Let others decide

As a son of the manse, Gordon Brown will know all about Pontius Pilate. His behaviour over Peter Hain has just the teeniest-weeniest bit of the Pilate in it, as he has quite clearly washed his hands of this matter. In Coffee House this morning Matthew d’Ancona says that Peter Hain is “toast”. Will Gordon ride to the rescue? Will he heck!

Not quite Posh ‘n Becks Mk.2 (A further thought)

My youngest pointed out, on hearing that Tony and Cherie were Posh ‘n Becks Mk.2, that this implied an improvement. In his view this is most certainly not the case.

Giving

A fascinating Point of View on BBC Radio 4 this morning: David Cannadine talking about the changing art of giving. As Cannadine reminded listeners, “the practice of giving money away has been around for as long as there have been people possessed of more wealth than they required for their own immediate needs”, and his talk ranged in its all too brief 10 minutes from Sir Thomas Bodley to Warren Buffett, via Tate, Carnegie, Rockefeller, the Sainsburies and Bill and Melinda Gates. Cannadine identified a number of reasons why the rich are prepared to give their money away, including “the imperatives of religion, the desire for social recognition and acceptance, the need to assuage feelings of guilt, the craving for immortality, the pleasure of handing out large sums of money, and the genuine passion to try to do good, and make the world a better place.” To which I would add, at least as regards the great art collections assembled by the North American robber barons, the desire to prevent anyone else getting their hands on them. Walking around the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Frick Collection last year, I had the overwhelming feeling that whatever the reasons that drove them to collect, the last thing they were going to allow to happen was for their collections to be acquired by one of their rivals.

Not quite Posh ‘n Becks Mk.2

In his Posh ‘n Becks, Mk.2 post this morning, John Naughton links to Marina Hyde’s comment in Guardian Unlimited about the similarities between the Blairs and the Beckhams. Neither, however, noted that it is very unlikely that Tony will be asked to tea at No 10 (unlike David, who was there earlier this week: see Nick Robinson’s report on Gordon’s chat with Beckham).

And two further questions?

First, what exactly did Peter Hain spend over a £100,000 on? Stamps? Helicopters? Lunches for friends? Brown envelopes? Hairdressing? Fake tan? The list is endless (and the truth likely to be just as bizarre). And secondly, if he has to go (and is there any alternative, although staying may give a new meaning to brazening it out), will Harriet Harman and Wendy Alexander be forced to follow suit? (Ben Brogan thought so early this afternoon; although his take on the story this evening was that “barring a bombshell, Mr Hain will carry on while the Parliamentary investigation runs its course. Mr Brown may then take the opportunity of his first reshuffle, after the May elections, to drop him from the Cabinet before the verdict comes in.” Read the whole post).