All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
In a one-day international against Australia last year, Ben Stokes was dismissed for ‘obstructing the field’, a rule rarely invoked in-cricket. The bowler had thrown the ball towards the wicket (and hence near Stokes’s head) in an attempt to run him out. Stokes raised his hand and deflected the ball. After some discussion between the
We are fast approaching a time when massive tracts of this fine country of ours (greenfield, brownfield, urban, rural) will be bank-free zones. Villages and towns stripped of their last bank. Goodbye pub, goodbye convenience store and now goodbye bank. Yes, ultimately goodbye community. Last week’s disappointing report from the Competition and Markets Authority on
The pound has been in the doldrums this week, and is trading near a one-month low today. Traders are betting on further monetary easing from the Bank of England. According to The Guardian, sterling has fallen nearly 3 per cent since the Bank unveiled a bigger-than-expected stimulus package last week and dropped to $1.2952 this morning,
The UK magazine industry publishes its circulation figures today, and there is good news for The Spectator: the highest sales ever in our long and illustrious 188-year history. Our web traffic has hit an all time high: we broke 4m monthly unique users during the referendum campaign, which is quite something for a ‘paywalled’ publication.
Talking to Labour MP these days is a pretty miserable business, to the extent that many journalists are starting to wonder if they should charge by the hour for counselling. Among their many moans is that there no longer seems to be a centre-left, pro-European force in British politics any more. But when I try
Oh dear. Although BBC presenters tend to shrug off most accusations of bias as nonsense, staff at Newsnight are going to have to rethink their approach when it comes to reporting on climate change. A paper by the BBC Trust has urged the corporation to ensure that ‘presenters are able to confidently challenge misleading/ inaccurate statistical
Congratulations to Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, who accidentally revealed that he is to be awarded the French Légion d’Honneur for his ‘positive role in the European debate’. One’s only slight sadness is that Mr Barber has had to look abroad for such recognition. In his resignation list, David Cameron has showered honours
How I long for a detached house with a drive – and, more importantly, no neighbours. My current abode is a three-bed semi with no off-street parking. It’s a free parking street but before you think I’m boasting, it’s also close to three primary schools, has a corner shop and most of the residents seem
At a luncheon to mark a thawing of relations between Turkey and Russia this week, the diners were given a particular treat. I’m not talking about Beluga caviar, though it may have been on the menu, but rather the special crockery bearing the image of each country’s presidents set out at each placing. The idea
The UK housing market ran out of steam after the Brexit vote, but could take off again over the next 12 months, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. A Rics survey showed house price rises slowed significantly in the three months to the end of July. The surveyors said new buyer enquiries, home sales and new instructions
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister set off for a two week holiday in Switzerland. A favourite destination of both Theresa May and her husband Philip, the pair are expected to enjoy the fresh mountain air and go walking. However, being Prime Minister ahead of an EU negotiation can make even the most neutral of destination a complicated choice. During the
Smartphone ownership is predicted to hit 2.5 billion by 2019 and 60 per cent of internet traffic now comes through our mobile devices. But does the world becoming more reliant on handheld gadgets to guide us in day-to-day life come at a price? In her cover piece this week, Lara Prendergast claims that we are
We are still not entirely sure when the Labour leadership contest will end, but in these dusty days of recess, it is certainly keeping everyone nicely busy. Today Owen Smith received a boost from trade union GMB, which decided to endorse his bid to take over from Jeremy Corbyn. Its members voted 60-40 to endorse
Theresa May sent a strong message to the corporate world when she criticised the ‘irrational, unhealthy and growing gap’ between the pay of top executives and average workers. Yet what should be a vigorous debate on this topic — about the balance between fairness and the right incentives for optimum performance — never quite takes
Although Labour Conference is set to take place next month, doubts have surfaced over whether it will go ahead thanks to a security snag. After the party decided to boycott G4S — their usual security supplier — they have been left with few options when it comes to security firms for the event. A leaked memo to
Labour has opted for Steve Rotheram to be their candidate in Liverpool’s mayoral election. It’s a big boost for Jeremy Corbyn, as Rotheram has been fiercely loyal to the Labour leader since Corbyn made him his PPS – essentially his right-hand man in Westminster – last September. He’s stuck by Corbyn along the way, and
If NHS England ever comes to be dismantled it won’t be because a heartless Tory government has decided that, for reasons of neoliberal ideology, it ought to be replaced by private insurance schemes. It will be because the unreasonable and limitless demands placed on it by those who claim to be its friends have inflated its budget
A post from a friend pops up on my Facebook page. ‘It’s August 9th and the winter tights are on.’ I feel her pain. Last weekend I bought logs and smokeless fuel, and I don’t mean for the barbecue. Yesterday I went shopping wearing a cardigan, a coat and armed with an umbrella. For the
Watch this clip of Donald Trump suggesting yesterday that gun-rights enthusiasts might kill Hillary Clinton, and tell me, seriously, that you think he is being serious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czvVbdmP0bk Now watch Hillary Clinton in 2011 joking about the death of Gaddafi, and tell me — honestly — who is more sinister? ‘We came, we saw, he died!’
First-time buyer lending was up 25 per cent in June compared to a year ago, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said this morning. According to the industry trade body, first-time buyers borrowed £5.5 billion, up 28 per cent on May. This equated to 34,300 loans. Overall, homeowners borrowed £12.3 billion for house purchases in June, up
Yesterday, it was the Chinese ambassador threatening Theresa May over Hinkley point. Today, it’s Lord Mandelson’s turn. The Labour grandee said that for the Prime Minister to ‘stretch out’ the Hinkley hold-up any further than the end of September ‘would be a mistake’. What was remarkable about Mandelson’s warning on Today just now was its
Just when it looks as though Donald Trump couldn’t go any further with causing outrage, he opens his mouth. This time, the Republican candidate appeared to suggest that gun owners could do something about Hillary Clinton if she picked Supreme Court judges in favour of gun control. Here’s what he said: ‘If she gets to
A fun game for football fans involves trying to recall players who were earmarked as future Premier League stars and fell hilariously short. There was a balletic Manchester City midfielder – I can’t remember his name – who was slated as a future England captain, only to be photographed by fans eating a takeaway a few years later,
Is anyone in Labour getting along? Currently the party is trying to appeal against a High Court decision in favour of its own members, and its own grassroots campaign group Momentum is sending a petition to the party to tell it not to appeal that decision. Today the Deputy Leader and the Leader had a
Is the tide in Germany turning against Turkey? It certainly seems to be. A poll today shows a majority of Germans favour ending the refugee deal agreed between the EU and Turkey back in March. The agreement has helped stem the flow of migrants flooding into Europe, making a repeat of the 1.1m people who arrived
It’s tough being a Trot nowadays. As well as having Tom Watson peddle ‘baseless conspiracy theories‘ about your political motives, you have to take your message to the masses in order to win power. Perhaps that’s why Momentum top dog James Schneider spent the weekend sunning himself at an ancient royal hunting ground owned by
What a difference a year makes. Last August, Michael Dugher and Andy Burnham were thick as thieves with Dugher — a former Brown spinner — even running Burnham’s failed leadership campaign. Alas now that Jeremy Corbyn is leader their friendship has taken a turn for the worse. While Dugher was sacked as shadow Culture Secretary in January, Burnham has clung
It is almost two months since Omar Mateen walked around the Pulse nightclub in Florida, gunning people down while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’. During the assault Mateen spoke to American law enforcement and swore allegiance to Isis. Frustratingly Omar Mateen failed to call the group ‘so-called Islamic State’, thus betraying a woeful lack of linguistic sensitivity among his
Andy Burnham has won the race to be named as Labour’s candidate in the Manchester Mayoral race. The shadow home secretary’s victory was certainly convincing – he won 50 per cent of the vote amongst Labour members; interim mayor Tony Lloyd got 28 per cent, whilst former minister Ivan Lewis won 19 per cent. So what
Britain’s trade deficit – the difference between what we import and export – widened in the run-up to Brexit. Figures out today show that we imported £5.1bn more goods than we exported to the rest of the world. That gap widened by nearly £1bn between May and June, according to the ONS, in a picture
The country is divided in many ways. High up on this list of divisions, perhaps even in the top five, is the one between people who have bought the property they live in, and those who rent it. This gap is wider and growing at a faster rate than you would guess. The average deposit
Imagine the reaction of Her Majesty’s Opposition if the government announced that it was to introduce a new ‘voter charge’ – a levy which citizens had to pay before they were allowed into the polling station. Just as they did with the ‘Community Charge’ over a quarter of a century ago Labour would undoubtedly –
Today the Sun have splashed on the revelation that Antonio Horta-Osorio, the married boss of Lloyds Bank, managed to combine business and pleasure on a recent trip a banking conference in Singapore. Horta-Osorio is alleged to have met his mistress Dr Wendy Piatt — a former special adviser to Tony Blair — at the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel,
It’s been two years in the making but the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has finally published its investigation into the retail banking sector. The watchdog announced this morning that Britain’s High Street banks must launch a technological ‘revolution’ in an effort to promote better competition. The CMA concluded that new phone-based apps should be brought in by