All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
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
One should not speak ill of the dead, but if their flaws or vices are glossed over that is also problematic. George Michael was admirable in some ways, especially for his quiet charitable donations, but less so in others. I don’t see why his penchant for anonymous sexual encounters should be politely passed over, or
This year, I’m swapping my debit card for a credit card. It’s not because I’m starting 2017 in the red. It’s to make sure I stay comfortably in the black. My New Year’s resolution is to make my money go further – and this is where my credit card comes in. I’ve taken inspiration from
Debt charities have urged the Government to tackle the UK’s debt crisis after official figures revealed that household debt has soared to its highest level in eight years. The BBC reports on Bank of England statistics which show that personal debt grew 10.8 per cent in the year to 30 November to £192.2 billion. Step Change
Like all the best mistakes, it was done for the right reasons. Knowing that for once the US wouldn’t veto, the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning settlement building in the occupied Palestinian Territories. The UK was no doubt keen to be with the consensus but we were wrong to back the Resolution. This
Just a day after Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation as Britain’s ambassador to the EU, his successor has been named as Sir Tim Barrow. Currently political director at the Foreign Office, Barrow is a career diplomat who is a former ambassador to Russia with significant experience of Brussels. Speaking on LBC, Rogers’ old boss Charles Crawford, a former
The rearguard Remain campaign is now living in a parallel universe. In the past 24 hours we have heard endless whining about Sir Ivan Rogers’ departure and how it will mean disaster for our trading relationship with the EU. We’ve had more claims that inflation is going to surge. The poor Christmas results put out
After Sir Ivan Rogers unexpectedly resigned as Britain’s ambassador to the EU on Tuesday, it’s safe to say that the diplomat is not the flavour of the month in Downing Street. In fact, given that his resignation letter appeared to take swipes at both Theresa May and Liam Fox over their Brexit approach, it’s probably for
The wonder about Sir Ivan Rogers’s resignation as Britain’s ambassador to the EU is that he was still in the job. He may have possessed useful knowledge about the workings of the EU, but he was also heavily associated with a failed way of conducting negotiations with it. It was he who advised David Cameron
A New Year is upon us and a new wave of racism, bigotry and xenophobia is meant to be stalking our land. That’s according to a Sky poll released on Monday which proclaimed that ‘Britain is more racist and less happy since Brexit vote’. If this made you check your pulse and wonder what racism
Sir Ivan Rogers is stepping down from his role as the UK’s ambassador to the EU – but is his departure really such a great loss? In his explosive resignation email, Rogers urged his colleagues to challenge ‘muddled thinking’ and ‘speak truth to power’, in a parting shot at Theresa May. So is this evidence of
As No.10 reels from Ivan Rogers’ resignation letter in which he accuses Theresa May’s government of ‘muddled thinking’, Liam Fox has found himself in the firing line. Britain’s departing ambassador to the EU has taken aim at the International Trade secretary — declaring that ‘free trade does not just happen’. Alas should Fox have some
Amid the cacophony of moaning and groaning accompanying this week’s nationwide return to work was an eye-catching headline from satirical site The Daily Mash: ‘So we meet again, Southern tells commuters’. As someone who used to brave the Northern line on a daily basis, I can imagine the impending sense of doom felt by thousands of
An increasing number of landlords are having trouble paying their mortgage, new figures have revealed. Money Mail reports that, for the first time on record, ‘the number of buy-to-let homes in mortgage arrears has increased’. That’s according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders which recorded a 6 per cent rise in mortgage arrears among
Today’s Fabian Society paper on the state of the Labour Party — and what a state it is — has put Labourites and the leftish Twitterati into a spin. Aptly titled ‘Stuck’, the paper says just over half of the people who voted Labour in 2015 support the party today. And if an election were
With Brexit negotiations just months away, Sir Ivan Rogers has unexpectedly resigned as Britain’s ambassador to the EU. The news apparently came as a surprise to No.10, with Rogers previously expected to leave the post in November. While Rogers is yet to give a reason for his departure, the decision comes after reports of growing tensions
New year, new start? Not for Labour. The party’s 2017 has got off to a bad start with the publication of a sobering report on its election prospects for 2020. The Fabian Society predicts that Labour will win less than 20pc of the vote and just 150 seats (to put this into context, Labour has not won fewer than 200 seats since 1935).
Leaving the EU was all about taking back control – and it’s time to do the same with Britain’s foreign aid budget, says the Daily Telegraph. It describes the target set by David Cameron for the UK to spend 0.7 per cent of its GDP on foreign aid as ‘ill-judged’. Making a comparison with the
Anyone reading the news of late would be forgiven for thinking that Labour is far from election ready. In fact, the party’s poor polling led Unite’s Len McCluskey — a key Jeremy Corbyn ally — to yesterday declare that if the polls are ‘still awful’ come 2019, Corbyn could have to stand down. However, fear not. It turns out
During the Scottish independence referendum, BBC Scotland was regularly accused of showing bias against the SNP. The Beeb’s supposed pro-Union slant led Alex Salmond to brand its coverage ‘a disgrace’. However, now it seems brains at the BBC are keen to get the Nats back on side. Donalda MacKinnon, BBC Scotland’s new director, has given an exclusive interview
If you’re planning on buying a second property this year, then help is at hand thanks to Spectator Money. Stamp duty costs, mortgage tax relief changes and the possible impact of Brexit are just a few things to consider when buying a second home, a holiday home or a buy-to-let in 2017. Price versus Value ‘Location,
January will be one of the busiest months ever for debt charities, according to Citizens Advice and National Debtline. A combination of overspending on Christmas and longer-term financial problems will result in many people asking for money advice this month, The Guardian reports. The paper says: ‘Citizens Advice expects more than 370,000 people to seek help on
Back in the summer of 2015, a year before the Brexit vote, I was summoned to the German Embassy in London for a special briefing by a senior member of Germany’s Social Democrats. The man from the SPD didn’t mince his words: David Cameron might secure a few small concessions in his forthcoming renegotiation with
