All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Yesterday Mr S reported that Ed Miliband posed in his second kitchen for a BBC interview with his wife Justine, rather than his larger main kitchen. Now the Labour leader has come out in defence of his two kitchens, claiming that the smaller ‘kitchenette’ is his main kitchen. Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, Miliband says that he does
Since the Times cartoonist Peter Brookes first drew Ed Miliband in the image of Wallace from Nick Park’s cartoon Wallace and Gromit, the Labour leader has been unable to escape comparisons to the goofy-faced character. Now, the Evening Standard reports that Park is growing tired of its negative use in the lead up to the election. ‘As a huge Labour supporter
I do feel sorry for Danny Alexander. He’ll have been worked off his feet for the Budget due next week but his party then dispatches him to butter up a would-be donor – or, in this case, an undercover reporter from the Daily Telegraph. Not that he said anything incriminating, but the idea of him
It’s not just on the Health Select Committee that election fever is starting to take hold. The Public Accounts Committee had a party-political row this week too, with accusations that Tory members had blocked plans to question Lord Green over HSBC. There is now a leak inquiry underway about who from the committee told the
As every prisoner and ex-prisoner knows the most frequently used route for drug smuggling into all categories of jails is ‘bottling it’. This is the crude but effective smuggling technique of inserting a package of drugs into an inmate’s anus. Unless prison staff receive a tip off that a particular prisoner is acting as ‘a
If mainstream politicians are a bit confused and downbeat at the moment, Scottish Labour MPs are the most miserable of the lot, facing a savaging in constituencies they never thought would slip out of their party’s hands. But last night Ed Miliband gave them reason to be a bit less miserable, just for a little
Is there a future for compassionate conservatism in Britain? Michael Gove outlined why there are reasons to feel optimistic at a speech at the Legatum Institute last night. The Tory Chief Whip said that many of the ideas promoted by The Good Right project are a core part of the Conservative Party’s mission — but there remains
Michael Gove said something startling about dementia in a speech last night launching an initiative called ‘The Good Right’ at the Legatum Institute. But blink and you would have missed it. If you regard dementia as a friend’s departure from our world rather than an opportunity to bring them closer to your heart, then you
From ‘The King and the National Reserve’, The Spectator, 13 March 1915: The King has made it his business not only to see every corps in the kingdom, old and new, and to share as it were in every new military development, but he has taken upon himself the duty of saying words of farewell
When Ed Miliband ran for the Labour leadership in 2010, his supporters boasted that he spoke human. Tonight, in a question time session with a group of young people broadcast on BBC3, Miliband showed flashes of his ability to connect with an audience. But, overall, it was a patchy performance. Miliband was very good on
Mr Steerpike was interested to see Jenni Russell springing to Ed Miliband’s defence after Sarah Vine took a pop at his kitchen in the Daily Mail. Mrs Gove described his kitchen as ‘drab’ and said it made her want to ‘bring him over some fresh brownies’. Thankfully, as Times columnist Russell points out, this is
MPs this afternoon backed the motion calling for the government to set defence spending at 2 per cent of GDP – though not in huge numbers. There were 37 votes in favour to 3 votes against, which is hardly a furious uprising. This vote is a backbench vote, and so it is not binding on
This morning Alan Rusbridger received a police caution for ‘illegal use of a tripod’ on Hampstead Heath. The Guardian editor has since written a blog detailing his brush with the law. The London police have been trying to nick an editor for years. Today they got one – me http://t.co/IatiJR0ELR — alan rusbridger (@arusbridger) March 12, 2015 The incident
Why does Nigel Farage keep on doing it? Whether it’s immigrants blocking up the M4, ostentatious breastfeeding or today’s controversy over scrapping race discrimination laws, the Ukip leader has a knack of making statements that outrage the political establishment. Sadiq Khan accused Farage of ‘breathtaking ignorance’ while Ed Miliband and David Cameron took to Twitter to express their disagreement with Farage. .@David_Cameron The
A month after the Magna-Carta-mangling Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill crept onto the statue book, leaked documents seen by the Daily Telegraph over the weekend reveal Home Office proposals which are likely to have significant, if apparently unintended, consequences for free speech in this country. I haven’t seen the full strategy papers myself, and nor will you.
Aside from whether he’s right to argue that we don’t need many racial discrimination laws, why does Nigel Farage think it’s politically a good idea to mull about relaxing them so that firms can take on British staff? The Ukip leader has spent most of today getting rather annoyed at what he says has been
A Tory MP called Brian Binley has written an article suggesting that plain cigarette packs – which the House of Commons voted for yesterday – will help Isis. His argument is superficially plausible but fundamentally bonkers. In other words, it’s a conspiracy theory. Here are the dots that Binley has joined. There’s truth in all of
The ‘Darknet’ is in the spotlight. Over the past few months, stories of paedophile rings, drug empires and terrorist organisations have set pulses racing as investigative journalists have begun dipping their toes into the network. Cue stories such as: ‘Five scary things ANYONE can buy in the Darknet’s illegal markets‘. Now, the Parliamentary Office of Science
At a time when Russian fighter jets are forcing civilian flights into UK airports to be diverted, you would expect defence to be one of the big issues of the election campaign. But it is not. It doesn’t fit into the script that the two main parties want to stick to. The Tories’ long-term economic
My mum once told me about a man she knew who’d come from a poor background and had no luck finding a job. He’d applied for over 400 positions but never got a response, but then he made one change to his CV and the next job he landed straight away. What did he do?
Yesterday Mr S reported how Labour have enlisted the help of people with identical names to Tory leaders for their latest email campaign. Lame as it may be, they have at least managed to send their emails to the right people. Alas, the same cannot be said for the brains at CCHQ this week. Word reaches
Alex Salmond’s brand of populist nationalism involves portraying the Tories as the party of the class enemy. But his latest attack on David Cameron and the TV debates has crossed the line of decency. ‘Like most posh boys, given half a chance, he’ll run away from a fight,’ he said yesterday. This is bigotry, pure
Have we lost the age of innocence forever? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Melanie Phillips and Sarah Green discuss this week’s Spectator cover feature on consequences of dropping the age of consent. By teaching sex education at a younger age, are we simply encouraging children to have more sex? Is it too late
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 13 March 1915: We are glad to note that officers in uniform have been forbidden to visit night clubs in London. The gambling night clubs have ruined several young officers, and the dancing clubs are almost quite as undesirable in these times. But why does the order apply
Last night’s UK Press Awards stood out for deserving winners – and some undeserving losers. Andrew Norfolk of The Times won two gongs for his extraordinary investigation into child abuse in Rotherham, which exemplified what good journalism can achieve. Norfolk ploughed away at this for years, often as the only journalist in the courtroom putting
It emerged this morning that Labour MPs took the extraordinary step of blocking the publication of the Health Select Committee report into the NHS – because the conclusions backed up government reforms. I have just been handed details of this report, and it’s clear why Labour wanted it suppressed: it contradicts the party’s attack message.
Gulp. But what about England? That’s one of the questions to be asked in the aftermath of the latest Scottish spending and revenue figures, published today. The figures do not lie. Even when North Sea oil figures are taken into account – a geographic accident that, while welcome, remains an unearned accident – England (as
Was this the day Ed Miliband lost the election? Only two PMQs remain before polling day and the Labour leader used all six questions to ask David Cameron one thing: when might he ask him more questions? Nothing on policy. Nothing on convictions. Just questions about questions. He meant questions outside the House, of course.
‘Labour has vowed not to feature Prime Minister David Cameron on billboards ahead of the general election,’ reported the BBC last month. ‘The party said it would focus on issues rather than personalities. and not use negative personal campaigning.’ It seems that has not stretched to the party’s email campaigning though. Steerpike’s inbox has been inundated
MPs are voting today in favour of the introduction of standardised cigarette packaging. There hasn’t even been a debate on the issue and the BBC thinks the result is a foregone conclusion. That’s bad news for the tobacco industry, hardline libertarians and Nigel Farage. It’s been amusing watching the Tobacco Manufacturer’s Association carve out its nuanced – almost schizophrenic – position on the
Rather predictably, Ed Miliband went on the TV debates again today at PMQs. Labour believe that Cameron’s refusal to do a head to head debate, despite having previously indicated he would, can be turned into an issue of character. Miliband today labelled Cameron a bully who runs away when someone stands up to him. But
If ever you needed evidence that politics at the moment is a bit, well, weird, John Bercow has just apologised in the House of Commons for comparing Esther McVey to a washing machine. At Work and Pensions Questions in the Commons on Monday, the Speaker cut the minister off during an answer by saying ‘I
There have been many occasions since the financial crisis that I have been led to question the calibre of the more-than-amply remunerated ‘masters of the Universe’ who inhabit the City. But this morning brings a fresh insight into the competence of the fund managers who look after our pensions and investments. Biggest riser in the FTSE250
Do voters care about David Cameron’s decision to avoid some of the TV debates? A new poll from ComRes/ITV News out today suggests that although his reputation may be suffering from his current position, it won’t make any difference to how people will vote on May 7. Just under two thirds agreed that Cameron had damaged his reputation