Quality | 2009.07.17
Hugh Muir's diary
All must pull together to save the Royal Mail. You too, Ma\'am
The Queen may get her own private plane, according to those who know these things. Cheaper than chartering, is the rationale. Royal wanderlust cost the taxpayer £193,000 last year. But never let it be said that she doesn\'t think long and hard about saving the pennies, especially when she is scheduled to run out of money by 2012. Invitees to a forthcoming garden party were delighted to be summoned but surprised that the first port of call was the post office to which they trudged to pay the correct postage. Frugality we applaud, but that just looks bad.
• We aim to see the millionaire publisher and poet Felix Dennis installed as the Oxford professor of poetry, and daily our campaign gains momentum. Mindful of the unpleasantness that marred the last sorry contest for the post, we have so far kept him away from the lobbying. The man himself will be deployed as and when. After our last item featuring his broadside against trousering MPs, verse set to the tune of Old MacDonald, he writes in urging us to fairly represent his abilities. "The majority of my verse consists of sonnets, villanelles, ballads and other traditional forms," he says. Many thousands flock to readings, where the wine he serves "costs more than the £10 or £12" charged for entrance. So is it to be Felix, his masterworks and top-draw refreshment, or Clive James and at best a glass of warm Piat D\'Or?
• So who else do we see unwittingly putting money into the pockets of Nick Griffin and the BNP by allowing their ads to appear on his EU website under Google\'s AdSense scheme? Well there\'s still Phones4U, TravelRepublic.co.uk , TheLadders.co.uk . And who\'s this, with a Google ad on the site of Griffin\'s far-right homie Andrew Brons? Why it\'s Felix\'s acclaimed news magazine, The Week. Get that ad blocked, Felix.
• Something of a tug of war developing at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, where chairman Trevor Phillips awaits word as to whether his contract will be extended. Oh no it won\'t, said the Daily Mail at the weekend. Oh yes it should be, say his supporters. And from ministers, thus far, silence. But then there is some justification for that, because this particular tug of war is being played out on a minefield. Look at his ill-advised participation in commercial race equality contracts while serving as the ECHR\'s three-day-a-week chairman, say detractors, some his own commissioners. Look at the management of the new organisation, the "controversy" over the accounts, the staff who have left. Yes, let\'s look at all that, say his supporters. Hasn\'t he made the best of the bad job that is the ECHR, with its viciously competing priorities? And since when was the chair specifically responsible for the day to day management of a grand quango? Isn\'t that the job of the chief executive? Ministers could knock heads, but their opinion is split between Harriet Harman and chief of all ships Mandelson, who would extend his tenure, and siren voices such as Maria Eagle, the equalities minister, who many say would dance a little jig if he went. Add race to the mix, and the stakes are raised still higher. Someone will win, but the ground will be gouged thereafter. Certainly as a spectacle, it\'s not pretty to watch.
• Finally, the man he speaks and they will listen. Not often that we are able to hear from Michael Ignatieff, once the pointy-headed BBC TV presenter, now a cerebral party leader in Canada. We miss his clear thinking and his intellect. That is why for most of us, last night\'s Isaiah Berlin lecture held at the National Liberal Club, promised such a treat. Something, in fact, for everybody. "He\'s very well-preserved for a man of his age," remarked one senior female Lib Dem peer, who also saw him earlier this year, eyes sparkling bewitchingly. "I sat next to him on the Paddy Ashdown battle bus years ago and fell in love," said another. And what did he say last night? Don\'t ask the smitten. He said words, lots of lovely words.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/09/hugh-muir-diary-post
