The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 24 January 2019

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Theresa May, the Prime Minister, having survived a parliamentary vote of no confidence, came to the Commons with an amended plan for Brexit which would entail changing the Irish backstop agreement with the European Union. Otherwise Plan B looked very much like the Plan A that had been defeated by a majority of 230 a week earlier. There would now be a vote on 29 January, with Labour putting down an amendment that could open the way for another referendum. Amonportg British MPs there was a good deal of plotting in the wind. Margaritis Schinas, the European Commission’s chief spokesman, said that in the case of a no-deal Brexit, ‘I think it’s pretty obvious — you will have a hard border’ with the Irish Republic. Five men were arrested after a bomb exploded in a vehicle outside the courthouse in Londonderry; it was believed to be the work of the New IRA, which has been killing people since 2012.

More people than ever — 32.54 million — were employed in the United Kingdom, though unemployment edged up by 8,000 to 1.37 million, while job vacancies rose to 853,000. James Dyson moved his company’s headquarters to Singapore. The Patisserie Valerie chain went into administration, Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, cast an acquisitive eye over the 125 shops belonging to HMV, which is in administration. The Office for National Statistics said that 4.2 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds said they were lesbian, gay or bisexual, an increase from 3.3 per cent in 2015. Sir Conrad Swan, Garter Principal King of Arms (1992-95), died aged 94. The Duke of Edinburgh, aged 97, was spotted driving without a seat belt 48 hours after his car turned over in a crash when he was driving near Sandringham.

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