Politics

Sandi Toksvig disclosed last month that she has given up her role on Radio 4’s The News Quiz in order to focus on launching the Women’s Equality Party. Appearing at the Hay Festival, Toksvig spoke about her reasons for wanting to start the new political party, which aims to ensure women are treated equally to men. In doing so, she also launched a series of jokes about today’s politicians, claiming that the current political system is ‘beyond broken’. She said that Labour’s pink bus had ‘[Emmeline] Pankhurst spinning in her grave’ while today’s government makes the coalition seem like the ‘good old days’ to many. While Toksvig is clearly no longer

Given that Peter Hitchens’ weekly column was absent from the Mail on Sunday the week before the general election, Mr S was glad to have the opportunity to hear his thoughts on the election at the Hay festival. Taking to the Telegraph stage this morning, Hitchens joined Johann Hari, David Aaronovitch and Bronwen Maddox for a panel discussion titled ‘Election 2015: How was it for you?’. True to form, he began by criticising the Conservative government, claiming the Tories’ majority win was down to ‘lies and money’. He then went on to suggest that those who ‘fell’ for the Conservatives’ spin over the state of the economy had lost the plot: ‘You have to wonder whether the people who

It isn’t the type of kiss-and-tell story Mr S is used to reading in the Sunday papers, but Lynton Crosby has today spoken about an election smooch he shared with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Sunday Times reports that George Osborne was so convinced that the Conservatives would not win a majority in the election that he promised to French kiss Crosby if they managed to win enough seats. However, with the party storming to victory, Osborne had to honour his promise and kiss Crosby. The election strategist confirmed the incident to the paper: ‘It’s true. His aftershave still haunts me. Fortunately tongues remained withdrawn. The pledge was on election day. The consummation

In more ways than one it’s impossible to be heard above the din right now in the wake of the Yes vote in Ireland on gay marriage. There’s a special noise that goes with an orgy of self-congratulation, a roar of mutual approbation, and it drowned everything else out in Dublin as the results came in today. Like rugby, only more triumphalist. Actually, I was watching the scene from the Sky studio in Millbank, where my interlocutor in central Dublin, Patrick Strudwick, a journalist and activist, was appearing on a screen on the streets and had to shout over the crowd to make himself heard, to repeat, over and over

David Cameron was in an extremely confident mood when he addressed the press at the end of today’s EU summit in Riga. He continually joked about journalists needing to write stories about the trials and tribulations of his EU renegotiations over the next couple of years, but those stories not meaning very much at all. ‘My advice would be – a bit like the election, really – wait for the result!’ he said gleefully when asked whether he would get what he wanted from the renegotiation. But he later admitted that ‘I’m not going to say I was met with a sort of wall of love when I arrived.’ Still,

With Len McCluskey, general secretary of the union Unite, keen to ensure ‘his’ members choose the next Labour leader, and the rail union RMT planning a full-blown strike, the trade unions are again doing what they do best. The Romans knew how to handle them. Romans were always suspicious of gatherings of people on the grounds that they might foment trouble. Nevertheless, from early times, collegia (‘legal unions’) had been allowed to develop. All had different functions, but one branch was a form of trade guild. Their purpose was not to improve workers’ conditions but to foster goodwill and general friendliness among members. Some acted largely as dining clubs or