The Point's blog

A Pyrrhic Victory for Georgian Democracy

The Point — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:49:32 +0000

BY JULIA PETENGILL

The opposition party Georgia Dream has won a convincing victory in Georgia's parliamentary elections.

Abandoned in Moscow

The Point — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:45:55 +0000

BY JULIA PETTENGILL

What will it take for the Obama administration to realise that their treasured "Reset" is the foreign policy equivalent of Monty's Python's dead parrot? The insults and harassment heaped upon Michel McFaul, the American Ambassador to Russia, apparently aren't enough.

Standpoint's New Facebook Page

The Point — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:32:28 +0000

Standpoint now has a Facebook page. "Like" it here to have the magazine's characteristic mix of hardnosed opinions and brilliant writing delivered to your News Feed. It's a great place to spark debate and access additional content. Twitter users can find us at @StandpointMag.

Govemania

The Point — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:47:31 +0000

NICK REDGROVE

Following the publication last week of Standpoint's cover article by Iain Martin, entitled "Will Michael Gove Go All the Way to No 10?", both Fleet Street and the blogosphere seem to be taking the question seriously.

Standpoint Recommends: The Tacitus Lecture 2012

The Point — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:18:52 +0000

Standpoint readers may be interested in the 25th annual World Traders' Tacitus Lecture, delivered by Terry Smith, Chief Executive of Tullett Prebon and regular Newsnight contributor. The talk, titled "Is 'Occupy' Right?" offers a nuanced view of the Occupy movement from an ardent free-marketeer:

Goodbye, Vienna

The Point — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:24:49 +0000

Standpoint's editor, Daniel Johnson, has written today's Daily Feature on Jewish Ideas Daily. It concerns the rich cultural contribution the city of Vienna, and its Jewish inhabitants in particular, has made to Western civilisation:

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Friends Indeed — Daniel Johnson on Gertrude Himmelfarb

The Point — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:58:32 +0000

Standpoint's editor Daniel Johnson has reviewed Standpoint advisory board member Gertrude Himmelfarb's new history of philo-Semitism for The Weekly Standard. In her magisterial work, Himmelfarb describes how and why Jews have been successful in England:

New Culture Forum Lecture: Jeremy Hunt

The Point — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:01:13 +0000

The New Culture Forum — a think-tank run by Standpoint columnist Peter Whittle — is hosting a lecture by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on philanthropy and the recession. Standpoint readers are invited to this free event. Details as follows:

Kangaroo Courts Arrive Down Under

The Point — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:06:21 +0000

JULIE BINDEL

The influence of cowards and cultural relativists in the UK appears to have spread to the other side of the world. Australia, where sharia law has become a shadow legal system, has cited our apparent tolerance of polygamous and underage marriage amongst the Muslim community in a bid to justify its growing influence.

The BBC's painful novelties

The Point — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:12:47 +0000

Daniel Johnson

In his October Wine column, Saintsbury quotes Dr Johnson on novelties to great effect: "...novelty is always grateful where it gives no pain." Well, the BBC gave me pain twice this week with its novelties.

Money can't buy you love - Nichi Hodgson

The Point — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:35:22 +0000

Catherine Hakim is not a feminist name you will know. She may yet earn the moniker, "anti-feminist feminist", once bestowed on Camille Paglia, but I doubt it. When you publish a book as risibly unsubstantiated as Honey Money: The Power of Erotic Capital (Allen Lane), being compared to Paglia would be like declaring Katie Price the new Bridget Bardot.

World Youth Day Diary: Day Four

The Point — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 11:11:11 +0000

Every day of this year's triennial week-long Catholic festival in Madrid, Anna Halpine reports from the world's largest gathering of young people.

World Youth Day Diary: Day Three

The Point — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:42:06 +0000

Every day of this year's triennial week-long Catholic festival in Madrid, Anna Halpine reports from the world's largest gathering of young people.

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World Youth Day Diary: Day Two

The Point — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:02:43 +0000

Every day of this year's triennial week-long Catholic festival in Madrid, Anna Halpine reports from the world's largest gathering of young people.
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World Youth Day Diary: Day One

The Point — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:03:34 +0000

Every day of this year's triennial week-long Catholic festival in Madrid, Anna Halpine reports from the world's largest gathering of young people.
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Daniel Johnson on Elena Bonner

The Point — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:29:57 +0000

DANIEL JOHNSON
Read my article on Jewish Ideas Daily, One Woman Army, about Elena Bonner, who died last week aged 88. It describes my meeting in 1991 with the widow of Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet scientist and dissident, and provides a portrait of this indomitable campaigner for human rights.
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In praise of the essay

The Point — Fri, 06 May 2011 10:58:30 +0000

The Point would like to alert Standpoint readers to a new publisher, Notting Hill Editions, and its online journal, dedicated to the art of the essay. Sharing Standpoint's aim to provide its discerning readers with unashamedly highbrow pieces in an era characterised by an ethos of instant throwaway communication, Notting Hill Editions — edited by deputy books editor of the Independent, Lucasta Miller — launched yesterday with work from authors Roland Barthes and Georges Perec.
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The Commentator — A Serious New Website

The Point — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:09:45 +0000

Standpoint readers may be interested in The Commentator, a new website founded by political commentator and analyst — and Standpoint contributor — Robin Shepherd.
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Self-censorship in the British Media

The Point — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:14:03 +0000

British journalists pride themselves on their freedom to write without fear of censorship (but with due regard for good taste and our sometimes draconian libel laws). In a thoughtful posting on his blog, however, the Guardian's veteran political commentator Michael White wonders whether he and his fellow writers aren't being too complacent. He starts out by examining a worrying crackdown on Turkish journalists by the country's supposedly moderate Islamic government but broadens his argument to look at self-censorship closer to home. Read on to the end for a very honest exposure of the predictable targets that the Guardian's fearless writers habitually aim at, and the subjects that are traditionally taboo for them:
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A Clever Fool

The Point — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:40:36 +0000

JONATHAN FOREMAN
How do you reconcile Robert Harris the clever, sensitive, erudite and sensible author of "Fatherland" and two excellent novels based on the life of Cicero, with the politically correct prig who reviewed VS Naipaul's latest travel book in this weekend's Sunday Times.

Because Naipaul's reportage from Ivory Coast, Uganda and elsewhere in Africa doesn't jibe with Harris's notions of the continent -- notions that seem to be based on armchair fantasy and liberal conventional wisdom rather than on-the-ground experience -- the novelist likens Naipaul to Oswald Mosley and basically calls him a racist.
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Giving Away the Store

The Point — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:25:43 +0000

BY JONATHAN FOREMAN
If it is true that David Cameron has reacted to Nick Clegg's latest overture to Labour by agreeing to a whipped vote on a referendum on "proportional representation" -- it would mean that he and his team are not just unprincipled but also foolish.
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To the Loser Belongs the Spoils

The Point — Sun, 09 May 2010 15:00:27 +0000

BY JONATHAN FOREMAN
Nick Clegg, whose Liberal Democrat party came third in the UK general election is at this moment the most powerful man in Britain.
You might expect large numbers of Britons to be uncomfortable with this peculiar, rather undemocratic state of affairs, and to dislike the idea of the two major parties competing to win Clegg's hand in a potential coalition. And it may well be that most ordinary people do indeed find this strange interregnum confusing and disturbing.
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Election Pre-Post-Mortem

The Point — Thu, 06 May 2010 08:51:45 +0000

BY JONATHAN FOREMAN
If the Tories don't win a solid majority in today's election they have only themselves to blame. Given the unpopularity of Gordon Brown and the state of the economy, a resounding victory should have been easy. And it probably would have been if David Cameron had not been so in thrall to his marketing gurus.
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Good Bad/Timing

The Point — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:41:28 +0000

BY JONATHAN FOREMAN
The 2nd Oslo Freedom Forum has opened at the city's Grand hotel, just opposite the parliament building. Last year, the square in front of the hotel was packed with Tamil protesters carrying posters criticizing the Sri Lankan government and supporting the Tamil Tigers. This year there are no protesters at all (so far) in the street but the entrance to the hotel is blocked by heavily armed Norwegian police and the lobby is packed with big Slavic-looking men in ill-fitting suits and wires coming out of their ears.
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Dressed for Success

The Point — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:08:08 +0000

BY JONATHAN FOREMAN
According to The Times, David Cameron gave his closing speech at the Tory conference while wearing a Savile Row "handmade suit that would normally cost £3500. Conservative Central Office said that he had paid £1185"
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Hypocrisy thy Name is Green

The Point — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:29:32 +0000

BY JONATHAN FOREMAN
If you read the Saturday Telegraph, you may have noticed that its many sections include a great deal of eco-exortation. It is evidently editorial and marketing policy at the Torygraf to push a Green agenda.
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Censorship by Fire

The Point — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:05:12 +0000
BY JONATHAN FOREMAN
Ours is a cowardly society. This is particularly true of the media and publishing industries. How else to explain the lack of attention paid to the Gibson Square incident.
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