Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

Brendan O’Neill

Corbyn’s blindness to anti-Semitism is typical on the left

I don’t believe Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite. I think most Corbynistas aren’t anti-Semitic. But here’s one thing I can say with utter certainty: if any other politician in the land had commented favourably on an explicitly racist mural, on a vile, caricatured depiction of a certain section of society as evil and dangerous, he

Steerpike

Corbyn supporter: ‘Jeremy needs to apologise less’

Jeremy Corbyn is still refusing to apologise for his reaction to the removal of an anti-Semitic mural. But according to one of his followers, Corbyn’s big mistake isn’t not apologising – it’s apologising too much. Corbyn supporter Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, from Jewish Voice for Labour, appeared on the World at One this afternoon to defend the

Gavin Mortimer

Islamists are relishing France’s slow slide into chaos

There is something fundamentally rotten at the heart of the European far-left. In Britain it manifests itself in institutional anti-Semitism, whereas in France the loathing is aimed at the police. On Saturday, hours after Arnaud Beltrame lost his fight for life following his heroic gesture during the Islamist attack in Trebes, a gentleman called Stéphane Poussier tweeted

Donald Trump’s ‘bimbo eruptions’ are mounting

Bimbo eruptions is the term that Betsey Wright, Bill Clinton’s longtime gubernatorial aide, coined to describe the multifarious women who popped up in 1992 to accuse her boss of a variety of sexual transgressions. In Clinton’s case they never really stopped erupting during his presidency, especially as he turned his attentions to Monica Lewinsky. Now

Steerpike

Vote Leave row: Isabel Oakeshott vs Carole Cadwalladr

Here we go. After much anticipation over the weekend, the Observer‘s Vote Leave investigation is finally public. The paper alleges that the Brexit campaign group may have flouted referendum spending rules and then attempted to destroy evidence. While those involved with Vote Leave vehemently deny the claims, Carole Cadwalladr – the journalist behind the ongoing

Spectator competition winners: averse to verse

For the latest challenge you were asked to come up with poems against poets or poetry. Plato started it, of course, but over the ages poetry has been accused of many sins: elitism, aestheticising horror, inadequacy as an agency of political change — to name a few. In what was a wide-ranging and spirited entry

Melanie McDonagh

The chivalry of France’s murdered policeman

There’s one word you may not hear in connection with the death of Lt-Col Beltrame who died last night, the fourth victim of the 25-year-old Islamist gunman, Redouane Lakdim. And that word is chivalry. The reason why the police officer died from wounds he sustained in the shootout, in which Lakdim was killed, was that he

Nick Cohen

Corbyn has won the battle for the left

Joseph Goebbels said fascists should not worry about their propaganda being too rough or too mean. ‘It ought not be decent nor ought it be gentle or soft or humble; it ought to lead to success.’ No one could accuse the anti-Semitic propaganda in London’s East End of being ‘soft’. The Los Angeles graffiti artist

James Forsyth

Why no deal preparations must continue

Theresa May has had by far her most successful EU Council this week. The terms of the transition deal were signed off and, in a genuine diplomatic achievement, she got the EU to collectively recognise that no one other than Russia could have been responsible for the Salisbury attack. But as I say in The

Boris Johnson’s Putin-Hitler comparison is right

Boris Johnson is right that Vladimir Putin will seek to use the World Cup this summer in the same way that Hitler did with the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Putin doesn’t care much for football, but the World Cup is a useful chance to confer legitimacy on his pseudo-democratic regime by basking in the glory of

Steerpike

Listen: Diane Abbott’s Brexit hypocrisy

This evening Owen Smith has been unceremoniously sacked by Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour front bench after he called for another EU referendum. However, given that the Labour frontbench aren’t exactly known for sharing a coherent Brexit position, some are questioning how fair the move is. After all, when it coms to calling for second

Stephen Daisley

John Bolton’s appointment is a warning to America’s enemies

John Bolton – owner of the finest moustache in American politics since Teddy Roosevelt – has been appointed Donald Trump’s new national security adviser. He replaces the outgoing HR McMaster, a veritable survivor who managed to last 395 days at the White House. That’s two terms plus a recess appointment in MAGA years.  Hysteria is

Katy Balls

Cambridge Analytica row moves to Brexit

The Cambridge Analytica row looks set to move from the US presidential election to the EU referendum. After Christopher Wylie blew the whistle in the Observer and claimed that Cambridge Analytica used questionable Facebook data to win the US election, the paper looks set to re-focus its investigation on the Brexit campaign. In an 8,000

Is the NHS ready for artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence is about to transform healthcare. The claim is not being made by excitable tech gurus from Silicon Valley but by medics. Machines, having been fed enormous amounts of data, are developing algorithms that detect disease from X-rays and tissue samples. This is, potentially at least, a much cheaper and more efficient way to

Steerpike

Caption contest: Private Pike gets a seat at the table

Gavin Williamson has not had a good few weeks. While Theresa May has never looked more statesmanlike than in her response to Russia over the Salisbury poisoning, the Defence Secretary has become the subject of ridicule for suggesting Moscow ‘go away and shut up’. This week, Williamson’s Cabinet colleague Matt Hancock even went so far

Gavin Mortimer

Islamist terror returns to France

Islamist terror returned to France this morning with at least three people reportedly killed when a Moroccan man, reportedly claiming allegiance to Isis, opened fire on police and then ran into a supermarket in Trebes, shouting ‘Allah Akbar’ and vowing to avenge his “brothers in Syria”. The gunman is now believed to have been killed

Rory Sutherland

You can no longer reduce wealth inequality by taxing income

This piece first appeared in The Spectator The maximum amount you can save in an ISA for the tax year 2017-2018 is now £20,000. The maximum annual pension contribution is £40,000. Counterintuitively, these huge allowances are actually a disincentive for ordinary people to save. With a £5,000 ISA maximum, a modest saver had an impetus

Freddy Gray

Did Trump appoint John Bolton to distract from his spending bill failure?

Another massive America news blizzard yesterday: Trump lawyer quits, tariffs tariffs tariffs, stock-market slide, former alleged mistresses of the President speaking out, McMaster out (finally), Bolton in (finally). And then, as a night cap, the Senate approves a whooping $1.3 trillion spending plan to prevent a government shutdown. The Bolton news has, so far, been

Ross Clark

The left’s prophet of doom is still wrong

The Left has found something to raise its cheer. Needless to say, it is someone predicting that mankind is doomed. The most-read piece on the Guardian website yesterday was an interview with Paul Ehrlich – not the one who did something useful, the 19th century immunologist, but Paul R Ehrlich, the Stanford Professor of Biology, who

Sam Leith

Books Podcast: Gimson’s Prime Ministers

In this week’s Books Podcast, I’m joined by the Telegraph’s former parliamentary sketch writer Andrew Gimson, and the Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson, to discuss their latest superhero-style team-up: Gimson’s Prime Ministers. The book is a complete set of brief lives of every occupant of Number Ten from Walpole to May — illustrated by Martin’s distinctive caricatures.

Steerpike

Cabinet minister’s Gavin Williamson jibe

Ever since Gavin Williamson’s speedy promotion to Defence Secretary, the Conservative MP has divided opinion in his party. While some enjoy his high profile antics (which include banning Philip Hammonf from MoD jets over an outstanding bill), others think he does too little to mask his leadership ambitions. So, last week Williamson offered his critics

Cindy Yu

The Spectator Podcast: Overdosed

On this week’s episode, we discuss the state of mental health in this country, and whether doctors are all too happy to prescribe medication as the miracle solution to mental illnesses. We also ask what on earth is the deal with Cambridge Analytica, and commemorate the death of the world’s last male northern white rhino.

James Forsyth

Who is right on stop and search, Boris or May?

Theresa May’s Home Office record is normally off limits at cabinet. But, as I write in the magazine this week, when ministers discussed the government’s strategy for reducing violent crime on Tuesday, Boris Johnson took issue with what the Prime Minister regards as one of her key legacies: the dramatic reduction in stop and search. He

Isabel Hardman

How both Brexit camps are messing up on passports

The blue passport has become one of those symbols of Brexit, mocked by Remainers and taken really very seriously by Brexiteers. So it’s fitting that the row about is production tells us so much about the way the two camps operate. The current manufacturer of the Burgundy passport is De La Rue, a British supplier,