The Dish

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 4 pm.

I’ll be on the George Stephanopoulos show tomorrow morning.

"In a direct sense, the carnage on Wall Street is all about the great housing slump. This slump was both predictable and predicted. “These days,” I wrote in August 2005, “Americans make a living selling each other houses, paid for with money borrowed from the Chinese. Somehow, that doesn’t seem like a sustainable lifestyle.” It wasn’t," – Paul Krugman yesterday.

A reader writes:

While doing some quick research for a job I’m applying for at James Madison’s Montpelier I ran across some unbelievable quotes attributed to the father of the Constitution given our current political and historical situations:

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”

“It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

“The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.”

“War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.”

“Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.”

Now read this. And this. And people wonder why Ron Paul and Barack Obama have traction out there.

As it becomes clearer and clearer that the actual plans are for an occupation of Iraq with at least 100,000 troops for a decade or more, William Langewiesche takes a look at the massive US embassy being built as the central imperial palace in Baghdad. Money quote:

The construction has proceeded within budget and on time. For the State Department, this is a matter of pride. The prime contractor is First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting, which for security reasons was not allowed to employ Iraqi laborers, and instead imported more than a thousand workers from such countries as Bangladesh and Nepal. The importation of Third World laborers is a standard practice in Iraq, where the huge problem of local unemployment is trumped by American fears of the local population, and where it is not unusual, for instance, to find U.S. troops being served in chow halls by Sri Lankans wearing white shirts and bow ties.

First Kuwaiti has been accused of holding its workers in captivity by keeping their passports in a safe, as if otherwise they could have blithely exited the Green Zone, caught a ride to the airport, passed through the successive airport checkpoints, overcome the urgent crowds at the airline counters, purchased a ticket, bribed the police to ignore the country’s myriad exit requirements (including a recent H.I.V. test), and hopped a flight for Dubai. Whatever the specific allegations, which First Kuwaiti denies, in the larger context of Iraq the accusation is absurd. It is Iraq that holds people captive. Indeed, the U.S government itself is a prisoner, and all the more tightly held because it engineered the prison where it resides. The Green Zone was built by the inmates themselves. The new embassy results from their desire to get their confinement just right.

The gilded cage of empire. Get used to it.

Another parody of our winner.

Two obvious reasons to be thankful: his denialism with respect to climate change deserves a rebuke. And his almost blind support for president Bush, regardless of the quality of the policies he was implementing in Iraq, made him neither a good ally nor a genuine supporter of an effective war effort. Bush has now lost Blair and Howard as too-stalwart allies.

Alex Massie directs me to an important historical document on the question of squirrels, a subject the beagles care a great deal more about than habeas corpus. In fact, habeas corpus means an entirely different thing to beagles with respect to squirrels. It’s a debate in the House of Lords about the fate of the British red squirrel. The NYT had a piece on the subject recently and unaccountably did not reproduce whole segments of the debate in the Lords. Here it is, at some length, for your Thanksgiving weekend education:

Earl Peel: To many, the red squirrel represents an integral part of our woodland landscape—an iconic creature, immortalised by Beatrix Potter, through the charismatic character of Squirrel Nutkin. But before concentrating on Squirrel Nutkin—or sciurus vulgaris, to give him his rather unflattering title—I thought I might conduct a brief health check of some of the main characters in Beatrix Potter’s class of 1912. Starting with Tabitha Twitchit and Tom Kitten, they are truly on top of their game—despite the fact that against a declining wild bird population they are responsible for the killing of some 160 million birds per annum. It is perhaps surprising, given this carnage, that some of the conservation charities do not cry "foul"—but that might have something to do with the small matter of membership.

Let us now consider the status of Mr Todd, the fox. On second thoughts, given that he has taken up 700 hours of parliamentary time, it would be somewhat hypocritical of me to prolong the debate; but something tells me that we have not reached the end of Mr Todd. Is he doing well since the legislation? Not particularly, I think.

That brings me on seamlessly to the other really controversial character that graced the class of 1912—and that of course is Tommy Brock. Hasn’t he done well? Despite suffering from and carrying tuberculosis, he has successfully managed to establish himself in the hearts and minds of the nation as being more important than dairy cows or, indeed, farmers’ livelihoods, and, like Mr Todd, has managed to secure his very own legislation.

Squirrel Nutkin must look back on his alma mater and think to himself, "How could it have all gone so wretchedly wrong for me?". Why couldn’t he, like Tommy Brock, have employed a top public relations firm and secured himself as a logo for a major conservation body? How very different life might have been. But what really hurts—and hurts to the core—is that given that it is largely the fault of the American grey squirrel that he is in such a parlous state today, why is it that when someone’s dog kills a grey squirrel he can be fined up to £5,000?

Where has it all gone so wrong for the red squirrel? …

Lord Redesdale: My Lords, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Peel, for initiating the debate and commend him for his bravery. It takes a brave man to initiate a debate that had Radio 4 saying this morning that he would be calling for an immediate cull of grey squirrels. I hate to say that his postbag will immediately be filled with letters from irate people who love grey squirrels. Indeed, many of us in this House who prefer to love red squirrels also enjoy the sight of grey squirrels in our gardens and parks, although in a recent discussion they were described as rats with good PR.

One of the problems in the public perception is that grey squirrels are the only squirrels they see. They see them in parks and gardens, and they are sociable and friendly animals. Yesterday, I walked through St James’s Park and watched tourists feeding grey squirrels crisps by hand. In Regent’s Park, a grey squirrel came up to my son and me and actually climbed up my leg to look in my pocket. This is not an unusual experience with grey squirrels, because they can become quite aggressive. That is a fact, although I believe there has been a cull in Regent’s Park recently, so there are not so many greys around at the moment…

Lord Hoyle: My Lords, perhaps they are friendlier in Regent’s Park than they are in St James’s Park. One that ran up my leg bit me…

Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: I want to put two questions to the noble Lord, Lord Bach, which I hope he will respond to when he winds up. First, I believe that once upon a time a bounty was offered for killing grey squirrels. You had to produce the tail in order to claim it. Does he know about this, and is it true? That could be a way forward. Secondly, I do not know whether grey squirrels are edible. If they were and a market could be found for their meat, that would help to get rid of them. The only trouble is I have a nasty feeling that it would be rather difficult to establish the market because a lot of people, children in particular, would say, "Oh no, I couldn’t possibly eat that", just as they say they cannot eat dear little bunny rabbits. But this is worth having a look at.

Lord Monro of Langholm: My Lords, I am rather surprised that the Labour Party opposite, which professes to be the party of animal rights, does not seem to have any speakers down at all in support of squirrels today. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Peel and the noble Lady, Lady Saltoun, on putting the case so strongly for the red squirrel. The noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, seems to want to have it both ways: he wants his grey squirrels and his red squirrels, but that is not possible. If we look 10 years ahead, there will be no red squirrels if we do not we take more urgent action. The indigenous red squirrel will have gone and we will have to put up with the imported grey squirrel from the United States. Every now and again I go there. In urban areas grey squirrels are an absolute pest. They are in and out of dustbins and motorcars; they stand on the roof and do all sorts of things on the windscreen, and they cause accidents by dashing across the road. A large number of grey squirrels, which would be inevitable, would cause a great deal of hardship in this country.

Unfortunately, Hadrian’s Wall has not kept the grey squirrel out of Scotland…

Lord Chorley:.. I question whether we are holding our own in the Lake District. In South Lakeland we have certainly lost the battle. Three or four noble Lords who have spoken this morning, starting with the noble Earl, have referred to Beatrix Potter and Squirrel Nutkin. He was a red squirrel, and that was at Derwentwater. Beatrix Potter was an intrepid fighter and she was a splendid person. I must be the only noble Lord who knew her. I was taken to have tea with her in about 1941, just before she died. Sadly, I have no real recollection of her, except that she seemed to me to be a bit like Mrs Tiggywinkle. Unfortunately, I was at an age when Biggles was much more interesting to me than Peter Rabbit or Squirrel Nutkin. The point about Beatrix Potter is that she was a very tough businesswoman and she was a doughty fighter who did not suffer fools gladly—that is to say, people she disagreed with. She would have been hugely effective in fighting for us for red squirrels.

Lord Inglewood: …If we mean to save red squirrels, it is no good extrapolating past policies, wringing our hands and expressing platitudes any more than it was in Sir Stephen’s day. We have to be imaginative, radical and think out of the box. For a start, why do we not take a leaf out of Sir Stephen’s book and follow the example of the noble Lady, Lady Saltoun, and promote the animal as food? After all, it can be done in the interests of forestry, conservation and as part of a programme of diversifying the rural economy. As has been explained, greys do millions of pounds worth of damage to trees. They are driving the reds helter-skelter to oblivion and destruction, and the Government are encouraging shooting to diversify the economic base of the rural economy. That approach gives the Government the chance of achieving several disparate policy aims at one and the same time.

Squirrels are said to be good to eat. Sir Stephen wrote that, in Connecticut, the great chef Brillat-Savarin created a banquet,

    "of grey squirrels stewed in Madeira, together with partridge wings en papillote and roast turkey".

The LL Bean Game and Fish Cookbook says:

    "I believe, squirrel meat is the most delicious of all small game meats. Chicken-fried young squirrel is better than rabbit or chicken, two of my favorite meats; in addition, the squirrel lends itself to most savory stews and braises".

There are then 10 pages of specific recipes.

I am sure that the obesity tsar would be only too overexcited to support this good healthy initiative. What about celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver promoting it for school dinners? Indeed, the House authorities could put it on the menu here. My father was a Member of the other place shortly after the war. When he and some of his friends were dining in the Members’ Dining Room, they found black partridge on the menu. They knew a little about birds and none of them could find in their memory any recollection of black partridge. Nor could they find it in the bird books that they consulted. After some investigation, it turned out to be young rook. So there is certainly precedent here for that kind of thing.

Despite standing here promoting it, I must confess that I have never actually eaten a grey squirrel—I do not know whether any other noble Lord has. Perhaps it will suggest that I suffer from one of the worst characteristics of those in public life today. However, I am prepared to give it a go. I invite each and every Member of the government Front-Bench Defra [Department of Environment and Rural Affairs] team to the hotel in the Lake District where I am a director—and which has, I hasten to add, one AA rosette for fine food—to dine on grey squirrels to launch an "Eat a Grey to Save a Red" campaign.

I will feel very let down and be very sceptical of the Government’s true intentions on biodiversity if, on the advice of some politically correct adviser, the invitation is refused. After all, let us not forget that many of the things we eat as a matter of course are entirely lovable and pretty creatures which appeal to the wider world. What is the difference? Perhaps more importantly, I am not the only one who will feel let down—the red squirrels will too. As I have already said, unless something radical and imaginative is done—and an extrapolation of what we are doing now does not amount to that—Squirrel Nutkin and his friends and relations are "going to be toast"…

Lord Livsey of Talgarth: My Lords, this is an important debate, but I fear that the press reporting of it may be advantageous to headlines. I am sure that, were William Shakespeare in the Press Gallery, he would report someone here as having said "a pox on grey squirrels". It is that sort of subject. Grey squirrels have very good PR.

Worst ’80s Video:

Runner-up here.

Best ’80s Video:

Runner-up here.

Best-Worst ’80s video:

Runner-up here.

Honorable mention for the following, a video that alone failed to get any votes at all, which, in this contest, is an achievement all by itself. Looking at it again, though, I can see why:

Major thanks to Jessie Roberts who put all this together.

A reader writes:

I too have a noticed more of a capacity for emotional detachment at English dining tables than American ones. I am not English, but I was born outside of the United States, and I must say that I like that about you fellows. I had previously ascribed this tendency to your educational system: you spent your undergraduate years jousting with a don while American undergraduates were snoozing at lectures.

That well may be, but I suspect there’s more to it than that. It’s more of a freewheeling attitude you have over there to the business of politics. Look at the vocal, even rowdy culture of British Parliament as opposed to the relatively more sedate American Congress. We don’t even have to limit ourselves to the English. Look at the righteous fury of the Pakistani body politic as their constitution is mauled. It’s true, here in the U.S. we have not suffered damage of that extent, but our constitution has suffered an evisceration too. All the time the general population has been perfectly anesthetized — perfectly polite.

It’s somewhat of a paradox though, isn’t it? I think Americans are correctly pegged as being more extroverted and demonstrative than other cultures, certainly more than the reserved British. But when it comes to politics they’re shyer than mice.