Politics

The Algerian government’s official tourist guide describes ‘the walled town of Beni Isguen — normally closed to foreigners — where the women, clad entirely in white, reveal only one eye to the outside world’. Rod Dreher’s Easter call to devout Christians to separate themselves as a community from what he believes to be the degeneracy of our western culture puts me in mind of that sad, disturbing place. Beni Isguen is one of the oasis towns near Ghardaia in southern Algeria. I visited many years ago and can be sure there has been little change since, for the community has clung to unchanging and uniting beliefs for hundreds of years.

Oh dear. Today Jeremy Corbyn launched his new small business policy with a press conference at the Federation of Small Businesses. Alas things took a turn for the worse when the BBC’s Mark Lobel attempted to ask the Labour leader about the situation in Syria: .@jeremycorbyn refused to answer a question on Syria at a business conference pic.twitter.com/AhLamVC7eC — Sky News (@SkyNews) April 11, 2017 To dramatic effect, Corbyn walked out from behind his podium toward the reporter and snapped: ‘I’m really sorry, this is a Federation of Small Business conference’ — before going on to claim his media team had let it be known there would be no questions on the issue

They say a picture can paint a thousand words. So, it was a curious decision by Guardian columnist Owen Jones to wear a £1,080 jacket while discussing the ‘crisis of capitalism’ in an interview with GQ. Discussing the path to true socialism in a wide-ranging interview with Alastair Campbell, Jones rallies against inequality and Tory cuts: ‘With the crash, the problem is a lot of social democratic parties accepted or implemented cuts. Spain, Greece – you saw a collapse in support.’ Jones — a former Corbyn cheerleader — goes on to say that he always harboured doubts about Jeremy Corbyn’s suitability as a leader: AC: Did you ever think he [Corbyn] could

Oh dear. Last week the Times reported that brains at the Grauniad are pondering moving the paper’s offices back to Manchester in an attempt to save money. Although Mr S heralded the move the paper’s best idea in decades, not everyone agrees. While Steerpike was sure the paper’s leading columnists would jump at the chance to up sticks and experience the Brexit divide first hand (and discover what led many to vote Leave in Greater Manchester), it seems the staff take a different view. Writing in the Guardian over the weekend, Peter Preston has poured cold water on the idea — suggesting a return to Manchester would achieve very little: ‘Industry wisdom would hold

Grammar Schools. Now there’s a potent pair of words. Mention them, and genial conversation will instantly shift into awkward silence or seething torrents of passion. In either case, reasoned argument is in short supply. Yet now that Theresa May seems committed to overturning Labour’s ban on opening new grammar schools, discussion is vital. But instead of rehashing the same arguments in favour of academically selective schools, or raking over the same problems they can cause, it’s important instead to look carefully at the evidence about whether grammar schools really do promote ‘social mobility’. One of the major themes of anti-grammar salvos is that they don’t. And to make this point, the crudest approach is typically

So this time it is Stockholm. And I am tempted simply to write ‘copy’, ‘paste’ and ‘repeat’ with links to my recent piece on the Westminster attack. Which in turn referenced my piece on the Brussels attack. Which itself was a re-run of my piece on one of the Paris attacks. And so on and on it goes. If there is nothing new to say it is because nobody has anything new to learn. On Wednesday of this week, two weeks to the day after Khalid Masood ploughed a car into the crowds on Westminster Bridge and stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death inside the gates of the Houses of

Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party is coming to resemble a drunk trying to get home on a bike. Most of the time he just pushes it along, but occasionally he mounts the saddle and whirls into action — only to find himself swiftly spread-eagled on the road. Take next month’s local elections. Corbyn launched his party’s campaign trying to bemoan the state of Britain. There are plenty of statistics which he could have trotted out to depict a country underperforming on living standards, debt levels and social mobility. But he chose to cite a supposed decline in life expectancy — which is demonstrably and famously wrong. Life expectancy