All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Hero of the week is undoubtedly the cleaner at the Museion Bozen-Bolzano in Italy. Faced with a horrible mess in the main gallery – fag ends, empty bottles, party streamers – she cleaned it all up, put it in black bags and chucked it out. Yes, of course – it was an ‘installation’ by the
Last week’s tax credit debacle has highlighted how even well-informed people believe that the £9 minimum wage (misleadingly dubbed ‘living wage’ by the government) is a progressive measure that will help the poorest the most. The low-paid are being hit by tax credit cuts, it’s argued, but don’t worry, soon they’ll get a £9 minimum wage!
One of the best of P.G. Wodehouse’s works is The Inimitable Jeeves, which I have recently re-read. In order to impress his friend Bingo Little’s rich uncle, Lord Bittlesham, Bertie Wooster has to pretend that he is the romantic novelist Rosie M. Banks, whose writing Bittlesham greatly admires. The trick succeeds. Eventually, when Bingo wishes
Oh dear. The SNP are so powerful in Scotland at the moment that some of the party’s elected representatives might be forgiven for thinking it can defy the laws of gravity and time. Take Angela Constance MSP, who today thought it might be possible to re-do a live interview. In an interview with the Sunday Politics, she
Could Theresa May be the politician to lead the ‘Out’ campaign in the European Union referendum? James examined this prospect in his politics column recently, and Westminster watchers have been trying to pick up clues as to whether the Home Secretary is preparing to support leaving the EU. Today she gave very little away on
So, China’s Communist Party has radically modified its one-child policy in favour of a one-or-two-child policy. For most politically minded Brits, it was a useful reminder that the policy actually existed. It has, says the Communist party with characteristic opacity, prevented about 400 million births in the decades since its introduction in 1979. Some 330
After Harriet Harman stepped down from the frontbench earlier this year after 28 years, she was asked by Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics which Labour leader had been her favourite to work under. While Harman had praise for Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair — who was nice even when he sacked her — and Gordon Brown, she
When all else fails, I suppose, you can just plead for mercy. That appears to be the message emanating from the Scottish Labour party’s conference in Perth this weekend. The theme, Kezia Dugdale says, is “Take a fresh look” at Labour. OK. [Awkward silence.] Now what? The thing is, you see, that “Take a fresh look” has been the
One of the few interesting questions from a Tory backbencher at PMQs this week was one from Michelle Donelan about children in care, particularly residential care. It may well have been planted, as it allowed the Prime Minister to announce a review of residential care, to coincide with Care Leavers Week. Today, as part of
A nation rejoices! After a campaign waged from the political right and left, the UK can now finally welcome back Shaker Aamer. This is the man generally described as ‘the last British resident’ in Guantanamo. As he returns to these shores we can confidently predict that he will now be accorded the same human-rights hero
The government’s reaction to Monday night’s vote on tax credits was to institute a review of the Lords’ powers. The temptation to take a swipe at those who had thwarted them is understandable. But the real problems lies less with the Lords than the way we make budgets. The day after his July budget, the
Two reports on the BBC Ten O’Clock News this week, both unashamedly partisan. Yes, yes, I know they are not the only reports this week guilty of bias. There’s the same ol same ol refugee hugging every night and there was also a report on the fact that our population is about to rise by
Someone at Scottish Labour is having a very bad day. The beleaguered party’s Perth conference has made the news. Alas, it has made the news for the wrong reason after a video posted on the party’s official YouTube channel had an embarrassing typo. The video in question was supposed to help the party win the youth
Monday’s night defeats for the government over tax credits in the House of Lords put into lights a problem that many of Cameron’s allies have been worrying about for months, the fact that they keep losing votes in the upper house. Since the election, the government has lost more than 70 per cent of divisions there.
Voters support reducing the size of the welfare state but not necessarily through cutting tax credits. According to a new poll from ComRes and the Daily Mail, just under half back ‘reducing the size of the welfare state’ but 58 per cent oppose cutting tax credits for working people, while a similar percentage also oppose making
A big problem with the coming European Union referendum is that voters won’t know what voting ‘leave’ means. If we do decide to quit, it will be a leap in the dark that could cause huge damage to the country. There is, therefore, a strong democratic case for spelling out the terms of our departure
There is a row because the new edition of the ministerial code has removed explicit mention of the duty of ministers to conform to international law. Some will feel relief that the will of our own parliament is given greater prominence, and less deference is shown to those seeking to rule the world through universal
There are two faces to Corbynism. Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are doing everything they can at the moment to appear reasonable, not radical, but behind the scenes they are starting to stuff their offices with figures from the hard left. Look at their hiring of advisers such as Andrew Fisher and former Guardian columnist Seumus Milne. This
As stormclouds gathered over London, the most politically connected pooches in the country assembled by the House of Lords for the most eagerly anticipated event of the year – the Westminster Dog of the Year competition. Among the familiar faces – including Alec Shelbrooke’s Maggie and Boris, and David Burrowes’ Chomeley, Steerpike spotted a number of novice
The government needs to get thinking quickly about a new tax credits proposal that is acceptable to the Commons and the Lords. George Osborne will deliver his Autumn Statement in four weeks’ time and he has promised to outline the results of his ‘listening’ exercise. This afternoon’s debate on a backbench motion about the cuts
When you talk to representatives from friendly, non-EU countries about Britain’s referendum, two things strike you. First of all, nearly all of them want Britain to stay in the EU. I have not yet had one conversation where one of them has told me, even on background, that they think it would be better if
Today’s National Audit Office report into the collapse of Kids Company shines new light on the scandal. It shows that the charity received at least £46 million of public money during its 19 year existence despite repeated warnings from civil servants that funding it was unwise. The report also shows that ministers thought they knew best,
Sir Gerald Kaufman is Jewish, which he seems to use as an excuse to make claims that would, ordinarily, be denounced as anti-Semitic. He has made this a trademark of his career but on Tuesday night, Sir Gerald – now Father of the House of Commons – outdid himself. In an extraordinary speech he allegedly discussed the influence
Finally, Sir John Chilcot has announced when his inquiry into the Iraq war will arrive. He has written to the Prime Minister this morning to say the findings of his inquiry will be published in June or July next year. After years of increasing pressure from the public and government, Chilcot says the text will be finished the week commencing 18 April
George Osborne received a fulsome banging of desks last night at the 1922 Committee, joking that he should come back again once he’s won a vote if he gets that sort of reception when he’s lost. Tory MPs were doing the desk banging for the benefit of those hacks skulking outside, but they are now
The Kids Company web of intrigue is slowly being untangled. A report from the National Audit Office reveals that despite repeated warnings from civil servants, £46 million was given to the charity over 15 years – from the Department for Education, local councils and lottery funds. It appears there was little auditing of where these funds were
After the Prime Minister was criticised yesterday for warning of the cons of leaving the EU long before his renegotiation has been completed, Cameron will no doubt be relieved to learn that the heat was taken off of him on last night’s Newsnight. Owen Paterson appeared on the current affairs show to put forward the argument for leaving the EU,
David Cameron’s decision to make it clear that he is definitely not ruling out Brexit by saying that ‘people need to understand there are significant downsides’ to being outside the European Union has been greeted with derision in eurosceptic circles. Campaigners argue that the Prime Minister clearly doesn’t think he’ll get much from his renegotiation
After Heidi Allen gave a barnstorming maiden speech last week criticising her own party over tax credit cuts, the Tory MP has found herself in the firing line within her own party. Mr S’s colleague Isabel Hardman writes in today’s Times that a number of Tory MPs are even refusing to speak to her over concerns that ‘her careless
David Cameron’s decision to wade into the EU debate by dismissing the Norway option and warning that there is no ‘milk and honey’ alternative to EU membership is one of the most significant political moments of this parliament. It is Cameron entering the referendum fray, and long before the renegotiation has been concluded. On one
Jeremy Corbyn’s growing confidence at Prime Minister’s Questions is almost perfectly in step with his growing unpopularity outside the Chamber. He has perfected his geography teacher stare of disapproval to the extent that Tory MPs now automatically fall silent when he talks for fear of being kept behind after class. And he isn’t leaping all
Lord Lisvane, better known as Sir Robert Rogers, thinks the talk of a constitutional crisis over tax credits is overblown. Having served in the House of Commons for over 40 years, most recently as Commons’ Clerk until he retired last year, he is one of the few people who fully understands the relationship between the
During the past month, news about domestic Saudi Arabian politics has been dominated by frenzied speculation over an imminent coup within the world’s most opaque and important ruling family: the House of Saud. This rumour was started by a little-known website dedicated to Middle Eastern affairs. It was then quickly picked up by the Guardian
On Monday night the Tories were narrowly defeated in the Lords by 289 to 272 on their plans to cut tax credits. With not even Lord Lloyd-Webber’s last minute flight across the pond to vote enough to prevent the government’s defeat, it only adds insult to injury to note that a number of the newly appointed