Politics

The prison sentences passed on the Just Stop Oil protesters who immobilised the M25 – five years for Roger Hallam and four for the others – were certainly stiff. With prisons overflowing and some violent offenders receiving less harsh sentences, a small reduction in the jail terms might have been justified. But despite the backlash from environmentalists, justice has been served. Those who say that the protesters are merely conscientious practitioners of civil disobedience – and that the punishments imposed amount to a stamping on the right of peaceful protest – are wrong.  Roger Hallam’s casting of himself in the role of a civil disobedience advocate is both disingenuous and incorrect. Civil

If Donald Trump becomes president again – which seems likely – American policy towards Israel could see a dramatic shift. Since the war between Israel and Hamas started last October, Trump has repeatedly expressed his support for Israel. The head of the Republican Jewish Coalition claimed that Trump would grant Israel ‘a blank cheque’ to finish off Hamas. Trump also warned that if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages, they’ll ‘pay a big price’ if he becomes president. Many Israelis, including those in government, assume that a Trump/Vance win would be beneficial for Israel. A closer look shows that it may not necessarily be so. When the war against Hamas started, president Joe

Uh oh. The Covid inquiry has been ticking along in the background for the last two years, and finally its first report has been published. A shock to no one, it transpires that neither the UK nor Scottish governments come out of it particularly well. It appears both were rather unprepared for a pandemic – and the damning review suggests they proceeded to respond to the ‘wrong’ one. How very interesting… The findings reveal that former Dear Leader Nicola Sturgeon’s government ‘did not act with sufficient urgency’ – and when it did, it seems it responded ineffectually. The report noted that the officials tasked with planning for a pandemic did

At what point does a minister decide they are being lied to? That was the question Pat McFadden and Ed Davey had to consider as they gave evidence to the Post Office Inquiry. Both were confronted with evidence of Post Office figures assuring them nothing was wrong when subpostmasters and their MPs were raising concerns – and of their own officials repeating those assertions as fact, rather than checking for themselves. At one stage, one of the lawyers asking questions took Davey to a document written by the Post Office, and then asked him to compare it to a briefing then prepared by his officials: The entirety of the information

For someone who is not yet 40, the path JD Vance walked to become the next potential vice president of the United States is a long and winding journey from the holler to Silicon Valley to the halls of the US Senate. It encompasses four different names – from James Donald Bowman to James David to James Hamel to James David Vance – and movement through a variety of worlds and circumstances, with very distinct cultures and influences. If the vice presidency is itself a very boring job in the realm of politics, tasked with worthless drudgery, Vance is far more interesting than the role requires. And his intellectual journey