Palace revolution at The Guardian

You may have noticed The Guardian has uncharacteristically published a comment piece by the proudly self-defined neo-conservative Oliver Kamm today.

You may well think that it's just another instance of the Guardian's usual tokenism towards views other than their customary hard left moonbattery, given that some of the usual suspects such as Polly Toynbee, George Monbiot , Victoria Brittain and Harold Pinter feature in all their glory.

But I've got some sensational info from a Grauniad mole going by the moniker of P.Rimshpiel (could it be some connection to Donald Rumsfeld? CIA?).

That's no less than Seumas Milne has been overthrown, and is no longer editor of the Comments section. I haven't yet heard what's become of him, but I gather it's going to have huge repercussions.

Equally sensational is the news that his replacement is no less than Melanie Phillips. And it appears she now has the ear of kingpin Alan Rusbridger, the editor. Well, she did have a very long career as a senior editor at the Guardian. So Milne's sacking is the first of a huge series of changes. You won't just be seeing Oliver Kamm featuring on a regular basis. Names like David Aaronovitch, Norman Geras, Mark Steyn and even David T of Harry's Place are being mooted as the Graun's new star columnists. And even Scott Burgess is set to run a weekly column on statistics, economics and political thought.

There was a little rumble of what was going on when the Graun put up a Kadima-supporting Israeli blogger, Shai Tsur, as one of its commentators in its Newsblog last week. But typically, hardly anyone noticed. Least of all the commenters on his blog piece.

As for me, I can't wait for the next revelation from P.Rimshpiel.....

UPDATE: News is seeping out of what they are going to do with the old moonbatters and hard left columnists. They're being relegated to a group blog, so the Graun can keep its existing and constantly shrinking constituency happy, whilst adding the rest of the world.... Brilliant!

Comments

[lyn]

Very good,P.Rimspiel. I was about to congratulate Melanie Phillips on her new appointment. One can but dream, can't one?

[Martin Morgan]

Now, that really would be a chag!
Best wishes to Malka and Uncle Mort.

[JohnM]

My first thought is April the first is here early this year. I hope you are right.

[Cynic]

So another Purim spiel?
The first was Naturei Karta (descendents of pigs and apes) rubbing shoulders with Haman's descendents in Teheran, during Purim of all times, on how to get rid of Israel and now another; an attempted palace coup by Queen Ester of the blogs and her privy council?

[Lynne T]

C'mon Judy. This is a Purim prank, isn't it?

[Fakejoshuatree]

P.Rimshpiel - Mel R Philips?

[Solomon]

Yes, I understand that Charlton Heston is going to do a regular column (ghost-written, of course) for the print edition on the virtues of concealed carry.

[Stephen]

Heh! If only...

Purim sameach!

[Wimpy Canadian]

This is my first visit and what
great newd this would be. My
socialist sister will be distraut
I hope itstrue.

[austin]

What an absurd notion—allowing Jews and Israelis to controll the media dialogue on the Middle East!
What would Wolf Blitzer say?

[Nachman C]

Ah if every day was Purim. However having read Melanie P's blog on last Thursday's Newsnight piece on the perfidious dual loyalty Jews of the UK I think its time our brothers and sisters in the Uk started packing their bags. In her words it was vicious I would say it was a blood libel of medieval proportions.

[Acer]

If Melanie really is back in the saddle and all those columnists, or even a fraction of them, are hired, there will no longer be any point in reading the dear old Guardian. The only reason you read the Guardian is to disagree violently with what it says.

[Joanne]

One correction here: As far as I know, Kamm is a man of the left (albeit not far left). He is not a neo-Conservative, in spite of the title of a recent book of his.

[Joanne]

Oops, so this is all a joke. Sounded way unrealistic, come to think of it. I didn't realize Purim was like April Fool's Day. In fact, I didn't even realize it was Purim. I cut a pretty poor figure as a Jew, don't I?

[Lynne]

Joanne:

Most people who are labelled "neoconservative" are true small "l" liberals, like Paul Wolfowitz or David Frum. Until I read an article yesterday by Phyllis Chesler on a speech delivered by Cynthia Ozick to honour the founder of the Partisan Review, I had quite forgotten Norm Podhertz's origins too.

[mark]

In point of fact I have heard (on "Harry's Place" etc) of murmerings aganst the appalling Mr Milne.

If he should be dumped remember you heard it here first.

[Joanne]

Lynne,

There has often been confusion between "liberals" in the classic Adam Smith sense (i.e., for small government, laissez faire economics, etc.) and "Liberals," which in American parlance means support for a welfare state or left-of-center foreign policies.

Small "l" liberals are not Liberals, they are not on the left in any sense, at least not when it comes to socio-economic policies.

I remember reading that Kamm did not choose the title of his book, though you'd have to double-check that (sorry, I'm too lazy to). He is on the left, but is for the war in Iraq and for the existence of Israel. There are left-wingers like that. Check out the blog Harry's Place, for instance. Also the American journal called Dissent.

[Bemused]

Well, it's news to me that Polly Toynbee is a "hard left moonbat".

Try growing up a bit and stop throwing childish catch all phrases about.

Perhaps you might actually read and consider what people actually say.

[Judy]

Oliver Kamm does not demur at his book or his writings being classified as "neo-conservative" here:
http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2005/12/sunday_times_re.html

and doesn't see advocating a neo-conservative (ie liberal militant interventionist) foreign policy as incompatible with being a social democrat and supporter of the Labour Party. It's part of his thesis that the 1940s and 50s Labour leaders, Attlee and Hugh Gaitskell, were active supporters of such foreign policies.

He is a founder member of the Henry Jackson society,

http://zope06.v.servelocity.net/hjs/principles_html

named for US Democratic Senator "Scoop" Jackson, about which Stephen Pollard wrote here,

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1892304_2,00.html

identifying its relationship to neo-conservatism and Oliver Kamm's book. Perhaps it would have been more precise of me to have described him as a supporter of neo-conservative foreign policies.

[Judy]

Bemused--if you'd read my post attentively, you'd have noticed that I referred to *The Guardian* as running hard left moonbattery. Amongst the usual suspects I listed were two of the hard left and two of the moonbat, though of course there's often some overlap in their positions.

In the case of Polly Toynbee, here's a selection of the many blog pieces which pick up her moonbat tendencies:

http://dailyablution.blogs.com/the_daily_ablution/2004/01/flash_polly_toy.html

http://greenspin.blogspot.com/2004_08_08_greenspin_archive.html

and her specialism is the use of inadequately understood statistics to support moonbat positions

http://dailyablution.blogs.com/the_daily_ablution/2004/05/polly_toynbees_.html

As for growing up, well, at my age, it's probably expecting a lot. Doubt if I'll ever get beyond my present five foot three.

[Judy]

Sorry, the URLs re Polly Toynbee for the previous comment were truncated by Typepad. Here they are:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

[peter]

Famously, the Guardian never sacks people which makes it a bit of an anomaly in Fleet Street, where to be sacked is like having a duelling scar... People get put out to funny little paddocks instead, such as 'special reports' and 'surveys'.
It doesn't seem to sack ideas either, which is probably why you still get the kind of 'left-wing' opinion from the likes of Jonathon Steele that went out in 1972 elsewhere in the UK...