Michael Winner, director and author of Tales I Never Told knows how to cause a stir. David Cameron had said that he had plans to make the British film industry ‘commercially successful’, Winner rubbished his comments calling them ‘a joke’ in view of the fact that Cameron’s coalition government axed the UK Film Council.
Read the full story here.
Or buy his book, Tales I Never Told, for a first-hand account of what Michael Winner does best – cause a stir.
In case you missed it – listen in to the ever-impressive Ann Treneman, one of only 5 political sketchwriters in the UK and author of Dave and Nick, Year of the Honeymoon and beyond as she talks to Colin Paterson on Radio 5Live yesterday.
Among other things the Iowa born author discusses the caucusses (and the varying degrees of sanity she attributes to each of the candidates), what it’s like to have a pigeon view of David Cameron (and his split personality) and ‘the most annoying man in British politics’.
Listen here, 21 minutes in will do just the trick.
Read what all the fuss is about in her excellent new book, Dave and Nick, priced £14.99.
So, the growing disquiet surrounding injunctions and super injunctions is a tricky issue, to say the least. There to prevent publication of details about the private lives of well-known people, it is easy to see the motivations for those wishing to take out these so- called “gagging orders”. A desire to keep their private lives private is understandable; however, the issue comes when considering whether the freedom of speech act is being jeopardised.
As a result of the difficulty in this balancing act, the matter seems to be spiraling out of control. Some are determined to get round the media gagging and are now using websites such as Twitter to expose alleged celebrity indiscretions. Just last night a well-known blogger used a Twitter account to list 14 personalities and to make obscure references to them. This follows on from the tweets this week of a list of celebrities who have recently obtained injunctions, coming without any apparent sanction.
More than two million people are thought to have been forwarded last week’s list exposing certain celebrities. However, it appears that these exposés are not entirely accurate. Jemima Khan and Gabby Logan have both adamantly denied the allegations against them regarding alleged infidelities with other well-known people, exposing the danger that comes in such revelations. It’s all very well citing freedom of speech and a right to know but when individuals are targeted without real evidence, there is the potential to seriously damage the reputations and lives of those targeted.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said yesterday that Twitter was “making a mockery” of privacy laws and has pledged to examine how best to bring regulations up to date. Prime Minister David Cameron has also sounded a warning about the way judges rather than Parliament are creating a new law of privacy by granting such injunctions.
Whatever your view on the matter, the situation surrounding injunctions and super injunctions is clearly extremely messy and needs to be resolved. Quickly!
Nick Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent, stood and asked a question of David Cameron during PMQs today. He reminded the Prime Minister that a year ago he said he wanted a new military covenant written into the law of the land. He then stated that the Royal British Legion has said that the proposals brought forward by MoD ministers in the Armed Forces Bill do not honour the PM’s earlier pledge.
Listening to this, it occured to me that now is the perfect time to highlight to you all a book we are publishing on June 4th, this year Tommy This an’ Tommy That by Andrew Murrison, MP for Westbury.
There is nothing new about the military covenant. When it is broken there is generally outrage – the mole at the heart of the expenses scandal allegedly leaked MPs’ data to the Telegraph after being influenced by the ill-provisioned troops moonlighting as Commons guards to buy basic military equipment.
The unspoken agreement between the government, the public and those offering unlimited liability in the service of the country, is rooted in antiquity. Over the course of 3,000 years it has been variously honoured and ignored. Kipling’s 1892 poem Tommy makes sardonic reference to this in the words of the eponymous squaddie. Tommy Atkins came to symbolise the British Army redcoat as he prepared to shift into khaki and face the horrors of trench warfare. However, it has been the discretionary wars of the twenty-first century – ‘Blair’s wars’ – that have caused us to measure out and define the parameter of the duty owed to those that potentially pay the ultimate price in the service of their country.
In Tommy This an’ Tommy That Andrew Murrison uses his perspective as a senior military doctor, Iraq veteran and, latterly, frontline politician, to dissect the events of the past ten years and set them in a historical context. Murrison charts the way in which societal and political changes have impacted on the wellbeing of uniformed men and women – both within the theatre of war and beyond it. Using historical examples he chronicles the nation’s changing sense of obligation towards the military, charts how the state has been shaped by it and looks at the future of the covenant.
Today, David Cameron stated that he was discussing the issue with the Royal British Legion, he said that the best thing to do would be to have the covenant recognised in law and to follow up every year with a debate in the House of Commons to keep it up-to-date. This is an ever-changing issue and now is the time to get to grips with it.
Tommy This an’ Tommy That is published June 4 2011, priced £12.99.
The formula for a great speech is so complex that people tend to write whole books on the subject (see Speaking to Lead by John Shosky), so in our brief blog we’re not going to attempt such a thing. Instead, we’d like to identify one key feature that no great speech would be without… an enemy. Whether you are Winston Churchill, Elizabeth I or King Theodyn from The Lord of the Rings, you need an enemy (based on these examples, unusually an invading one).
This morning the country woke up to the news that Labour’s Debbie Abrahams has held her seat in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election with 42% of the vote, up ten points since the general election. And, unless you woke up at insane o’clock this morning, the news coverage you saw would have included this rousing speech by the victor. We must say that when we saw it, it did kind of remind us of this speech from the film Taken, particularly as they are similar in length and tone.
My favourite part of Debbie Abrahams’s speech was when she said that she would hunt down, find and kill David Cameron and Nick Clegg if that was what it would take to get her daughter back. Oh no, wait, sorry, that was Liam Neeson.
What Debbie Abrahams did say was that “The voters have spoken for the country, they have sent a clear message… there is growing anger against your reckless policies, against your broken promises and your unfair cuts”, aiming her cutting remarks at the coalition government. If this was a signal from the voting public to show their dissatisfaction with the current government, then it is surely time to look to the future and consider the progress of the opposition…
Labour’s Revival by Paul Richards, editor of Tony Blair in his own words and author of How To Win An Election and Be Your Own Spin Doctor, explores exactly that. Analysing past errors and assessing the party’s potential for change and new agendas, Richards offers a comprehensive text for anyone interested in the future of Labour.
Let’s hope some key members of the party are reading this. Remember, Ed, they are your enemy.
Order your copy of Paul Richards’s Labour’s Revival: The Modernisers’ Manifesto here for £12.99
With the Conservatives in power again, albeit in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, it’s tough not to start making comparisons between the world in the early days of the Thatcher government and these of the coalition. When Lord Lawson was interviewed on Talk Radio Europe last week that seemed to be the main focus. The interviewer and Lord Lawson also talked about his second home in the southern part of France, but we don’t want to talk about that because it has nothing to do with politics and may show us to be a bit jealous.
Nigel Lawson, one of the key players in Margaret Thatcher’s government, said that there are some comparisons to be made between the system they inherited and the one that the coalition did recently: “trade unions running rampant” and a “hugely bloated public sector” are two of the main comparisons to be drawn. Lord Lawson stated that the culpability for many present-day economic problems rests with Gordon Brown, as indeed it would to anyone who took on the position of Chancellor and then Prime Minister.
However, even after admitting that this is a difficult time for Lib Dems and Conservatives and noting that “the coalition is a curious creature”, Lord Lawson believes that the Thatcher era has, if anything, shown that these problems can be put right and that the coalition can take comfort from that.
So there you go, Nick and David, make you feel any better?
Nigel Lawson’s Memoirs of a Tory Radical includes all-new material on the current state of British politics and the economic situation, as well as the original fascinating account of his life on the political front-line.
Order your copy here for £14.99
Whether it’s five days, three men or one document, the 2010 general election showed that even the smallest things can change the face of history. Remember the film The Butterfly Effect? Well, it’s like that, but with more politics, less Ashton Kutcher and, you know, actually interesting.
In his new book 5 Days To Power, Rob Wilson studies the negotiations that led to the political earthquake of a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government, collating information from key figures in all three political parties who were involved in the discussions and crafting the most comprehensive account of the talks that shaped our current political climate. And he comes to the conclusion that the most important figure of those tumultuous days in May was… the guy from the civil service.
No really, Rob says it in this article on ConservativeHome.
Now, we don’t know if it’s just because he’s a great writer (shameless PR), but the theory, which says that without a chapter in the Cabinet Manual entitled ‘Elections and Government Formation’ our history could have been dramatically different, does make sense. Alright, so without Gordon Brown or David Cameron or Nick Clegg or David Laws (another person who we have a book with, another moment of shameless PR) or any of the major negotiators, then we wouldn’t have our current situation. But we at Biteback like Rob Wilson for celebrating the men behind the scenes, because the men on stage get all the press these days.
You can now buy Rob Wilson’s full account of the five days (and butterflies) that changed the country forever, 5 Days To Power in paperback and e-book format for £9.99 and £4.60, respectively.
With the recent release of two big Biteback titles, David Laws’s 22 Days in May and Rob Wilson’s 5 Days to Power, we got to go to a fancy event with the authors (so we should, they’re our books!) Both books deal with the formation and early days of the Liberal Democrat- Conservative coalition government and, just as each book complements the other, the discussion worked brilliantly, with Wilson and Laws melding research and ideas for a balanced and comprehensive recreation of those enthralling days in May that shaped our current political climate. Also, Nick Robinson was there! Excuse us for being geeky enough to squeal like teenage girls.
We love it when you buy the exclusive insider story of one of the most exciting moments in modern political history and the author, as well as producing his fascinating report of the birth of the coalition government, cares enough to add flavour to the already delicious menu of events.
David Laws, speaking last night on BBC Somerset, was asked by political reporter Ruth Bradley why he included so much detail, even down to times and locations of meetings, to which he replied that it adds to the “richness of the tapestry”. Yes David! We’re literature people, and we love that. Ruth herself even seemed to agree, noting that the mood came across effectively.
22 Days in May is the unique account of the days that formed our current coalition government, including some quite startling revelations about the negotiations of the Liberal Democrats with the two lobbying parties. Bradley wasted no time in getting to these “juicy bits” (her words, not ours, although they look great on this blog and work with this extended metaphor about food).
When asked whether Labour took the talks seriously, the author said that “Gordon Brown was quite serious about seeing if he could stay in power… as was Lord Adonis”. However, whilst the Conservatives were making “all sorts of concessions”, not only were various select members of the Labour camp “difficult to deal with” but Laws says he felt there were “a number of comments meant to sabotage the negotiations”. He even claims that Ed Balls directly stated “there are many Labour MPs who won’t like these ideas”, planting the notion that the Party would not be behind any form of coalition in its entirety.
Deborah Mattinson, Britain’s leading pollster and author of Talking to a Brick Wall, revisits the Harlow focus group for their verdict on the coalition government so far…
Talking to a Brick Wall tells the story of the New Labour years from the voters’ viewpoint.
Writing the final chapters during the 2010 election campaign, I set up a panel of swing voters in Harlow, Britain’s fifth most marginal seat. It was made up of people with consistent records of voting Labour (’97, ’01, even ’05) who were now undecided. They were the voters who would determine the election outcome. In the end, their own vote perfectly matched the result, with almost all switching to the Conservatives or Lib Dems.
My last panel session for Talking to a Brick Wall took place just after the Cameron/Clegg double act in the No. 10 Rose Garden. It received a warm reception:
Hopefully a fresh start for the whole country
In the last week of August I brought panel members together again to learn their verdict on the coalition so far. Had their expectations – so high in those honeymoon days – been met? (more…)
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