Politics Archives

Monday

17 Apr 2023

Net zero will make flying more expensive

Are we going to have to give up flying to save the planet? Many climate campaigners have been saying so for years, but now Sustainable Aviation – a trade body which represents the UK aviation industry – seems to agree, at least in the case of less well-off passengers. It is rather significant that the UK aviation industry seems to have nodded along with the idea that some passengers are going to be priced out of the air Today, it has published a ‘road map’ showing how the industry intends to decarbonise, in order to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – in line with the government’s self-imposed, legally-binding

Gerry Hassan

Humza Yousaf can’t save the SNP

Under Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership, the SNP was renowned for its discipline, unity and its impressive electoral success. Since the former first minister resigned, a series of revelations have chipped away at the party’s reputation leaving Scotland’s dominant party standing on shaky ground. If people had cared to look they would be forgiven for thinking that decay has always been present in the SNP – and the leaked video of the former first minister lecturing her politicians about SNP finances back in March 2021 doesn’t help matters – but it is the extent of the rot that is hard to stomach. And no one feels this more than First Minister Humza

Steerpike

Sleaze watchdog probes Sunak’s interests

Bang goes Rishi Sunak’s big maths speech. Fresh from delivering a paean to the joys of numeracy, the Prime Minister is now facing an investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner into his outside interests. The probe is understood to concern Sunak’s wife’s shareholding in a business that runs Koru Kids – one of the childcare providers which stands to get taxpayer funding from Jeremy Hunt’s Budget scheme. The issue was raised by Labour’s Cat McKinnell last month at the Prime Minister’s Liaison Committee grilling and serves as a reminder that Sunak’s extensive family wealth has the potential to be a political liability for him. A No. 10 spokesman told Mr

Cindy Yu

Does Sunak’s maths plan add up?

11 min listen

Parliament is back from the Easter break and Rishi Sunak has taken the opportunity to reiterate his commitment to improving maths literacy in the country. Listeners will remember that the plan to make maths compulsory until 18 was first announced in Rishi’s new year’s speech along with his five priorities. Why is maths provision so important to him? Also on the podcast, with local elections on the horizon, how does Tory campaigning shape up against Labour’s new tactics? Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman. Produced by Cindy Yu and Oscar Edmondson.

Steerpike

Brecon Beacons sheds its name and logo in eco-crusade

‘The simplest way to explain the behaviour of any bureaucratic organisation’ claimed Robert Conquest ‘is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.’ If that is the case then the Brecon Beacons National Park must be run by a veritable junta of saboteurs. Park bosses have today announced that it will no longer be using its historic English name, dropping it in favour of the less well-known ‘Bannau Brycheiniog’. The reason for the name change is to signal a ‘commitment’ to the Welsh language, which is spoken by less than a third of the population. Catherine Mealing-Jones, chief executive of the authority, is quoted in the

Katy Balls

How Rishi Sunak’s spring challenge could decide the election

Over the past month, there has been increasing optimism within the Tory party that the political situation may not be as apocalyptic as first feared. The polls appear to be narrowing slightly, Rishi Sunak’s approval ratings have risen and there are early signs of progress on the Prime Minister’s policy priorities. But it’s the coming months – as MPs return to Westminster following their Easter recess – that will show whether this trend is here to stay, and if Sunak can stay in control of events. The Prime Minister is kicking off the new season with a speech on one of his favourite topics: maths until 18. When Sunak first

Steerpike

Three times Emily Thornberry attacked Starmer’s CPS

Following the row over those Labour attack adverts about child sex offenders, it seems it’s open season now on Sir Keir Starmer’s record as Director of Public Prosecutions. Over the weekend the Sunday papers have been filled with stories from when he led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) including his poor record in, er, prosecuting sex offenders. And in that spirit of reminding people who said what and when, Mr S thought it worth revisiting the past comments of Emily Thornberry, one of the most vocal supporters of Labour’s new adverts. Thornberry has served as Starmer’s Shadow Attorney General since November 2021 but previously served in that same capacity under

Steerpike

Take the Rishi Sunak maths challenge

Rishi Sunak is back in the headlines today, saying it’s time for greater maths literacy. But when it comes to his own political pledges, how many of those stand up to mathematical scrutiny? A Spectator mug for the first person to complete all challenges.

Matt McDonald

How Liz Truss is wooing Washington

Many Brits who’ve outstayed their welcome in the Old Country head across the Pond for pastures new and the chance of a fresh start. The Pilgrims, Thomas Paine, John Oliver. Could former prime minister Liz Truss be the next to follow that well-trodden path? Since her astonishing fall from grace last September, when she managed just forty-four days as prime minister, Truss has found a couple of excuses to come to Washington. The latest DC think tank to welcome to the most impactful economic mind of the last decade is the Heritage Foundation, who had Truss give their 2023 Margaret Thatcher Freedom lecture last week. The auditorium was three-quarters full

Sunday

16 Apr 2023

Isabel Hardman

Isabel Hardman’s Sunday Roundup – 16/04/23

11 min listen

Isabel Hardman hosts the highlights from Sunday morning’s political shows. This morning’s shows heavily focussed on the crisis in the NHS, after the Royal College of Nursing voted against the government’s pay deal, meaning further strike action. Pat Cullen says the strikes could last as long as Christmas. Conservative Party Chair, Greg Hands disagrees and says the deal is a ‘very reasonable offer’. In an interview with Wes Streeting, the Shadow Health Secretary says he is deeply worried about patient safety.

Steerpike

Wiltshire Police chief’s hunting Troubles

Oh dear. It seems that another police chief is making headlines, for all the wrong reasons. Perusing his copy of this week’s Spectator, Steerpike was bemused to read in Charles Moore’s notes about Wiltshire Police’s latest edict. No officer may join the force’s rural crime team if he or she has any link with hunting, even a pre-ban one or one with legal trail-hunting. Wiltshire Police say they are also barring anyone linked with anti-hunt protests. But as Lord Moore argues: ‘There is no symmetry here. Hunting is part of a rural way of life. Anti-hunt protests are political/ideological.’ Intrigued to find out more, Mr S took a look at

Joe Bedell-Brill

Sunday shows round-up: strikes show no sign of stopping

Pat Cullen – respect nursing, or strikes could continue ‘until Christmas’ This morning’s shows heavily focussed on the crisis in the NHS, after the Royal College of Nursing voted against the government’s pay deal, meaning further strike action. The RCN’s General Secretary Pat Cullen stood by her union’s members, telling Laura Kuenssberg that patients were at risk at all times due to the working conditions of nurses and doctors, not just on strike days. She said only ministers could stop strikes, and that they needed to return with an improved offer: Greg Hands – ‘it’s a very fair and reasonable offer’ Defending the government, Conservative Party Chair Greg Hands was

Steerpike

Watch: Sturgeon denies SNP financial woes in leaked footage

Three cheers for the Sunday Mail, which has today got its hands on footage of Nicola Sturgeon which is, er, sub-optimal, to say the least. The newspaper has been sent a video of the then First Minister furiously insisting that the SNP’s finances had ‘never been stronger’ in a meeting of the party’s ruling body in March 2021. Sturgeon is shown warning SNP apparatchiks on the National Executive Committee (NEC) to be ‘very careful’ about suggesting there was ‘any problems’ with the accounts’ in an angry statement that came after three members resigned from the party’s finance and audit committee. One of them, Allison Graham, had just read out a

Jade McGlynn

How Russia became obsessed with fake news

On 1 July, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, known as the ‘Butcher of Mariupol’, delivered a statement about recent attacks on apartment blocks in Odesa. In a familiar tone of Soviet bureaucratese, he read aloud: ‘To implement the provocation across 26–28 June, twenty foreign mass-media representatives, as well as employees of the international organisation UNICEF, were brought to Odessa [to watch] a mock attack, planned by the military administration of theOdessa region, on a social facility where a crowd of up to 30 anti-Russian activists had been prepared in advance to act as victims and casualties. Each participant in the staged scenes was paid $100 in advance and they also received a

Julius Strauss

Should Ukrainians stop speaking Russian?

A young woman called Lyudmila walks into a cafe in Odessa, the southern Ukrainian city. Her phone is switched on and the camera set to record mode. She approaches the owner and asks for service in Ukrainian. He declines. He says his Ukrainian language skills are poor. When she insists he makes excuses, then tells her the cafe is closed, and finally asks her to leave. But unbeknownst to the owner, Lyudmila is a member of a small Ukrainian-language vigilante group. The group, who call themselves ‘Getting on your Nerves’, has made it their business to turn this Russophone city, founded in 1796 by Catherine the Great, into a Ukrainian-speaking

John Ferry

Scotland’s ferry network is sinking, and taking the SNP with it

There has been more ferry chaos this week for Scotland’s beleaguered island communities, so much so that it now looks like the Scottish government is bringing in the Ministry of Defence to help with the fallout. One senior SNP MP, Ian Blackford, has urged military bosses to provide a ‘short-term solution’ to the ferry network breakdown. Blackford’s pleas come after warnings that, with further disruption to services, Highland companies could be at risk of going bust. On top of this, this last week has seen days of disruption after the MV Loch Seaforth, state owned ferry operator CalMac’s largest vessel, developed problems with its engine control system. The boat is

Gavin Mortimer

The French left is becoming anti-woke

Nearly one in two left-wing voters in France believes the country has too many immigrants. When the same polling company conducted a similar survey five years ago the figure was 27 per cent. The fact it is now 48 per cent demonstrates how the gap has widened between left wing politicians and their electorate when it comes to immigration. The polling company that carried out the survey headlined their findings ‘The Great Taboo (on the left)’. The refusal of left-wing politicians in France to heed their voters’ anxieties about mass immigration is mirrored across western Europe, except in Denmark, where the left has listened and as a result is in

Robert Tombs

Remainers should be honest about the costs of Brexit

Those opposed to leaving the European Union repeatedly accuse Brexit of being based on ignorance fed by lies. The ‘lie’ they invariably refer to is the £350 million on the side of the Boris bus. In reality, it was the Remain campaign, and its interminable Rejoiner sequel, that was and is based on systematic distortions and gross misunderstandings. One might shrug one’s shoulders if the distortions came only from business lobbies, EU-funded think tanks, the subsidised European media and the like. But some of the most damaging originate within the British state and its associated bodies. No one denies that the Civil Service has been and remains overwhelmingly opposed to

Saturday

15 Apr 2023

Jawad Iqbal

Shame on those who abandoned Peng Shuai

No one really expects much in the way of principles or morality from those charged with running international sport. The Qatar World Cup was merely the latest, most blatant example of the iron rule that money and greed conquers all in sport. But for a brief moment — 16 months to be precise — the Women’s Tennis Association appeared to offer hope of something better. The WTA announced to the world in December 2021 that it would indefinitely boycott all tournaments in China over the regime’s treatment of tennis star, Peng Shuai, who vanished after making allegations of sexual assault against a senior politician. The WTA was widely praised at

Philip Patrick

Another grim reminder of Japan’s violent politics

Has Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida just survived an assassination attempt? Kishida was evacuated from the site of a stump speech in the fishing port of Sakizaki in Wakayama western Japan after what appeared to be a pipe bomb was thrown in his direction. No one was injured but people fled in terror after the attack, which occurred at around 11:25 AM shortly before the PM was due to speak. A man was wrestled to the ground clearly holding a cylindrical metal object identical to the one thrown at Kishida before being arrested and taken away. That’s as much as we know for now. It is not clear yet whether the ‘explosive’ was capable of killing anyone. From dramatic footage of the incident a loud