All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The Vietnam War BBC4 The BBC should be praised for showing all ten episodes of this unique, informative and shattering American series on the Vietnamese war, despite screening eight fewer hours than in the original. Before each episode the BBC warned that ‘some viewers may find some scenes upsetting’. Which ones? A frog jumping in a pool of
Theresa May made mental health one of her key policy issues when she became Prime Minister, and it was supposed to be a key part of her relaunch after the snap election too. So far, though, the Prime Minister has done a fair bit of talking, and not a huge amount of doing. The big
Oh dear. Since Labour’s surprisingly good defeat in the snap election, the hard left has managed to tighten its grip on the party. As last month’s conference proved, Jeremy Corbyn’s party is intent on socialism for the 21st century. But behind the scenes there are still battles being fought between the moderates and the Corbynistas.
On this week’s episode we look at whether the kids are alright or if we need to talk about their generation. We also ask whether Philip Hammond’s cautious approach is suited to the present economy, and consider why the best minds of a generation were lost to trash TV. First, with Scotland outlawing smacking and
In this week’s Books Podcast I’m talking to the Times columnist and former speechwriter for Tony Blair, Philip Collins, about one of my favourite subjects: rhetoric. His new book When They Go Low, We Go High is a fascinating look at political oratory from Pericles to (Michelle) Obama, and a vigorous argument for politics itself
It’s fair to say Jared O’Mara has not done wonders for Labour’s fight for gender equality. The MP for Sheffield Hallam was finally suspended by the party yesterday for referring to teenage music fans as ‘sexy slags’. Yet while Jeremy Corbyn was apparently slow to act in bringing O’Mara to task, it seems that the
Another week, another blue-chip in the dock. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has brought fraud charges against London-based mining giant Rio Tinto and two former executives in relation to an ill-starred coal venture in Mozambique. Whatever its legalities, this was a colossal corporate cock-up. In 2010, Rio paid $3.7 billion for Riversdale, an Australian
The debate about universities in the last few days has been extremely frustrating. Britain has the two best universities in the world, according to The Times Higher Education rankings, and five of the top 25. This should be a cause for national celebration. Politicians should be seeking to build on this strength, not doing anything
Why do politicians constantly bring plagues on their own houses? This week, the Tories have embraced the Jared O’Mara allegations with gusto, prompting Theresa May to speak about it at Prime Minister’s Questions, calling for emergency debates and writing letters about the matter. Some Labourites have been responding by pointing out that it’s highly unlikely
As concerns continue to be rise over Jared O’Mara’s conduct towards women, his Labour comrade John Mann has suggested such behaviour isn’t just limited to one MP in the party. With Mann threatening to expose a colleague who was sent home from a foreign delegation for inappropriate behaviour, the conversation has turned to who knew
The predictions of doom and gloom about Britain’s prospects after Brexit were widespread in the run-up to the referendum. One by one, these warnings have failed to materialise: yesterday, we learned from the ONS that the economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the last quarter in a clear sign it has ‘outperformed expectations again’.
Yesterday, Sebastian Kurz, the leader of Austria’s conservative People’s Party, announced his intention to form a new coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ). The Austrian far-right have been in federal government before, as recently as the mid-2000s, and narrowly lost last year’s presidential election (which had to be re-run). While the opening of
Three quarters of people back the banning of unpaid internships beyond a four-week period. This is according to a survey of 5,000 people by the Social Mobility Commission. Later this week Lord Holmes of Richmond will be leading a bill in the House of Lords with the aim of requiring companies to pay interns the
How did Jared O’Mara end up in Parliament, and will he remain there for much longer? Today he was suspended from the Labour whip, and an investigation was launched into the allegations about his online posts and conversations, including an allegation that he used misogynistic and transphobic language to a constituent this year. The suspension
Jeremy Corbyn wanted to repeat last week’s victory on Universal Credit. He landed no serious blows but he made the government look silly in its handling of the reforms. Mrs May brought up Labour’s record, and the ‘tax credit’ merry-go-round devised by Gordon Brown. Voters were fleeced by one arm of government and reimbursed by
If I was the vice-chancellor of Oxford, I’d be thinking about an urgent fundraising campaign that would allow the university to go private. Chris Heaton-Harris’s letter yesterday was dumb. A request for information on who lectures about Brexit and for links to their lecture materials made on House of Commons letterhead was bound to look intimidating.
If democracy is government by the people and meritocracy by the most able, Brexitocracy is rule by charlatans. Anyone who doubts that should survey the limp justifications, weaker than the Labour vetting process, for Chris Heaton-Harris’s letter to vice-chancellors. The Eurosceptic MP wrote to universities and asked if they wouldn’t mind drawing up a list of names
David Davis’s revelation that Parliament may not get a vote on a Brexit deal until after Britain has actually left the EU has provoked a flurry of criticism. The Government has been accused of railroading Parliament and treating MPs with ‘contempt’. It’s an ‘undemocratic disgrace’, says Open Britain. Yet Davis is only really stating the
Jeremy Corbyn went on universal credit again at PMQs today. Theresa May was better than she was last week. She did muster a defence of the moral basis of the policy, but she still spent the session stuck on the back foot. It is hard to see how the Tories can continue to defend the
Jared O’Mara is yet to actually speak in Parliament but when – or if – he does take to his feet in the chamber, it seems he will do so without the Labour whip. Following days of allegations about what the MP for Sheffield Hallam has written online, the party has finally acted to temporarily
Oh dear. When a Tory MP missed last week’s Opposition Day debate on universal credit to referee at a Barcelona match, both the SNP and Labour were quick to go on the offensive – accusing Douglas Ross of failing his constituents. Now it seems that one of Labour’s most vocal justice warriors has also fallen foul
Jared O’Mara is yet to make his maiden speech in Parliament, says the Sun – and ‘it might not be a bad thing if it stays that way’. The ‘disgraced’ Labour MP – who ousted Nick Clegg from his Sheffield Hallam seat at the snap election – has said sorry for his ‘crass comments’, which
Russia does much worse than suppressing dissident opinion and manufacturing fake news. Putin has aided and abetted the vast crimes against humanity in Syria. The terror sent refugees flooding into the EU, and their presence helped produce Brexit and the rise of a pan-European far right: a double victory for the Kremlin, when you look
For most people, their current account is the bank account that they use the most. So it makes sense to make sure that your account offers the highest possible rates of interest. Here are the best ones on the market at the moment, from data provided by moneyfacts.co.uk.
In the immediate aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the EU, there were fears in the corridors of Brussels that it would trigger a so-called ‘domino effect’. Many predicted that other Eurosceptic nations would follow Britain’s lead, unravelling the European project which took 65 years to build. More than one year after the Brexit vote,
If ministers are going to offer any concessions in the row over Universal Credit, they’ve decided to keep them back for a little while longer. This afternoon MPs have been holding an emergency debate on the reform, with Employment Minister Damian Hinds defending the reform and the roll-out, rather than suggesting that the government is
The Women and Equalities Select Committee is a member down today after one of its male intake was forced to resign on Monday over his formerly misogynistic behaviour. However, to the surprise of some feminists, it’s not Philip Davies, the man many have spent the past year calling a misogynist, but Labour’s Jared O’Mara. The MP for
After an unflattering account of Theresa May’s dinner last week with Jean-Claude Jucker wound up in the German broadsheet FAZ, tensions between Brussels and Westminster have heightened. The briefing claimed that May ‘begged’ for help and appeared ‘tormented’ with ‘deep rings’ under her eyes. Keen to prove that he was not behind the leak, Juncker
Let us give thanks for the straight-talking Rory Stewart. After last week’s alarming comments from Max Hill, a QC who appears to believe British Isis fighters just need some TLC, Stewart, a Foreign Office minister, has given a more incisive assessment of the approach that should be taken towards the British jihadists still at large
On the Andrew Marr show yesterday, the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid suggested that the government should ‘sensibly borrow more money’ and take advantage of the ‘record low-levels’ of interest rates in order to tackle the UK’s housing crisis. He added that the lack of affordable housing was the ‘biggest barrier to social progress in our
How far is the government going to row back on Universal Credit? This afternoon an emergency debate has been granted on the matter in the Commons tomorrow. Two of the pilot councils in the roll-out of the new benefit have warned that the new system could be a catastrophe once implemented fully, predicting rent arrears
Theresa May has the perfect answer to all difficult questions: we don’t want to give away anything that will harm our position in the Brexit negotiations. No matter whether the information an MP is requesting has anything to do with Britain’s negotiating position: it’s a handy line to use when the answer is in fact
Oh dear. Although John Bercow has a penchant for winding up Conservative MPs in the Chamber, he also has a habit of taking the SNP to task for failing to grasp Westminster etiquette. However, today he adopted a rather different approach. During questions after Theresa May’s statement on the EU Council summit, the Speaker appeared
If someone had told you 10 years ago that it would soon become tantamount to a speechcrime to say ‘Men cannot get pregnant’, you would have thought them mad. That would be like punishing someone for saying, ‘Humans need oxygen to survive’. And yet here we are, in 2017, where PC has spun so violently