Will Heaven

Eichmann and Mladic on trial: images of evil (Photo: Reuters)

In April 1961, Adolf Eichmann was put on trial in Israel, after being captured by Mossad in Argentina. The “architect” of the Nazi Holocaust had organised the murder of millions of Jews. But he looked so ordinary. In another life, he might have been a bank clerk or a librarian or a schoolteacher. How could this pathetic little man, with his round glasses and clipped manner, be responsible for deporting the victims of the Holocaust to their deaths?

It was this question that troubled the German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt, who was reporting on the trial for The New Yorker. Her answer, revealed in Eichmann in Jerusalem, was as follows:
The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the… Read More

The secret FIFA ballot paper (Photo: AP)

…and for the toady in charge of the world’s most popular sport.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn does the 'perp walk' (Photo: Reuters)

“Conspiracy theories are the refuge of the disempowered,” says Roger Cohen of the New York Times. Is he right? Depends who he means by the disempowered, surely. And Cohen means the French:
France remains a nation of Napoleonic centralism where the functionary’s mentality holds sway. The ingrained reflex of that mind-set is to look to the state for salvation, to believe in some all-orchestrating higher power.
Which explains, he says, why 60 per cent of French society believes that the allegations of attempted rape made against Dominique Strauss-Kahn are part of a sting. State centralism equals dependence on the state – and that leads to belief in the state’s hidden powers. Cohen views France’s Big State as a conspiracy theory factory.

This strikes me as far-fetched. But… Read More

Until about 4pm yesterday afternoon, Adele – the most successful female pop act since Madonna – was Britain’s most popular young lady. Half an hour later, thanks to a nasty Guardian hit-job, she was no better than a “moat-friendly, port-stained Tory grandee”. What the hell happened?

David Laws apologises to the House of Commons (Photo: PA)

The Westminster village is divided over David Laws today. Some bloggers see his seven-day suspension from parliament as a tragedy. “The whole episode is very sad”, writes Tim Montgomerie on ConHome. “Sad for Mr Laws that he felt unable to be honest. Sad for the Coalition that the most talented of Liberal Democrats won’t be rejoining the frontbench anytime soon.”

Guido, meanwhile, is more blunt. Laws’ explanation for actions – that his motivation was privacy, not financial gain – is “not good enough”, says the blogger.

As it happens, I’m with Guido on this, but we are all missing the point. Far away from the Westminster bubble, it was his constituency that Mr Laws really betrayed. He boasted to his voter… Read More

Ed Miliband meets Labour supporters in Northfleet, Kent (Photo: PA)

Nick Hewer, who is Lord Sugar’s right-hand man on the Apprentice, has been interviewed by the Guardian today. He’s a old-time Labour supporter like his TV boss, but here’s his verdict on Ed Miliband:
I met Ed Miliband recently. Oh dear oh dear. He has the weakest handshake in western Europe. I went straight to William Hill and asked them to take a bet that he will not be Labour leader by the next election. Unfortunately they wouldn’t.
Hewer should check out their website. Will Ed Miliband go before the next general election? It’s 1/3 No, and 9/4 Yes.

The Guardian 'enthusiastically' supported Nick Clegg (Photo: Getty)

The Guardian newspaper, which “enthusiastically” supported the Liberal Democrats at the last general election, has released the following statement on the AV referendum, courtesy of Tom Clark:
No one ever claimed that Guardian readers were representative of the wider population, but compare the referendum result with the views you expressed in our own survey a couple of years ago, and you could be forgiven for thinking that planet Guardian exists in an entirely different universe.
Far, far away.

President Obama has chosen not to make a big speech at Ground Zero, despite the fact that his approval ratings are the highest they’ve been for two years. I think he deserves credit for that: it’s a rare example of modesty from this US president. Barack Obama knows full well that Americans – automatically – would compare such a speech to the one made on the same spot by George W. Bush on September 14, 2001, with the help of a fireman’s megaphone.

Here’s how Bush describes the moment in Decision Points:
People shouted, “We can’t hear you.” I shot back, “I can hear you!” It got a cheer. I had been hoping to rally the workers and express the resolve of the country. Suddenly I knew how. “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you,” I said, prompting a louder roar. “And the people who knocked down… Read More

Hat-tip to the Telegraph’s Conrad Quilty-Harper and one sharp-eyed Redditpics user for spotting that the bottom half of the photo of a dead Osama bin Laden looks like one we already had (albeit the mirrored version).

Having taken the bottom half of the photo on the top left, I’ve just made this on photoshop in about 30 seconds. See what I mean?

It doesn’t change the fact that Osama bin Laden is dead. But it does prove that photos of the corpse are not in the public domain. Yet.

Update. I’ve been emailed the full image from which the top half is taken. It’s gory, but here – with a warning that the content may upset some – is the link for those that aren’t yet convinced.

The royal couple passes the Palace of Westminster (Photo: Getty)

April 29, 2011. A day that was good for Prince William and Kate Middleton, for the monarchy, for tradition and ceremony and for Britain’s constitution. So… was it a good day for the Yes to AV campaign?

I think not. The scene pictured above – which shows the royal couple’s carriage passing the Palace of Westminster – could easily have been taken in 1947, at the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth. The Houses of Parliament were still being repaired after Nazi bomb damage, but our constitution and parliamentary system were just as they are now in practice and presentation.

This is being threatened next week. The Yes to AV campaign wants change the country’s voting system. But you know what?… Read More