All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Theresa May is launching yet another attempt to define herself as a politician today with a major speech on tackling the ‘hidden injustices’ of mental illness. The Prime Minister has won plaudits for taking on an issue which often gets ignored, says the Daily Telegraph. Yet it’s true that we have been here before, the
Since Netflix released The Crown, the network has received much praise for its dramatisation of the Queen’s early years. In fact, the critical acclaim has led some screenwriters to declare that they would now rather write for Netflix than the BBC. Happily, last night’s Golden Globe awards gave cause for celebration to both parties. While the
While getting the Tory leadership contest out of the way quickly was good for the country following the EU referendum, it did mean that Britain gained a new Prime Minister without much idea of what she believed or wanted to do with her time in office. Theresa May did set out some principles for her
The most memorable moment of Theresa May’s New Year TV interview was when Donald Trump’s quote about grabbing women by the pussy was read out to her. A clearly uncomfortable May replied that it was unacceptable language. Before quickly adding — in an attempt to avoid angering the incoming President—that Trump himself had said that
As a former student of English at Cambridge, I am sent the faculty magazine, 9 West Road. Its latest issue leads with a long article by Peter de Bolla, chair of the faculty, headlined — with intentionally bitter irony — ‘Now we are in control’. On and on he goes — the shocked perplexity of
Welcome to 2017! And eight days in, it’s time for one of those apologies again. You know, the cringing acts of self-abasement issued in order to save someone’s job and for which there was no need whatsoever. Northampton Town got well and truly stuffed by Bristol Rovers on Saturday. Five nil. And Bristol Rovers aren’t
Before you read any further, be warned that this post contains some shockingly racy material. Well, not really – I just wanted to make sure you read beyond the first sentence. That’s what ‘adult content’ warnings are really for. When some mediocre TV drama begins with a warning about ‘scenes of a sexual nature’, I
The FTSE 100 ended the year strong, at 7142, and reopened even stronger. For 2016 overall the index gained 14 per cent, with multinational mining giants as top performers, while the pound lost 16.5 per cent against the dollar — those facts being closely related, since they mean London blue-chips are still cheaper in dollars
Katie Hopkins did something dreadful this week, which is not unusual, because she craves such things. She retweeted praise — also not unusual, for she is narcissistic for a masochist — from a Twitter account called AntiJuden SS. The page even featured a swastika, should AntiJuden SS not have been clear indication enough. For Hopkins,
Last week I took the Eurostar to the Gare du Nord in Paris. We had lunch next to the station at the Terminus Nord brasserie, unchanged since 1925. The art deco clock on the wall has literally stopped, and everything else is frozen in the world of Fred Astaire, from the mosaic floor to the
It’s tradition that the Prime Minister kicks off the new year by giving a broadcast interview to the Andrew Marr show. However, this year Theresa May has decided to mix things up and snub the BBC in favour of Sky News. On Sunday, May will instead be interviewed by Sophy Ridge to kickstart Ridge’s new morning show: Very excited
Theresa May has clearly learnt one lesson from David Cameron’s failed negotiation with the EU. As I write in The Sun this morning. she has realised that if she just asks for what cautious officials think she can get, then she won’t get enough to satisfy the voters—hence Sir Ivan Roger’s resignation as the UK
The response to Milo Yiannopoulos getting a big-bucks book deal with Simon & Schuster has been nuts. Even by today’s standards. The cry has gone up that S&S — or SS, amirite? — is endangering the wellbeing of women and gays and blacks and other minorities that have felt the sting of Milo’s camp polemics. Please.
Quercus Books recently published a series of parodies of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories which reimagines the five as adults. Titles include Five Go Gluten Free and Five on Brexit Island. Everyone loves a spoof, it seems, to judge by the phenomenal success of the chart-topping Ladybird Books for Grown Ups. And never one to
Jamie’s Italian is closing six branches, blaming Brexit. After all, what else could explain the lack of customers? The below Spectator review, from August 2015, offers some suggestions Jamie’s Italian is squeezed into the Devonshire Arms on Denman Street, Soho, borne on the duplicitous winds of TV shows and book deals. It’s an odd fit,
It is the fate of all new prime ministers to be compared with their recent predecessors. Theresa May has already been accused of being the heir to the micro-managing Gordon Brown. Her allies, meanwhile, see a new Margaret Thatcher, an uncompromising Boadicea destined to retrieve sovereignty from Europe. But perhaps a more fitting model for
When Donald Trump began his run for the White House, he put building a wall with Mexico at the heart of his campaign. ‘I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words’, he cried after gliding down his golden escalator way
This time last year, Barry Humphries revealed how political correctness had killed comedy at the BBC. His plan to tell a joke about Jeremy Corbyn hit a wall when a faceless BBC executive said he could only do so if he also made a joke about David Cameron. So, Mr S can’t help but wonder
So, yet another business in trouble thanks to this foul recession caused by Brexit. Or that’s what chief executive of Jamie’s Italian, Simon Blagden, wants us to think, anyway. Announcing the closure of six restaurants he said: ‘As every restaurant owner knows, this is a tough market and, post-Brexit, the pressures and unknowns have made
With Labour predicted to win as little as 20pc of the vote in the 2020 election, there’s been little cause for celebration in the Leader’s Office this week. However, should you be a glutton for punishment, an opportunity has arisen to join the beleaguered party as its ‘deputy director’ of Strategy and Communications: The lucky candidate will
As confessions go, it was hardly the most revelatory. Cheryl Fernandez-Versini admits she has problems with relationships. Sir Philip Green accepts he made a bit of a hash of BHS. Ed Miliband owns up to struggling with bacon sandwiches. They would have all come as more of a surprise than the chief economist of the
The switch from traditional spending to online shopping continues to gather pace as new figures show that high street sales fell last month for the fourth year running in favour of internet purchases. The BBC reports that online sales in December were 19 per cent higher than in 2015 while online orders increased in the week
Philip Davies originally wanted to be a journalist but decided against it after coming to the conclusion that he lacked the confidence: ‘It was my ambition in life but I just realised I was too shy. You’ve got to have a confidence that I think I probably never had.’ Now an unruly backbencher, it’s hard
The bewildering influx of immigrants into London has had one effect that no one could have predicted 20 years ago: it’s making our capital city religious again. We’ve noticed – but only up to a point. Islam is visible: the women in niqabs, the new mosques, the Halal butchers. But the transformation of Christianity in
Few people are shedding any tears over the end of 2016, least of all savers. But it was a bumper year for borrowers. Let’s take a look at what happened to financial products in 2016 – and what’s in store for savers and borrowers in 2017. Mortgages and housing market Last year saw a welcome
What is the greatest problem facing Theresa May this year? The Prime Minister is preparing for her speech on what Brexit means (in which she will presumably have to speak in sentences rather than using random and meaningless slogans), but that’s not the only major policy issue that she should deal with in 2017. As
The front page of the Times makes happy reading for the Government this morning with its news that Britain’s economy grew at a faster rate than any other leading economy in the world last year. But while politicians are keen to act as cheerleaders on occasions like this, they are somewhat more reluctant to mention
The global warming ‘pause’ never existed, say the headlines. It’s a claim that has been made before, only to be refuted, yet now it’s back again. If there is one topic that sends a small subset of climate scientists’ temperature into the stratosphere, it’s the topic of the global warming ‘pause’ or ‘hiatus’. This is the
Europe’s unpreparedness to deal with the terrorist threat it is now facing is highlighted in two reports today. The Wall Street Journal has obtained a copy of the report prepared for the Belgium parliament on the failure of the Belgium authorities to stop the Islamic State terror cell who travelled from Belgium to carry out
A dead white man called Adolf Hitler has sold nearly 100,000 copies of his memoir, Mein Kampf, since a new edition was published last year in Germany. The book wasn’t officially banned in the country, but the copyright was owned by the state of Bavaria which prevented new editions being made. I have to admit to never
On this week’s podcast we discuss President Trump’s arrival on the world stage, the problem of medicating adult ADHD sufferers, and how virtual reality headsets might change the way we think and work. First up, Lara Prendergast speaks to Andrew J. Bacevich about his cover story in this week’s magazine. With Trump’s inauguration just a couple of weeks away, his fans
The ‘Women’s March’ on Washington might not have actually happened yet but it can already be judged a success. Few demonstrations in recent years have attracted such advance publicity, inspired so many supportive column inches, or prompted such an abundance of ‘how to’ guides for the novice protester. The march, planned for 21 January – the
Sir Tim Barrow has been appointed as Britain’s ambassador to the EU. Yet still the row over his predecessor’s departure rages in today’s papers. Sir Ivan Rogers may well have thought that the country made a mistake in backing Brexit, says the Daily Telegraph, but it is ‘not his place to make that impression public
Let’s say you’re a rising minister put in charge of the department for enterprise. You have the great idea to incentivise businesses to invest in low-carbon energy by offering a subsidy for renewable fuel used. Unfortunately, something goes wrong in the planning or execution of the scheme, with the result that claimants are paid more