Could it be his long-time foe Max Hastings?
• The Great War sparks furious debate. Into the fray rides Simon Heffer, the Daily Mail's chief opinion-meister. He has pretty harsh words for some who advance the theory that Germany's behaviour made the war just and Britain's entanglement inevitable. Those who "imitate" serious scholars should know better, writes Heffer in the magazine Standpoint. "In feeding our anti-German prejudices – the prejudices some second-rate authors manifestly deem necessary to sell their rather superficial books – they advance the view that Germany had a uniformly vile and aggressive attitude to its neighbours and potential enemies from the time of Bismarck until the surrender of 1945." This provokes interest, not just among academics, but also among veterans of the Daily Telegraph, who note that most obviously prominent in the "Germany was to blame/war was inevitable" lobby is the historian, Daily Mail mega-columnist and former Daily Telegraph editor Max Hastings. They recall that Heffer served as deputy editor under Sir Max, author of the acclaimed book Catastrophe: Europe Goes To War 1914. The two men did not get on. So was that a swipe at your colleague and former boss, we asked Heffer? "As if," the reply. Make of that what you will.
• Many rules in parliament, many concerning the use of the buildings. And the rules are pretty clear. "Charities may not seek direct financial or other kinds of support at the House of Lords functions, and the amount (if any) charged to guests must be broadly in line with the actual cost per head." With that in mind, we wondered about an afternoon tea affair organised by the LCS Healthcare group and the Adam Smith Institute. Top speakers Lord Warner and former health minister Stephen Dorrell. Cake, sandwiches and the like. But with a delegate ticket price of £69 plus VAT for afternoon tea and chat, we did wonder what the sandwich fillings would be. The Lords authorities wondered too. "The director of facilities is now looking into the booking," a Lords spokesman told us. But when we investigate, the prospect of caviar sandwiches proves illusory. With all of the complimentary tickets and overheads we'll be lucky to break even, laments an organiser.
• Another Westminster question: should MPs have been given their own plush new meeting room in Portcullis House? For while one understands that they might like somewhere to kick back and share frustrations, they also seem loth in this climate of rancour to be seen benefiting from its exclusivity. Thus, in our monitoring of the new facility one day this week, only two people were seen taking advantage. By contrast, the library, which occupied the same space and which was open to MPs' staff, was well used.
• Now 76 and with an extraordinary body of work, can David Bailey be declared a national treasure? Maybe not yet. Who do you admire, asked BBC History magazine. Alfred Hitchcock, he said. Why so? "He too was from London's East End. He didn't much like the police and neither do I."
• Finally, a day of funny and sad tributes to Georgina Henry, former deputy editor of the Guardian, who died of cancer earlier this month and has been remembered in a memorial service today. Colleagues, family and friends recalled her groundbreaking work as a writer, an editor and creator of the pioneering interactive opinion site Comment is free. They remembered her passion for journalism and politics. Also her legendary directness. After one major operation, her husband, the writer Ronan Bennett, arrived at her bedside. Her first words to him: "You will never believe what Michael Gove has done now." By dint of her vision for Cif, and her role crafting a space for readers to join national debates, contributor posts to the site played an unusually significant part in the service. Alan Rickman read a selection. "People like her are always supposed to be there; fighting the good fight for decent values," said one. "Georgina had the gift of making you be and feel better than you actually were," said another. She "gave people the voice they never knew they had", said a third. And yet she walked humbly, said her friend, the Rev Betsy Blatchley. She did. But it was some walk.
Twitter: @hugh_muir Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.
• The Great War sparks furious debate. Into the fray rides Simon Heffer, the Daily Mail's chief opinion-meister. He has pretty harsh words for some who advance the theory that Germany's behaviour made the war just and Britain's entanglement inevitable. Those who "imitate" serious scholars should know better, writes Heffer in the magazine Standpoint. "In feeding our anti-German prejudices – the prejudices some second-rate authors manifestly deem necessary to sell their rather superficial books – they advance the view that Germany had a uniformly vile and aggressive attitude to its neighbours and potential enemies from the time of Bismarck until the surrender of 1945." This provokes interest, not just among academics, but also among veterans of the Daily Telegraph, who note that most obviously prominent in the "Germany was to blame/war was inevitable" lobby is the historian, Daily Mail mega-columnist and former Daily Telegraph editor Max Hastings. They recall that Heffer served as deputy editor under Sir Max, author of the acclaimed book Catastrophe: Europe Goes To War 1914. The two men did not get on. So was that a swipe at your colleague and former boss, we asked Heffer? "As if," the reply. Make of that what you will.
• Many rules in parliament, many concerning the use of the buildings. And the rules are pretty clear. "Charities may not seek direct financial or other kinds of support at the House of Lords functions, and the amount (if any) charged to guests must be broadly in line with the actual cost per head." With that in mind, we wondered about an afternoon tea affair organised by the LCS Healthcare group and the Adam Smith Institute. Top speakers Lord Warner and former health minister Stephen Dorrell. Cake, sandwiches and the like. But with a delegate ticket price of £69 plus VAT for afternoon tea and chat, we did wonder what the sandwich fillings would be. The Lords authorities wondered too. "The director of facilities is now looking into the booking," a Lords spokesman told us. But when we investigate, the prospect of caviar sandwiches proves illusory. With all of the complimentary tickets and overheads we'll be lucky to break even, laments an organiser.
• Another Westminster question: should MPs have been given their own plush new meeting room in Portcullis House? For while one understands that they might like somewhere to kick back and share frustrations, they also seem loth in this climate of rancour to be seen benefiting from its exclusivity. Thus, in our monitoring of the new facility one day this week, only two people were seen taking advantage. By contrast, the library, which occupied the same space and which was open to MPs' staff, was well used.
• Now 76 and with an extraordinary body of work, can David Bailey be declared a national treasure? Maybe not yet. Who do you admire, asked BBC History magazine. Alfred Hitchcock, he said. Why so? "He too was from London's East End. He didn't much like the police and neither do I."
• Finally, a day of funny and sad tributes to Georgina Henry, former deputy editor of the Guardian, who died of cancer earlier this month and has been remembered in a memorial service today. Colleagues, family and friends recalled her groundbreaking work as a writer, an editor and creator of the pioneering interactive opinion site Comment is free. They remembered her passion for journalism and politics. Also her legendary directness. After one major operation, her husband, the writer Ronan Bennett, arrived at her bedside. Her first words to him: "You will never believe what Michael Gove has done now." By dint of her vision for Cif, and her role crafting a space for readers to join national debates, contributor posts to the site played an unusually significant part in the service. Alan Rickman read a selection. "People like her are always supposed to be there; fighting the good fight for decent values," said one. "Georgina had the gift of making you be and feel better than you actually were," said another. She "gave people the voice they never knew they had", said a third. And yet she walked humbly, said her friend, the Rev Betsy Blatchley. She did. But it was some walk.
Twitter: @hugh_muir Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.