frontrunner, now looks uncertain compared to a few days ago. Marina Silva, the third-placed candidate from the Green Party, had a strong showing and now turns potential king- or queen-maker in a run-off [...]

By Alex Hochuli | Battle of Ideas, Eagle Eye | Tuesday, 5 October 2010 at 12:01 am

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Is the Channel Wider than the Atlantic?

I know the answer to this one! It’s number 394 in the series. Thanks to Robert for supplying this photograph.

Sorry – I missed number 392. That was asked on Saturday by champion contributor Mike Smithson at Political Betting:
Is Balls at Defence the coalition’s biggest fear?

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 4 October 2010 at 8:08 pm

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Why Fox Might Have Leaked

A rather unenlightening “Diary of a Civil Servant” in The Observer yesterday. Its anonymous author opines that “leakers have different motives”, and suggests that ministers and their advisers sometimes leak “for political advantage”.
The most vulnerable time for any minister is when their policy proposal is sent round a cabinet committee for approval. If a colleague [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 4 October 2010 at 7:25 pm

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Did Aristotle Onassis order Robert Kennedy shooting?

Number 393 in my series of Questions to Which the Answer is No is asked by Irish Central.
The first paragraph of its report is number 393a, rephrasing the question in fuller and sillier form:
Did Aristotle Onassis have Bobby Kennedy [right] killed by a member of the PLO in October 1968 because Bobby was trying to [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 4 October 2010 at 2:31 pm

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Marquanded!

I wrote a few weeks ago about what it’s like to be Aaronovitched.
Last week, alas, I was Marquanded.
Several days before seeing a preview for the latest edition of Prospect, I asked Laurence Earle, the Executive here who was looking after the Viewspaper, if I could write an essay for him on Edmund Burke. He said [...]

By Amol Rajan | Eagle Eye | Monday, 4 October 2010 at 2:23 pm

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Brand Obama is more popular than Brand Democrat or Brand GOP

Marvellous snippet in Clive Crook’s typically elegant and incisive column this morning.
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“… Yet voters are not choosing the Republican alternative. On this, the polls could hardly be clearer. Mr Obama, despite his slide in popularity of the past two years, is better liked than either party in Congress. According to Gallup, the president’s job approval [...]

By Amol Rajan | Eagle Eye | Monday, 4 October 2010 at 2:06 pm

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Why cricket is like the Blue Peter tortoise – and football is a modern satsuma

I’ve been scouring the newspapers for domestic cricket news. And something rather startling has occurred to me. There isn’t any. Honestly. Absolutely none whatsoever. To the point where I’ve started to think, ‘Hang on, have I made this whole thing up? Does cricket actually exist? Or did I just dream it?’
Because now I stop to [...]

By Mike Ward | Sport | Monday, 4 October 2010 at 1:58 pm

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Premier League review: Brilliant Blackpool and deadly Drogba

Giles Lucas looks back at the latest weekend of Premier League action…
The Good
“We were immense,” rejoiced one Seasider supporter on an online forum. “The most fantastic result I have ever witnessed in all my 40 years supporting Blackpool,” said another. Followers of the Tangerines will long remember 3 October 2010. For it was the historic [...]

By Giles Lucas | Sport | Monday, 4 October 2010 at 1:44 pm