Today on Coffee House

The suspected terrorist attack in Nice’s Notre Dame Basilica this morning appears to be the third such incident in France in the last few weeks. Two female worshippers and a man thought to be the Basilica’s sexton had their throats slit by an assassin who, it is claimed, cried 'Allahu Akbar' after being shot and wounded by French police. A crisis unit has been set up at the Interior Ministry. France has jumped to urgent terror alert.

Over a year after the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched its investigation into anti-Semitism in the Labour party, the findings have been published. In what Sir Keir Starmer has described as a 'day of shame for the Labour Party', the report comes after years of allegations of anti-Semitism that dominated Jeremy Corbyn's time as Labour leader.  In the build up to the report's republication, a number of Corbyn's closest allies attempted to put their side of the story out first.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission released its report today on antisemitism in the Labour party – and it did not make pretty reading. The report claims that the Labour party was responsible for three breaches of the law in its handling of anti-Semitism complaints after alleged ‘political interference’ in the process. It also found that Labour’s policies were ‘indirectly discriminatory and unlawful’ and this led, the report says, to: ‘A culture within the Party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it.

President Macron’s first lockdown turns out to have been a failure. So, now there is to be a second lockdown. Macron's announcement last night of a new 'confinement' on 'the whole national territory' until 1 December 'at a minimum' is bitter medicine for the French, and for Macron himself. Three difficult weeks are forecast for the health system. The recent imposition of obligatory mask wearing and evening curfews have evidently not worked to curb the health crisis.