All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The latest challenge, to compose sonnets containing household tips, saw you on sparkling form and there were plenty of stylish, inventive entries to choose from. I was riveted by your recommendations and hope to put some of them to the test, though I might just take John Whitworth’s word for it: (‘Prick sausages and they
Even Damian Green seems to find it odd that he’s the second most important person in the government. When asked, the First Secretary of State plays down his influence — in fact, he plays down most things. When David Cameron wanted the Tories’ immigration policies out of the spotlight, he put Green in charge of
The Conservative party conference is underway. In the days after the doomed snap election, Theresa May didn’t look as though she would make it this far. But the Prime Minister has clung on. Here are the highlights to look out for on day one: Party conference: 10.30 – 12.30: Meeting of the National Conservative Convention. Alexandra Suite,
We are likely to hear a lot about ‘social reform’ at Conservative Party Conference. This Frankenstein’s brother of social justice will be bandied around as party bosses try to define the government by something other than Brexit. Whilst we can expect the Prime Minister to super charge her socially reforming credentials one issue we’re unlikely
Jeremy Corbyn’s reluctance to condemn the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, shows just how weak and mealy-mouthed he is. The Labour leader was asked in an interview with Channel 4’s Jon Snow to speak out against Maduro. Once again, Corbyn turned down his chance to do so. He said he deplored ‘abuses of human rights and
When you pick up a packet of meat from the supermarket and it says ‘Willow Farms’, what is the image you conjure up in your mind? Do you imagine the chickens reared on this farm happily pecking around a thatched cottage, searching for grubs in a field that rolls gently down to a river flanked
You have to try really hard to get any idea of what the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby actually said in his interview for the BBC Today programme, the one where he said the BBC had acted with less integrity than the Church of England or the Catholic church when it came to the abuse
Boris Johnson and Ruth Davidson are two of my favourite Tory politicians: both energetic, eloquent, optimistic, pro-immigration and – in general – liberal conservatives. Both have proven track records of winnng voters in parts of the country that had been inhospitable to Tories. Both are advocates of conservatism for explicitly progressive reasons: but because it’s
A few weeks ago, Theresa May seemed surprisingly stable as Tory leader, given the mess of the snap election. Her cabinet had finally stopped squabbling about Brexit and Conservative backbenchers were largely backing her to continue. But on the eve of party conference, things don’t look so great. Firstly, the Cabinet unity has disappeared again.
Tomorrow is Theresa May’s birthday. But as I say in The Sun this morning, Tory activists won’t be giving her presents. Instead, they’ll be letting her know what they think went wrong with the election campaign. My information is that Theresa May won’t apologise for the campaign. But she will make clear that she intends
From Educating Rita and The Young Ones to the more recent Fresh Meat, social class differences among university students provide perennial dramatic inspiration. Working class students – what with their funny accents, strange diet and odd clothes – are simply a great source of comic relief. Now there’s a new stereotype for scriptwriters to get
Now, the government seems entirely focused on Brexit, and of course it is important, but there are many other matters to sort out and I don’t mean internecine squabbles. Poverty. Housing. Schools. Holes in the road. I understand why many young people are turning away from us. But not why some older ones who should
You can see why Theresa May said in Florence that the British wished the European Union well in its plans for greater integration, while choosing a different path ourselves. There is no point in causing antagonism over what we cannot prevent. But in fact greater European integration will do great harm to all Europeans, including
Many assume that if an election were held soon, Jeremy Corbyn would win. But what if, say, the government fell in 2020 and Labour won a working majority? At 71, Corbyn becomes Britain’s oldest prime minister since Churchill, and at first is one of its most popular. His appeal grows as he takes on some
Earlier this week Nick Timothy and Tim Montgomerie had a short spat on Twitter about the reasons for the Conservative party’s failure to win a majority in June’s general election. Nick Timothy tweeted that: ‘We had a small majority and a divided cabinet, party and country’ https://twitter.com/NickJTimothy/status/912615649322717184 When other things are equal, people are generally
Are you considering a career in Labour politics but fear you may be left behind amid all the exciting changes the party is undergoing? Maybe you want to be a part of the Jez revolution but can’t get your head around the ever-developing terminology. Perhaps you are eyeing up a safe seat but aren’t sure
I got to know Hugh Hefner quite well when I lived in LA in the nineties and was a fairly regular visitor to the Playboy Mansion. As the Times of London’s Hollywood Correspondent, I was a regular on the guest list for The Playmate of the Year awards and occasionally was asked over for one
When I started out as a political journalist, I was always thrown by the word ‘policy’. To most people it sounded so dull and wonky whereas for me, it was – and is – easily the most exciting aspect of politics. How to fix the NHS, tackle poverty, solve the housing crisis, make state schools
Ukip have just announced their new leader – and it’s not who you would expect. Anne Marie Waters – the far-right anti-Islam candidate – has been beaten to first place by a former Lib Dem candidate named Henry Bolton. Bolton, who won with 30pc of the vote, used his acceptance speech to make clear that
It has long been my understanding that innovative business entrants are the very lifeblood of our free market society. In recent months, however, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is no longer the case. Uber, Taxify, AirBnB, Deliveroo, Amazon, Google, along with many other modern innovators, have at times been treated like pariahs. Some of
Finally, Theresa May has – in her speech marking the Bank of England’s independence – offered the defence of capitalism ‘that the country has been waiting to hear’, says the Daily Telegraph. It’s about time, argues the paper, which accuses Jeremy Corbyn of ‘selling a vision of socialism’ to an audience too young to remember
The error of Emma Kelty, the one that cost the British adventurer her brave life on the banks of the Amazon, was a failing all too common in Europeans: she had too much good faith. Raised in comfort and educated in compassion, Kelty had little concept of the savagery that lurks in some souls. Displaying
The Prime Minister spoke today at the Bank of England to celebrate its 20 years of independence. But she has failed to recognise the irony of trumpeting the virtues of capitalism in the seat of monetary policymaking which has, for the past ten years, undermined many of the principles on which capitalism is based. In
On Monday 11th September, The Spectator hosted a round table discussion over lunch about whether being green is good for business. Guests included: Philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, Shaun Spiers, CEO of Green Alliance, Mark Saxon from Coca-Cola Great Britain, journalist Harry Mount, Tom Robinson, founder of Adaptavate, Bill Wiggin MP, Peter Aldous MP, Neil Parish
Erbil They like the British here in Iraqi Kurdistan. You hear it from people everywhere in Erbil, the region’s capital. And there were a great many of them out in the streets. It was hot and crowded on 25 September; the polls opened early for the Kurds to vote. The question was simple: did they
On this week’s episode, we turn our attention to Brighton where Jeremy Corbyn, potentially our next Prime Minister, has been holding court at Labour conference. We also look at how child refugees are managed by the home office, and wonder which whiskeys to lay down for the future. First, before the Conservatives head to Manchester
This year’s Labour party conference saw a more radical approach adopted by the leadership. In his leader’s speech, Jeremy Corbyn called for an end to neo-liberalism – describing his party’s pitch as 21st century socialism. So, how best to bring an end to neo-liberalism? Happily, Paul Mason – the Channel 4 journalist-turned-left-wing-revolutionary – was on
At Conservative party conference next week, expect a lot of soul-searching over what exactly went wrong for the Tories in the snap election. Happily, the Prime Minister has kicked proceedings off early – telling the House magazine that the big problem was that the Tories just weren’t ready for an early election: ‘I think the
Theresa May’s Florence speech last week certainly prompted a warming of words from Brussels – but so far it has triggered little action. At today’s press conference between Michel Barnier and David Davis to mark the completion of the fourth round of Brexit talks, the EU’s chief negotiator said not enough progress had been made
The people’s flag is even deeper red in Scottish Labour, where the daggers are plunging in all directions amid a bloody leadership battle. Interim leader Alex Rowley has been secretly recorded admitting he backs left-wing candidate Richard Leonard, despite promising to remain neutral in the contest. It comes barely a week after Rowley’s turn as Fife’s answer
Housing – and specifically the dearth of reasonably priced housing – is an issue that crops up again and again in the political conversation. Young people are being priced out of the housing market; even where new housing is being built, very little of it could be classed as ‘affordable’. So today’s news that the
Admirers of violence and lies must go carefully. As true cowards they must leave themselves an escape hatch in case they are forced to retreat. They never quite commit to the suppression of rights, the rigged elections, the secret policemen and the torture chambers. Instead they tell us we are not hearing the full story,
Back in the early 1990s, a few years after the Berlin Wall came down, I went back to the house in Dresden where my father was born. The house was on the outskirts so my father and grandmother survived the bombing – they got the last train out of Dresden before the Red Army arrived.
Like football, politics is a game of space and movement. Whoever controls the space has room to move. As matters stand, the Conservative party has ceded control to Labour. The Tories, consumed by Brexit, have opened the door to the very thing they fear most: a ‘socialism for the 21st century’, as Jeremy Corbyn put