All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Writing about judicial appointments, I incautiously compared a silly interview question asking a judge to cite an example of when he had acted with integrity, to asking a farmer, ‘How many times a day do you milk your cows?’ Jamie Blackett, a farmer, writes to say that, in the 21st century, it is a question
When it comes to Brexit, for many organisations it seems to be all doom and gloom. Yes, plenty of individual Brexiteers are still glad that they voted to leave the European Union. But the uncertainty that still looms over the UK’s future in so many areas – trade, farming, immigration and more, means that in
Remember George Osborne in his hi-viz jacket as he toured the nation’s metal-bashers and gromit-manufacturers in furtherance of his elusive ‘rebalancing of the economy’ away from services and consumers and towards manufacturing and exports? What a shame he is not still in office to witness his ‘march of the makers’ finally becoming a reality. This
There are some things in life that you can always rely on: the sun will rise in the East, there will be showers in April, and the Conservatives will find a way to put off balancing the books. Although George Osborne – back when he was Chancellor – initially aimed to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015, it has
Oh dear. We’re one day into August – also known as ‘silly season’ – and Cat Smith has stepped up to the plate so journalists don’t have to. The shadow minister for voter engagement and youth affairs has penned a blog for the Huffington Post in which she makes the case for lowering the voting age
Philip Hammond, of all people, ought to ‘relish’ Brexit and the opportunity it will hand to Chancellors to set their own tax rates. But in ‘yet another blunder’, says the Sun, the current occupant of No.11 has told the French that Britain won’t lower taxes. ‘Has he gone made?’ the paper asks. Back in January, Hammond said
It seems a long time ago that Jeremy Corbyn made an impassioned defence of immigration from both within and outside the EU, telling his party that: ‘Migrants that have come to this country make an enormous contribution to it. Our conference understands that and Tom Watson put that case very well about the work that
That was fast. Anthony Scaramucci is out as White House communications director before he could even really begin communicating Donald Trump’s message. He was a kind of Trump mini-me, down to mastering his hand movements. But his wildly objurgatory language over the past week–directed primarily at former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and
So farewell, the Mooch. One of the most bizarre figures to walk on to the stage of the Trump tragicomedy has just been shoved off – lasting just ten days. It’s the doing of John F Kelly, a former Marine Corps general who was sworn in as Trump’s Chief of Staff this morning. His first act upon
If ever I have to live in a dictatorship, put me down for one of those right-wing set-ups. To toil under leftist autocracy would be too exhausting — you plant potatoes all day, get chased around by the secret police, then have to wade through articles in the Guardian explaining why you’re not experiencing true
Risk, the classic strategy board game, involves the careless deployment of tiny figurines across the continents of the world, with the opportunity to move, strengthen and attack based on how you think it best to outmanoeuvre opponents watched by the clock of human patience. The writers of Game of Thrones appear to have caught something
Ahead of the summer recess, there was concern among Tory high command that the long holiday could result in seven weeks of leadership plotting. But worried Mayites can rest easy as instead what’s transpired instead is an endless free-for-all over the government’s Brexit position. Every day hacks now take a comment from a minister on one aspect of
Labour’s Brexit position is confusing enough for the best of us, but one shadow cabinet minister found a unique reason for being lost for words this morning. The party’s Barbara Keeley appeared to lay into Jeremy Corbyn during an interview on 5 Live – only to backtrack saying she had been referring to a different Jeremy:
Over the weekend, there was much excitement after the Prime Minister was spotted wearing the same Next dress on two separate occasions on her summer jaunt to Italy. While the jury may still be out on the £26 shirt dress, some Conservatives have been boosted by the double outing for the item. The reason? It suggests
Ever since the election result, Labour moderates have attempted to put on a brave face when it comes to their feelings about Jeremy Corbyn. After ruling him out as an electoral catastrophe, they now have to work out if their former issues with the man can be put to one side for the good of
Leaving Philip Hammond in charge of the government was always going to be a risk because of his habit of putting his foot in it. There was the debacle of his first budget, then his saying in Cabinet that driving a train was so easy that even a woman could do it, and his comments that public
If there was a buzzword from last summer then it was surely ‘burkini’. The media got its swimsuit in a twist over France’s decision to ban the Islamic garment from its beaches. Slow-witted Anglophone columnists – many of whom have a curious predilection for insulting the French – lapped it up and enthusiastically portrayed Islam as the
Writing about judicial appointments, I incautiously compared a silly interview question asking a judge to cite an example of when he had acted with integrity, to asking a farmer, ‘How many times a day do you milk your cows?’ Jamie Blackett, a farmer, writes to say that, in the 21st century, it is a question
I may disagree with George Osborne on the odd issue. Like Britain’s relationship with the EU, our trading future and the exercise of democratic sovereignty. And as a Conservative minister, I certainly sometimes wince at the criticism his paper directs at the government of which I’m proud to be a part. Indeed, wince is putting
Dublin and London had been fairly tight since December 1993 and the Downing Street Declaration—until yesterday morning. The Times led with ‘Irish want sea border with UK after Brexit’. The DUP’s Sir Jeffrey Donaldson rushed breathlessly on to the Today programme to say there was ‘no way’ his party would accept it. The notion isn’t new. The idea
Theresa May should go on holiday more often, I say in The Sun today. For her Italian break has coincided with a pause in the Tory plotting that has been rumbling on since the election. Now, this is partly logistical: it is much harder to scheme when parliament isn’t sitting. But it also reflects how
Last week the births, marriages and deaths column of the Times announced an unusual marriage. Lord N.J. Blackmore had married Lord M.T.D. Hiscutt. The ceremony took place in the Palace of Westminster. ‘Marky’ was attended by five women/girls, said the announcement. Nick had two best men. Somebody ‘acted as page boy’. The honeymoon will be spent in
For our 16th wedding anniversary, Caroline and I went to the Almeida Theatre to see Ink, a new play about Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of the Sun in 1969 and the subsequent circulation war with the Daily Mirror. It is terrifically funny, brimming with comic characters and acerbic one-liners, as you would expect from writer James Graham, perhaps best known
As pictures go, it could be career death. An amazing young talent caught in a compromising position with two older men. And it’s on my computer. The talent in question is Jack Whitehall, the brilliant actor/comedian, star of Decline and Fall and Bad Education, who was appearing at the Hammersmith Apollo last week. I went with my children
Poor Reince Priebus. Or maybe not so poor. A munificent book deal surely looms in which he can chronicle his serial humiliations at the hands of Donald Trump who, as is his wont, made the announcement on Twitter that retired general John Kelly, the director of the Homeland Security, will now become White House chief of
It was only a year ago that ‘Brexit means Brexit, and we’re going to make a success of it’ seemed like a reasonably fresh phrase which could actually mean something. Now, we don’t hear so much about making a success of the thing as we do about getting through it in one piece, hopefully with
Although this week has seen a divergence of views in the Cabinet over Brexit (not to mention Labour’s continuing Brexit confusion) on everything from chlorinated chicken to freedom of movement, there is one aspect of the negotiations that all ministers can agree on: the need for a transitional agreement. Speaking on the Today programme, the Chancellor
Today’s Holy Smoke podcast responds to rumours that the Government is planning to betray parents who want to send their children to faith schools. As The Sunday Times reported: Ministers are expected to drop plans to allow Christian, Jewish and Muslim state schools to admit all their pupils from one faith after warnings that the move could heighten
Labour regulations were going to be swept aside. The euro would be reformed, tech entrepreneurs would flock to Paris, and Brexit-fleeing City bankers, flush with tax-free bonuses, would be quaffing champagne in the bars of the Latin Quarter. When Emmanuel Macron was elected President of France, there was a lot written about how he would
Give it to the scriptwriters of the epic comedy that is The Decline and Fall of the American Empire, they know how to keep an audience going. The blockbuster farce starring Donald J Trump – ‘the greatest show on earth’, even to its harshest critics – had begun to tire a little, of late. The
Britain has not had a functioning opposition on the most vital question of the day ever since the Labour left and Tory right found they were in agreement on our future relations with the EU. Although both sides are too embarrassed to admit it, we are ruled by a Corbyn-Johnson pact. It will deliver a
Justin Trudeau, the wokest world leader, has officially achieved rock-star status. This week he appears on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. His pale blue tie is slightly askew — cos he ain’t a stiff like the rest of them, okay? — and his smoky eyes are peering into the camera, but really into readers’ souls,
Much to the ire of many a financial institution, I am self-employed. Those two dirty words which mean it is near impossible to get a mortgage, earn a regular income, and save for retirement. On the upside, I have four private pensions accrued by working for various companies over the past 20 years. What is she
Another day, another mixed message from the government over its position on Brexit. This time it’s immigration that has become the source of confusion after the Home Secretary and her minister appeared to come up with conflicting lines this morning. In an article for the Financial Times, Amber Rudd said she wanted to reassure businesses