Portrait of the week | 3 March 2016

Home An official analysis by the Cabinet Office said that if Britain left the EU it would lead to a ‘decade of uncertainty’. Opponents of Britain remaining in the EU called the report a ‘dodgy dossier’. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that the economy would suffer a ‘profound economic shock’ if Britain

Diary – 3 March 2016

Just as the presidential race in America started to get really crazy, I left for India. On the morning of the South Carolina primary, I interviewed Donald Trump from a restaurant near the state capitol. By the next afternoon I was dodging mopeds in a traffic circle in Mumbai. I’d imagined the trip as a

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s notes | 3 March 2016

The government, or at least David Cameron’s bit of it, seems to think that trade is something that takes place because of a trade agreement. The order is the other way round. People trade, and have done for several thousand years, because it is to their mutual advantage. After a bit, governments come along and

The prying game

One of the marks of a good Home Secretary is a healthy wariness of those in authority who come begging for ever-greater powers. The former Labour Home Secretary Charles Clarke failed on that score. Just over a decade ago, the police persuaded him that they needed the freedom to lock up terror suspects for 90

To 2247: Commoners II

The unclued lights are some of the Wombles of Wimbledon COMMON, paired at 25/21, 31/16 and 35/10. First prize Belinda Bridgen, London NW8 Runners-up Kenneth Robb, Linlithgow, West Lothian; C.H. Hanson, Castleford, Yorkshire

Isabel Hardman

Cameron plays the Jungle drums again

This is from tonight’s Evening Blend email, a free round-up and analysis of the day’s political events. Subscribe here. Today in brief François Hollande warned that there would be ‘consequences’ for the British-French border deal that keeps migrants at Calais. Boris Johnson responded to the warnings that Brexit could lead to a ‘Jungle’ on UK

Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: Mitt Romney brands Trump a ‘phony’

Mitt Romney launched an outspoken attack on Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, branding the billionaire businessman a ‘phony’ and a ‘fraud’. He said Trump’s promises are as ‘worthless as a degree from Trump university’: Romney, who ran for the Presidency in 2012, went on to say Donald Trump had inherited his business and slated his past

Steerpike

Watch: Richard Burgon struggles with the deficit (again)

When Richard Burgon appeared on Channel 4 News last year to defend John McDonnell over his fiscal charter U-turn, the shadow City Minister struggled to make a good impression. On top of not knowing what the deficit was expected to be for 2015, he appeared to concede that he was yet to meet with anyone in the City.

No, Lena Dunham, the world isn’t out to get you

The face of young feminism, Lena Dunham, took a break from campaigning to #FreeKesha this week to focus on the issue of Photoshopping instead. On Instagram, the social media forum for all serious politic debate, Dunham posted a message to Spanish newspaper El Pais. In it she told her 2.4 million followers the paper had Photoshopped her image

Steerpike

Yanis Varoufakis distances himself from Jeremy Corbyn

Oh dear. This week Jeremy Corbyn claimed that Yanis Varoufakis would advise Labour in ‘some capacity’. However, whatever capacity that will be, the message doesn’t appear to have got through to Varoufakis. After a week in which the former Syriza MP and Greek finance minister has been made fun of by senior Tories over the arrangement, Varoufakis seems to

A nation of pizza addicts: Domino’s reaps the benefits

In a past life I lived in a flat with a communal hallway. Among the post permanently littering the floor was the usual junk mail detritus: estate agent leaflets, double-glazing pamphlets and takeaway menus. In a development I don’t like to talk about at parties, I used to receive envelopes from the local takeaway addressed to ‘Pizza

The Spectator podcast: Donald Trump’s angry America

In this week’s issue, Freddy Gray discusses Donald Trump’s success on Super Tuesday. America has been the world’s most benevolent superpower, Freddy says, but now its turning nasty. What does Trump’s rise say about America? On the podcast, Freddy tells Isabel Hardman: ‘It actually says something quite troubling about America. I think the rise of

Fraser Nelson

Should internet trolls, hiding behind made-up names, be prosecuted?

On Tuesday, I wrote a short blog about Sadiq Khan’s threats to crack down on Uber. For the rest of the day, my Twitter timeline was filled by obloquy from made-up accounts from black cab drivers. No more than a dozen of them, but using similar themes: showing pictures of immigrant Uber drivers, claiming that they went on bizarre routes

Money digest: today’s need-to-know financial news

A slice of happiness for pizza fans today as Domino’s reveals a hike in its annual dividend by 21.3 per cent to 11.75p per share. Despite making an underlying operating loss of £1.3 million, the takeaway chain confirmed it had opened 61 new stores across the country in 2015. The company also reported an increased

Theo Hobson

An Islamic reformation has already begun

Last Friday I took part in a debate entitled ‘Does Islam Need a Reformation?’ It was run by the Muslim group IREA.  I was a bit wary. I’ve been to a couple of Muslim-run debates and round-table discussions in which the mainly Muslim participants veered off-topic and took turns to attack Western foreign policy and to