Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Saturday

David Abulafia

Does it matter if Hannibal is played by a black man?

It is becoming a familiar conundrum: whether to employ actors who match the ethnicity of the person they are portraying. Helen Mirren made the mistake of playing Golda Meir in a truly dreadful new film. The real mistake there was not the use of a non-Jewish actress, as some have complained, but the appalling quality of the script and production. Cleopatra was recently played by a black woman in a recent Netflix production, although the evidence strongly suggest she was fair-skinned. There is a suggestion she had some darker skinned ancestors, but the current convention seems to be that even a drop of blood is sufficient to confer blackness or

Kevin Dahlgren

Portland’s decriminalisation nightmare

In November 2020, Oregon passed Measure 110, decriminalising non-commercial drug possession. The state also significantly increased funding for recovery and harm reduction programmes. It sounded like a great plan to voters, so it passed with 60 per cent approval. The deadliest, most addictive drug in history was introduced to a vulnerable population just as the state decriminalised drugs What has occurred though over the last three years is nothing short of tragic. When Measure 110 passed, fentanyl was starting to take over our streets. For homeless addicts it began as a general curiosity, which quickly devolved into the widespread use of the deadliest drug in history. Fentanyl is 50 times stronger

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Why won’t Macron agree to an immigration referendum?

It is a peculiarity of the age in France that the subject that most divides the political class is the one that most unites the people they govern. Immigration is the issue that needs to be urgently addressed, according to voters, a message they have been telling their politicians for years. In January 2013, a poll found that 70 per cent of the electorate believed there were too many foreigners in the country; that figure has remained constant over the years, rising slightly in 2023 after the riots, atrocities and Islamist attacks that have scarred the Republic this year.   A poll last week disclosed that 80 per cent of

Limor Simhony Philpott

Netanyahu has finally realised Russia is no friend of Israel

When Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a 50-minute phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin last weekend, it was only the second time the two leaders had spoken since the war against Hamas started on 7 October. The two leaders were once close allies, but no longer: relations between Putin and Netanyahu have now fractured, perhaps beyond repair. In a statement released immediately after the call, Netanyahu criticised Russia’s close alliance with Iran. The Kremlin blamed Israel for ‘the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza’ – repeating a position expressed by Putin in the past, including in a meeting with his ally and staunch Israel critic, Turkish president Recep Tayyip

Tatyana Kekic

How to rig a Serbian election 

Serbia is heading to the polls, again. On Sunday, the country will vote to elect a new national parliament and several local assemblies, including in the hotly-contested capital Belgrade.     This is the seventh time President Aleksandar Vučić has taken his country to the polls since he was first elected in 2012, and the fourth consecutive time he has called elections early. Vučić has developed a habit of holding elections every two years, and he has honed his techniques for winning. With his Serbian Progressive party (SNS) set to win again, what’s his secret?    As elsewhere in the Balkans, Serbia’s rulers depend on a political patronage system to maintain

Friday

James Heale James Heale

Will we avoid recession in 2024?

10 min listen

The big economic news of the week was that the Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25 per cent for the third consecutive time. This was the expected outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest vote, but it wasn’t unanimous. There were six MPC votes to hold rates but three to raise it to 5.5 per cent. Should we expect a rate cut any time soon?  James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Alexander Larman

Prince Harry claims another victory in his war on the tabloids

Well, send him victorious-ish. In what amounts to an early Christmas present for Prince Harry, Mr Justice Fancourt has ruled today at the High Court that there was, in his stern description, ‘extensive’ phone hacking that took place at the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) between 2006 to 2011, and even, hilariously, that this continued to occur ‘to some extent’ during the Leveson enquiry into media standards, suggesting the company was so entirely unabashed by the idea that they would be held up to scrutiny by the forces of the law that their murky little business continued. Still, it was not a total victory for Prince Harry, much as he might

Dean Godson

Ireland’s security freeloading is a threat to the West

Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Downing Street Declaration – one of the key building blocks of the Northern Irish peace process which led to the Belfast Agreement of 1998. That accord, forged between prime minister John Major and the taoiseach Albert Reynolds, is widely held to be a masterpiece of calculated ambiguity. In a memorable turn of phrase, the British government acknowledged that it had ‘no selfish strategic or economic interest’ in Northern Ireland – a formula first employed in Ulster secretary Peter Brooke’s Whitbread lecture of 9 November 1990. To much of Nationalist Ireland, the Green-sounding language was enticing: the British were saying that they had no ‘imperialistic’ reason of State to

Andrew Tettenborn

The unexpected free speech threat coming from Northern Ireland

Threats to free speech can come from unexpected places these days. A law passed in Northern Ireland has troubling implications for what can be said or reported about serious sexual misconduct, not only in Belfast, but also in London. Victims of sexual offences are granted lifetime anonymity in the UK. The law bans publications from printing anything that could publicly identify them. But since September, the Northern Ireland Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Act goes way further. It extends the gag to 25 years after the victim’s death unless a court decides otherwise, and allows any relative down to a great-grandchild to petition the court to prolong it if it thinks this

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is an impeachment inquiry good for Biden?

25 min listen

The House of Representatives has voted to open an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, after three Republican-led committees alleged bribery and corruption during his time as vice-president. Could it actually be good news for Biden? Freddy speaks to Jacob Heilbrunn.

Svitlana Morenets Svitlana Morenets

What will it take to stop Putin?

I feel sorry for Volodymyr Zelensky. It’s devastating watching him travelling all around the world, struggling to convince even his closest ally, Washington, to keep helping Ukraine. But that is not his only problem. I bet Zelensky and his speechwriters are tossing and turning in bed at night, wondering what he should say when he addresses Ukrainians over Christmas and New Year. This time last year, he said 2023 would be ‘the year of victory’. Now there are fears that Ukraine could lose. These are dark times for Ukraine. While the West drowns in ‘fatigue’ from a war it is not fighting, Russian forces have taken the initiative along the

Thursday

James Heale James Heale

Another by-election looms for Rishi

10 min listen

The big political news today is the Standards Committee recommendation against Scott Benton, meaning a likely by-election in Blackpool South. He was the MP caught on camera by the Times in April, allegedly boasting about lobbying ministers for cash to a gambling firm. When will Rishi catch a break?  James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Paul Goodman, editor of Conservative Home.

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Vladimir Putin bores the nation

From time to time, the tsar must listen to the complaints of his subjects. Having dodged this duty last year, Vladimir Putin has an election looming, so held a press conference. While he punished his viewers in the process with a performance of stupefying boredom, nonetheless today’s event gave us a sense of his election strategy. Once a year Putin traditionally held a press conference and also his Direct Line event, a kind of town hall at which he would field questions from around the country. Both were marathon events that peaked at over four and a half hours, respectively, and they were opportunities for him not just to connect

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Christmas Special 2023

70 min listen

Welcome to this festive episode of the Edition podcast, where we will be taking you through the pages of The Spectator’s special Christmas triple issue.  Up first: What a year in politics it has been. 2023 has seen scandals, sackings, arrests and the return of some familiar faces. It’s easy to forget that at the start of the year Nicola Sturgeon was still leader of the SNP! To make sense of it all is editor of The Spectator, Fraser Nelson, The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls, and Quentin Letts, sketch writer for the Daily Mail. (01:06) Next: The story that has dominated the pages of The Spectator in the latter

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The huge cost of Scotland’s ‘free’ tuition fees

‘The rocks will melt with the sun before I allow tuition fees to be imposed on Scotland.’ So read the words carved into a stone outside Heriot-Watt university in Edinburgh unveiled by Alex Salmond while he was first minister. But as the SNP’s education policy begins to unravel and the budgetary pressures build at Holyrood, how much longer before the Scottish government starts to revisit its practice of subsidising students, even middle-class ones who can well afford to pay tuition fees? From the vantage point of a Scottish sixth former, the system north of the border looks great. Unlike their English cousins, Scots attending Scottish universities pay no tuition fees.

Limor Simhony Philpott

The IDF’s death toll is rising

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have suffered their deadliest day since the 7 October massacre. Nine soldiers were killed, including the Golani Brigade’s 13th battalion commander, during a coordinated Hamas ambush in the Shujaiyeh neighbourhood of Gaza city. The attack was a rare success for Hamas, but despite the painful blow to the IDF, troops still have high morale and the Israeli public continues to support the war – at least for now. The scene of the ambush is no surprise: Shujaiyeh is a small, densely-populated neighbourhood. Before war between Israel and Hamas broke out, it was home to roughly 100,000 people. Many inhabitants have fled, but the area remains

Lucy Dunn

NHS waiting lists are still far too high

The NHS waiting list has fallen, although not by much. The number of patients waiting has fallen from 6.5 million to 6.44 million, while the number of ‘waits’ for procedures and treatments has fallen by just 60,000, from 7.77 million to 7.71 million. On the face of things, this sounds like good news: it is the first fall in the waiting list since November last year. But look a little closer and there isn’t all that much to celebrate. There are still half a million more waits now than at the start of the year.  Today’s numbers are bleak. A number of NHS targets are being missed: most concerningly, waits of

Katy Balls Katy Balls

‘I am working night and day’: Rishi Sunak on Jilly Cooper, immigration – and his plan for the next election

This Christmas, Rishi Sunak will be reading Tackle!, Jilly Cooper’s new bonkbuster. Cooper sent the Prime Minister a signed copy after she discovered – through The Spectator – that he is a fan. Tackle! is about an equestrian-turned-football manager who inspires a ragtag team to unexpected victory. ‘If you want to score, you’ve got to be a player,’ declares the cover. ‘It is literally on my bedside table,’ says Sunak when we meet in his office in 10 Downing Street. ‘This is the first year in a long time that I have actually read some fiction,’ he says. ‘I read these lovely books, which is good escapism for me.’ One

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Interest rates may start to fall – but not yet

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25 per cent for the third consecutive time. This was the expected outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest vote, but it wasn’t unanimous. There were six MPC votes to hold rates but three to raise it to 5.5 per cent. No one voted to cut. This speaks to the biggest challenge the Bank faces right now: how to balance getting the inflation rate back to target without tipping the economy into recession. But markets expect the next movement to be downwards – so much so that mortgage rates are already falling in anticipation. The MPC today urges markets not to get ahead of themselves

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Brace yourselves for the Great American Election Freak-Out of 2024

‘If Trump wasn’t running,’ said Joe Biden last week, ‘I’m not sure I’d be running.’ That’s a curiously uninspiring remark for an American leader seeking re-election to make. Yet ever since 2019, Biden’s pitch for the presidency has been essentially negative: if you don’t support me, you’ll get him. The trouble for Joe is that, as we approach the start of another election year, it’s beginning to look as if he can’t stop Trump. Brace yourselves, then, for the Great Election Freak-Out of 2024. For Democrats, the numbers are alarming. Biden’s job-approval rating has just dipped below 40 per cent again; in December 2019, at the same stage in his