The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 16 February 2017

Also in Portrait of the Week: Brexit Bill approved; Donald Trump’s travel ban overturned; Lloyds of London bans drinking

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The Queen opened a new National Cyber Security Centre in London. Britain’s contribution to Nato has fallen below the promised 2 per cent to 1.98 per cent of gross domestic product, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, because GDP has grown. The annual rate of inflation measured by the Consumer Prices Index rose to 1.8 per cent in January, from 1.6 in December; by the new index to be used from March, called CPIH, which includes some housing costs, inflation had already reached 2 per cent. Unemployment fell by 7,000. Joe Root, aged 26, was made captain of England.

A YouGov poll for the Times put Labour in third place among working-class voters at 20 per cent with Ukip at 23 per cent and the Conservatives at 39. Paul Nuttall, the leader of Ukip, said that past claims on his website that he had lost ‘close personal friends’ in the Hillsborough disaster were incorrect, although it was true he had been at the match, aged 12. James Duddridge, a Tory backbencher, tabled a motion of no confidence in John Bercow as Speaker of the House of Commons. MPs had a week off after voting for the Second Reading of the Brexit Bill by 494 to 122. Travelling on the Underground exposes commuters to more than eight times as much air pollution as experienced by those who drive to work, according to a Surrey University study. The steam locomotive Tornado hauled timetabled services from Appleby to Skipton for three days, delighting 6,000 passengers.

An investigation by BBC Panorama found widespread drug use at HM Prison Northumberland. A life prisoner who calls himself Charles Bronson, aged 64, who has been in jail for 40 years, proposed in Wakefield prison to Paula Williamson, aged 36, who has appeared in Coronation Street.

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