Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

Secret squirrel savings: why keeping financial secrets is a good idea

The Prudential seems shocked to find that many couples aren’t entirely honest with each other when it comes to their finances. The deceptions uncovered were manifold: there were secret squirrel savings accounts, undisclosed credit card debt and personal loans (and occasionally mortgages)-  as well as a general lack of truthfulness about how much each earned.

RBS, landlords, energy and Brexit

Taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland has been revealed as the worst performer in the Bank of England’s annual health check of the UK banking system. The Guardian reports that, following its failure in the Bank of England stress test, RBS has published a plan designed to bolster its financial strength by an estimated £2 billion. Barclays and Standard

Steerpike

Listen: Stephen Kinnock grilled on Labour’s immigration policy on Today

After Ukip’s new leader Paul Nuttall said he planned ‘to replace the Labour party and make Ukip the patriotic voice of working people’, Jeremy Corbyn’s party are under pressure to re-connect with their traditional working class voters. With that in mind, Stephen Kinnock appeared on the Today programme on Tuesday to talk Labour and immigration.

Steerpike

Watch: Douglas Murray gives Richard Gott a history lesson

With Emily Thornberry en route to Cuba to attend the funeral of Fidel Castro, back in Blighty landbound socialists — with selective memories — continue to take to the airwaves to heap praise on the late dictator. Happily during one such appearance, from Richard Gott — a former literary editor of the Guardian — on Sky News,

Steerpike

Eddie Izzard’s Remain spending spree

Although Eddie Izzard’s kiss of death is famous throughout Westminster, the comedian-turned-campaigner still manages to bag prominent positions in losing campaigns. Take for example the EU referendum. Izzard was hired by the Remain camp to valiantly tour the country preaching to the youth of today about the positives of the European Union. While his words failed

Brendan O’Neill

In defence of Eric Bristow

The Twitch-hunters, those antsy, intolerant guardians of what it’s permissible to say on Twitter, have claimed another scalp. Eric Bristow’s. The former darts champion, lovably known as the Crafty Cockney, will now probably be better known as hate-speaker thanks to the offence-taking army that took umbrage at his tweets about child abuse. For this quarrelsome

Katy Balls

Labour and the Tories carry on cross-dressing at Treasury questions

In last week’s Autumn statement, Philip Hammond appeared to channel his inner Ed Miliband as he banned letting fees and went on a borrowing splurge. Today at Treasury questions, it was Labour’s turn to cross-dress. After John McDonnell sparked much laughter from Tory benches by referring to Mark Field’s chief of staff — behind yesterday’s so-called Brexit leak

Steerpike

Nicholas Soames brings Mark Field down a peg or two

Although Theresa May is reluctant to say that Brexit means anything other than… Brexit, on Monday we were given a glimpse of what else it could stand for. Mark Field’s Chief of Staff, Julia Dockerill, was snapped carrying some intriguing notes on the topic following a reported meeting with David Davis: is this the first insight into

Employees lose out after salary sacrifice perks scrapped

If you’re not familiar with the term, then ‘salary sacrifice’ is a bit of a puzzler. Just what is your boss expecting you to sacrifice? A chunk of your wages? A goat in the car park at lunchtime? Put simply, salary sacrifice arrangements enable employees to give up salary in return for benefits-in-kind that are often

First-time buyers, payments, high-cost credit and lending

Despite fears over affordability and the effects of the Brexit vote, the number of first-time buyers purchasing homes in the UK reached a record high in October. The National Association of Estate Agents said that a third of sales registered at its members’ branches were to first-time buyers, a 9 per cent rise from September and the

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Labour’s Ukip nightmare

After being made Ukip leader yesterday, Paul Nuttall wasted no time in making it clear who he had in his sights: the Labour party. Nuttall said he wanted Ukip to ‘replace Labour’ within five years. And in its editorial, the Times says this threat spells a ‘nightmare’ scenario for Labour. The paper says that while ‘healing’

Theo Hobson

Theresa May’s religious faith should bring her more joy

I like the fact that Theresa May is an Anglican, a good, solid, unashamed, unflashy Anglican, whose allegiance has not wavered since childhood. It reassures me. For the CofE is a place of pragmatic idealism, public service, profound humanism, good humour, self-criticism. Also, it’s just about the only place where class and racial divisions are

Restaurateur Gavin Rankin enjoys a gastronomic trip to Belgium

Restaurateur Gavin Rankin enjoys a gastronomic trip to Belgium but wishes travelling companion, chef Rowley Leigh, had kept his mouth shut about the ox tongue. I recently lunched with two National Treasures – both Chefs – and was amused to see that their pointed bantering was every bit as spiky as might be expected from

Nick Cohen

It’s time to challenge the Brexit Pollyannas

In his admirably brief and necessarily brutal, Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now, Ian Dunt tells how civil servants brief business leaders while they wait to meet David Davis. For all his appearance as a tough guy with the strength to handle the most complicated diplomatic crisis the British have faced since the Second World

Is Justin Trudeau totally clueless about Castro’s Cuba?

In Miami’s Little Havana, champagne fizzed all weekend. Meanwhile, the rest of us in the free world amused ourselves comparing the barmiest political reactions to the death of Fidel Castro. Jeremy Corbyn is strong in the running for the ‘Despot Hagiography Award’, though top honours must go to the national statesmen remembering a tyrant as a

Julie Burchill

The joy of shoplifting

I was interested to read that police recorded more shoplifting offences in the year ending in March than they have since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in 2003. The trend was unique among other diminishing types of hands-on thieving, single-handedly driving up the number of ‘property crimes’ reported in England and Wales, according to

Gavin Mortimer

François Fillon wants to wage war against the French state

François Fillon crushed Alain Juppé on Sunday night in the second round of voting for the presidential nomination for France’s main conservative party. Having knocked Nicolas Sarkozy out of the race last weekend, the 62-year-old Fillon won 66.5 percent of the vote in yesterday’s run-off against the more moderate Juppé. It’s a devastating blow for

Tom Goodenough

Paul Nuttall wins Ukip’s leadership race

Paul Nuttall has won the race to replace Nigel Farage as Ukip leader. Nuttall’s victory was decisive: he picked up 62.6 per cent of the vote, compared to Suzanne Evans on 19.3 per cent and John Rees-Evans on 18.1 per cent. For Nuttall, the hard work starts now. His win today puts an end to

Sam Leith

Books podcast: Can you solve Alex Bellos’s problems?

This week in the books podcast, I talk to Alex Bellos, author of the superbly engrossing Can You Solve My Problems?, about mathematical and logical puzzles: what they can teach us, the oddballs who invent them, and the pleasure that they offer. Plus, a first for this podcast, we’ll be setting a brain-teaser at the

Steerpike

SNP MP: what we can learn from Fidel Castro

Oh dear. Over the weekend many liberal leaders heaped praise on Fidel Castro as news broke that the Cuban dictator was dead. In fact, it was Tim Farron who stood out for actually condemning Castro’s human rights abuses — while describing him as a ‘vastly significant’ leader. So, what of the SNP? Well, today George Kerevan

Black Friday/Cyber Monday, pensions, rail fares and PPI

Don’t believe the hype. Despite forecasts of record sales for this year’s shopping frenzy, Black Friday appears to have been a bit of damp squib, with online sales growth falling significantly short of predictions. The Times reports that purchasing online was up by only 6.7 per cent against the same day the previous year, compared

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Castro, Carney and Brexit

The Daily Mail calls those who ‘heaped adulation’ on Fidel Castro over the weekend – including the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell – ‘useful idiots’. The paper says after Castro’s death on Saturday, the Cuban leader’s supporters are ignoring the ‘poverty he inflicted on his people’ as well as his torturing of political opponents