Pensions: George Osborne loses his nerve

Some have compared it to a farce worthy of Alan Ayckbourn, others have condemned it as a missed opportunity. Whatever your opinion, the Chancellor’s U-turn on pensions reform is a blow for low income workers and a boost for middle-class savers. Under proposals mooted by the government (and let’s not forget that they were no

Money digest: today’s need-to-know financial news | 7 March 2016

During a weekend when two stories dominated the financial news, the papers were awash with comment, opinion and analysis on pensions reform and Brexit. In a climbdown on a radical pensions shake-up which, er, had yet to happen, the Chancellor dropped a plan to scrap up-front tax relief on pension contributions after coming under pressure

Isabel Hardman

In campaign seizes on Boris Johnson’s Brexit jobs comments

Boris Johnson’s admission to Andrew Marr that Brexit ‘might’ cost people their jobs has quite inevitably been seized upon by the ‘In’ campaign as a sign that a vote to leave would put people’s livelihoods at risk. The Mayor of London came on the show to make the positive case for Britain leaving the European

Steerpike

Andrew Marr accused of EU bias over Boris Johnson interview

This week Nigel Farage revealed that he had been left ‘worried’ about Boris Johnson’s ability to campaign for Brexit after his ‘slightly shambolic’ North London press conference. While the Ukip leader insists he has since come round to Johnson’s involvement, Mr S wonders what he will make of the Mayor of London’s turn on The Andrew

The mystery of Mothering Sunday

Among the treats the mothers of Britain can look forward to on Mothering Sunday there are some rum offerings. A company called Nosh Detox is offering a hamper including something called a Nux Vom drink, and the Guardian has helpfully drawn up a list of mother-related films you only take your mother to if you

Alex Massie

Weathering the storm: new anti-Scottish BBC plot revealed

Sometimes trivial matters are actually less trivial than they seem. They can be revealing. Thus Bill Clinton’s habit of cheerfully cheating while playing golf was more significant than you might at first think. It told you something – even if only a little something – about him. The great thing about non-trivial, trivial indicators is

Fraser Nelson

Is it too late for George Osborne to be a Conservative hero?

The Chancellor has today declared a ceasefire on Middle Britain: he will not go ahead with his planned pensions raid, where he was intending to erode the relief due to upper-rate taxpayers. The Times splashes on the news, and says that “pressing ahead with the plans may well have dented his popularity within the party

Spectator competition winners: John Terry’s secret diary

The invitation to submit extracts from the diaries of the famous that their writers did not wish the world to see was taken up with gusto. Josh Ekroy impressed, lifting the lid on F.R.Leavis’ and C.P. Snow’s chummy trysts; Alan Millard wasn’t alone in outing God-botherer Richard Dawkins; and here’s a snippet from Sylvia Fairley’s

Charles Moore

The Simpsons predicted Donald Trump’s rise years ago

As so often, The Simpsons were years in advance of actual political facts. In the programme about ten years ago, Lisa Simpson, for reasons I have now forgotten, becomes President of the United States. She sits in the Oval Office and is briefed by aides on the mess she has inherited from one President Trump.

Ed West

Does size matter for US presidential candidates?

I don’t know whether men blessed with enormous manhoods are more likely to make effective leaders; social scientists probably lack the necessary data to draw any correlations between length and girth, and things like GDP per capita or the underlying rate of inflation. A few newspaper articles recently suggested that Hitler had a micropenis, but

Steerpike

Watch: Steve Hilton on Donald Trump – ‘exactly what people want’

This week Donald Trump surged ahead in the race to be the Republican candidate in the US presidential election following Super Tuesday. Since then, there has been a lot of negative press surrounding Trump — with naysayers worrying about his plans to build a wall between America and Mexico, and ban Muslims from entering the country. While Piers

Steerpike

Nick Clegg visited dogging site during his time as deputy PM

With Nick Clegg now a mere backbencher, his former staff appear to no longer feel the need to protect the Liberal Democrat from negative publicity. Today Clegg’s former campaign manager Ben Rathe has written a blog in which he reveals what happened when his search for a location for Clegg to give a speech — at the

Steerpike

Watch: Labour MEP stuck in lift in European parliament

Brexit campaigners make the argument that the European Union just isn’t working when it comes to Britain’s interests. While some are yet to be convinced, it’s safe to say that some parts of  the EU parliament just don’t work full stop. Last night Paul Brannen, the Labour MEP, found himself stuck in a lift in parliament, in Brussels. When door