Society

Monday

Samuel Rubinstein

Cambridge can do better than Gina Miller

Oxford, said Matthew Arnold, was “the home of lost causes and forsaken beliefs”. Now Cambridge is giving it a run for its money. Oxford’s chancellor election last year was widely billed as a two-horse race between the elder statesmen Lords Mandelson and Hague; the latter in the end won handily. They both had their hang-ups and lost causes too, of course, but they were also men who matter. Fortunately for Gina Miller it is customary for Cambridge chancellors to be lacking in political acumen Does Gina Miller – who in her latest attention-seeking stunt wants to be the next chancellor of Cambridge University – matter? She did once. “I was

John Foreman

Don’t forget Bomber Command

There were many tributes when John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, the last surviving fighter pilot of the Battle of Britain, died in March. Prince William said he was saddened about the death of the ‘last of The Few’ while the prime minister saluted Hemingway’s ‘extraordinary life’. There were no such statements in February on the death of Jack Harris, believed to have been the last surviving Lancaster bomber pilot. Official indifference to those who served in Bomber Command is not new. Churchill said little about the bomber offensive in his war memoirs, seeking to distance himself politically from the widespread destruction wrought by his own decision to focus on bombing as a way

Sunday

Theo Hobson Theo Hobson

Are Protestants free to criticise Catholicism?

The death of a Pope is a time for assorted reflections on the Catholic Church. Protestants can be wary of speaking up. Even the word ‘Protestant’ is not a very familiar one these days. Sure, most of us know that the Church of England is Protestant, and that Luther was Protestant and that the Reformation was the birth of the Protestant movement. But the Church of England doesn’t draw attention to its Protestant identity. There’s a vague sense that to do so would be bigoted. For doesn’t Protestant mean anti-Catholic? The last proud Protestant was Ian Paisley – and even he softened in old age. It is now widely felt

Robin Ashenden

Are the Tories really mad enough to change their leader again?

To no one’s surprise, this week’s election results make miserable reading for the Tories, and the attacks on Kemi Badenoch have now begun. In an article in The Spectator, William Atkinson lambasts her as ‘an active barrier to the party’s saving itself,’ adding that she ‘had her chance to prove herself and has been found wanting.’  Meanwhile, there are stories in the press of senior Tories angling for her close rival, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, to take over as head of the Conservatives. Badenoch herself was prepared for this, declaring in advance that the results would be ‘challenging’ but denying they would be a comment on her leadership: ‘We

John Curtice

Who can knock out Mr Farage?

David Cameron’s promise of an EU referendum in 2013 was designed to head off the apparent challenge to his party’s election hopes that was being posed by Nigel Farage’s Ukip. Although Ukip still did well in the 2015 election, the Conservatives won an overall majority. Unfortunately for Mr Cameron, he lost the subsequent referendum, and his party was then tossed into years of turmoil over how the decision to leave should be implemented. Still, in 2019, Boris Johnson’s promise to deliver his ‘oven-ready’ Brexit deal headed off the threat from Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and paved the way to another overall majority. Brexit was duly delivered and, it seemed, the

Samuel Rubinstein

Why Duolingo isn’t helping you learn a foreign language

Duolingo claims that it is ‘the world’s best way to learn a language’. The app – which has tens of millions of users – boasts a ‘science-backed approach’ that it says ‘delivers measurable results’. I’m not convinced: it seems to me that time wasted on Duolingo would be far better spent doing almost anything else. Busy people, of course, can’t be expected to learn languages the most efficient way: dropping everything to spend some time in a foreign country and learn by immersion. But flicking through one of those kitsch phrasebooks, or listening to a podcast in another language, slowed down to 0.5x speed if necessary, is probably more likely to

Ed McGuinness

What Kneecap won’t tell you about growing up in Belfast

The three members of Irish rap band Kneecap are ‘ceasefire babies’: they grew up on the streets of Belfast around the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. So did I. But the similarities between me and the band end there. Despite what some of Kneecap’s fans might think, there was nothing glamorous about life as a ‘ceasefire baby’ On a November night in 2001, I was at the cinema with my brother. In Belfast, one of the best cinemas at the time was in Yorkgate. Unfortunately, it was situated at what is known as a ‘flashpoint’, where the Catholic New Lodge estate abutted the fiercely Protestant Tigers Bay. Riots were common. A

Angela Epstein

The real reason the UK always fails at Eurovision

The UK has a peerless reputation for producing some of the catchiest and most imaginative pop music on the planet. Little wonder that a dazzling and diverse roster of home-grown artists (pop stars in old money) have exerted dominance over the international music charts for decades. Yet despite the fact we gifted the Beatles, David Bowie, Kate Bush and even the Spice Girls (well, they were massive) to the world, when it comes to producing a Eurovision winner, we are – to put it impolitely – absolute pants. And with this year’s contest only a few weeks away, our 2025 entry looks unlikely to change the status quo. In case

Saturday

Steerpike Steerpike

Labour minister: rape gangs are a ‘dog whistle’ 

Uh oh. Commons Leader Lucy Powell has found herself in hot water after making some rather careless remarks on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions yesterday. The Labour politician sparked outrage over her reaction to a point by Tim Montgomerie – the founder of Conservative Home who has since aligned himself with Reform – who brought up a recent Channel 4 documentary on grooming gangs.  Cutting across him, Powell replied: ‘Oh we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we?’ ‘No,’ Montgomerie responded. ‘There was a real issue…’. Not that Powell appeared willing to listen, interrupting again: ‘Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we?’ Oo er. Talk about flippant!

Terry Barnes

Australian election: Trump helps topple second conservative leader

Tonight, Australia voted decisively for continuity. The Labor government of prime minister Anthony Albanese has not merely been re-elected. It has absolutely thumped the conservative Liberal-National party coalition, headed by Liberal leader Peter Dutton. At the close of counting tonight, Labor achieved a majority in the 150-seat parliament, winning 77 seats and leading in another five. The coalition has been decimated, reduced from an already-low 55 seats to winning just 29 and leading in another eight. Frontbenchers and talented up-and-comers around the country have been swept away in seats deemed safe. Worse for the conservatives, Dutton himself has had the ultimate Portillo moment, losing his own constituency having held it

Kara Kennedy

The strategic ascent of Kai Trump

In the gilded corridors of Trump Tower and the manicured greens of exclusive golf courses, a new Trump is quietly ascending. At just 17, Kai Trump – the eldest of the President’s grandchildren – is executing what appears to be a carefully orchestrated entry into public life, blending the traditional pathways of political families with the modern currency of social media influence. ‘He’s just a normal grandpa,’ Kai says in one of her videos about the President. ‘He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking.’ The statement, seemingly innocent, accomplishes something the Trump campaign has struggled with for years: it humanises the most polarising figure in American politics. This is no

Alexander Larman

The revenge of Prince Harry

It was always unlikely that Prince Harry was going to take his latest and perhaps most humiliating legal defeat with calmness and equanimity, and so it proved swiftly afterwards. Not only did he give a lengthy interview to the BBC in which he alternated between anger and blame and claiming that it was his intention to reconcile with his family, and specifically his father – William may be a step too far – but he also released an emotive and angry press statement in which he talked about how the court ruling had uncovered ‘shocking truths’. He appeared to suggest that there has been a conspiracy against him; a conspiracy led by the same people, the statement suggests, ‘that

Julie Bindel

Do Green voters know what they’ve done?

The Green party has done well at the local elections, making dozens of gains across England. But do those who voted Green, perhaps for the first time, realise what they have done? If not, they will spend the next four years regretting their vote. Perhaps the party’s name led them to naively conclude that the Greens are an organisation focused solely on caring for the environment. They thought their vote was about protecting England’s green and pleasant land. But they have been deceived. This so-called ‘nice’ party can be rather nasty The truth is that the Greens sometimes appear more eager to talk about a trans person’s ‘right’ to use

Oliver Chan

Are triads becoming more active in Britain?

The Chinese community in Britain has long been seen as peaceful and law-abiding. Yet beneath the surface, there is a darker, more complex reality which only comes to light when organised criminal activity is in the news. One of the most harrowing reminders of this came in 2000, when 58 Chinese migrants suffocated inside a lorry while attempting to illegally enter the UK. That tragedy exposed not just the plight of vulnerable migrants, but also the reach of organised smuggling networks operating across Europe. Today, there are fresh concerns. Over the past 20 months, Chinese gang members have been implicated in at least 14 ‘red paint attacks’ across London. Witnesses

James Tidmarsh

Was this right-wing TV host joking about taking on Marine Le Pen?

A controversial and wildly popular right-wing television star says that he orchestrated a ‘prank’ that he was about to jump into the French presidential race. Cyril Hanouna is a foul-mouthed and hugely influential television star. His politics are messy, his delivery erratic, but he has a vast audience and momentum. He’s anti-woke and talks a tougher line than Le Pen on immigration. Hanouna’s ‘prank’ should worry the National Rally, which is becoming too eager to be accepted by the establishment it once claimed to oppose News of Cyril Hanouna’s potential presidential candidacy set France’s media ablaze, with comparisons to Trump and Zelensky, media stars who leapt into politics. But was

Friday

Alexander Larman

Is this Prince Harry’s most humiliating court defeat yet?

Well, what did Prince Harry expect? The Duke of Sussex has been involved in plenty of hubristic and pointless things since he decided to step down as a member of the royal family in 2020. But taking the government to court on the grounds that they were refusing to provide security to the levels that he and his family would expect, was perhaps his most pig-headed and idiotic publicity blunder. Harry has made his living over the past few years as a professional martyr Today’s verdict by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice in Great Britain, that Harry is not entitled to appeal against

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The M&S hack proves the danger of the ‘internet of things’

A man from John Lewis came yesterday to measure up for some window blinds. When he started struggling with the mobile broadband on his phone – which he required to be able to give a quote – I made what I thought was a straightforward offer for him to sign onto my home broadband. He almost went white with fear. He had been told never to do that, he said, for fear of the company ending up as Marks & Spencer has this week – victim of a cyber attack which has put its online sales out of action and prevented it taking contactless payments in its stores, as well

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Conclave: who is likely to succeed Francis?

41 min listen

The papal conclave is due to begin on Wednesday 7 May to elect a successor to Pope Francis. As host Damian Thompson says, Rome – and the entire Church – is in a state of ‘fevered excitement’. While this is to be expected, most commentators agree that this conclave will be one of the most consequential elections for centuries. At stake are both the future direction of the Church and Francis’s legacy – will his work be amended, continued or even rejected? The Pillar’s Luke Coppen joins Damian to try to make sense of the noise, gossip and political intrigue. They discuss the favourites to emerge as the new Pope,

Thursday

Kate Hoey

Britain’s smoking ban will inflict havoc on Ireland

As Westminster and Dublin compete with performative new tobacco bans, smokers on the island of Ireland will be forced to dodge between jurisdictions and shifting laws just to buy a pack of cigarettes. Starting in February 2028, adults under the age of 21 in the Republic of Ireland will be barred from buying tobacco at home but will still be able to nip across the border to stock up in Northern Ireland. But once the UK’s generational smoking ban begins, the farcical cross-border relay will reverse, with 22-year-olds banned from buying tobacco in Belfast still free to do so in Dublin. As the years go by, the legal absurdity only

Alexander Larman

King Charles is the definition of ‘rebellious hope’

While the world continues to laugh (and, on occasion, groan) at the antics of the Duchess of Sussex, there remains a more serious ongoing issue at the heart of the royal family: the King’s health. As his treatment for cancer stretches on into its second year, with no clear end point in sight, he hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace yesterday for those who work with cancer patients and their families. This is, regrettably but obviously, a subject that he knows a great deal about, but it was still salutary to see how personal and emotive his words on the subject have been. In a booklet that was handed out