All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Cairo’s Tahrir Square is turfed and tarmacked. Traffic police bustle about, watched at a distance by the soldiers in their tanks. There are few signs that this used to be more than just an intersection. But four years ago this week, it was at the heart of a revolution. After 18 days of mass protests, Egypt’s longtime dictator
As the last surviving member of Dad’s Army‘s main cast, Ian Lavender will be the only actor to appear in both the BBC series and the upcoming film adaptation. Although Mr S hears a whisper that Lavender failed to recognise his co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones on the set of the film, he does think that the movie could be
From ‘Practical Proposals’, The Spectator, 6 February 1915: “BUT, after all, something has got to be done about these high prices; what do you propose?” so will, we are sure, persist the practical man. Well, the appeal is not unnatural, and we will try to answer it in a practical spirit. We will attempt to outline
Newsflash! Labour does have a business supporter – or so, at least, Ed Balls was able to disclose to Emily Maitlis on Newsnight. His name is Bill. But he couldn’t quite remember his surname. It was comedy gold, certainly my moment of the campaign so far. Maitlis asked if Balls was worried that in 2001 there were 58
Labour seems pretty keen to prolong its row with Boots chief Stefano Pessina. We’re on day three now. After Boris Johnson weighed in on this on his LBC show, Chuka Umunna said ‘the Mayor of London is right to set himself apart from the Prime Minister and make it clear he finds it disappointing when
Ukip’s foray into animal rights campaigning is going well. After the Jewish Chronicle pointed out that Nigel Farage boasted to them that he had done a great deal of work to protect shechita, the party’s agricultural spokesman Stuart Agnew told the paper: ‘This isn’t aimed at you – it’s aimed elsewhere – it’s aimed at
It doesn’t seem that William Hague has offered a decisive answer to the West Lothian question today. Indeed, judging by the reaction of the SNP and Tory MPs, the proposal that the Conservative Leader of the House has set out is encouraging many more questions. These questions include ‘just how much havoc can the SNP
You will recall that when Talleyrand died, Metternich is supposed to have asked ‘What did he mean by that?’ Say this for Nigel Farage: he’s no Talleyrand. Subtlety is not part of the UKIP genome. Take, for instance, a Kipper press release issued this afternoon. I confess I had not hitherto been aware of UKIP’s alliance with
MPs are currently debating changing the law to allow mitochondrial donations. This is a very complex area that few people understand, and that raises strong emotions on both sides, from those who say this will prevent 150 children a year suffering from life-threatening illnesses to those who predict it will put the UK on course
The headline figures in today’s YouGov poll for The Times are brutal for Scottish Labour. Labour (27 percent) are still 20 points behind the SNP (48%). But that’s the good news. Because everything else is even worse. Consider this: 95 percent of SNP supporters think Nicola Sturgeon is doing a good job. That’s impressive or, if you prefer, slightly
‘The Labour Party is looking to appoint a Business Relations Administrator’ according to their website. Is this the toughest job in Westminster? After a vicious onslaught from Tory sympathising CEOs like Boots’ boss Stefano Pessina and former M&S chief Stuart Rose, and more attacks expected in the run up to polling day, only those with a thick skin
You can tell when a battle has been won. Read the Pink News or any other gay news site and you will see that there are almost no stories left to report. A politician in Northern Ireland may be caught expressing an opinion on gay marriage which was the view of all mainstream UK political
With party press officers keen to prevent scenes similar to the cringe-worthy moment of elections past when Gordon Brown dubiously declared his love for the Arctic Monkeys, Mr S notes that today’s politicians are sticking to musicians closer to their own age. First David Cameron declared his love for 70s crooner Bryan Ferry in a radio interview, and now Nick
When David Cameron stood outside Downing Street the day after the Scottish independence referendum and said that the ‘West Lothian question deserves a decisive answer’, he was thinking mostly of the trouble that this answer would cause Labour. But now, as William Hague announces what that answer is, the trouble seems to be more Tory
Michael Buerk surprised his former colleagues last year when the newsreader appeared as a contestant on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. It appears he may now be regretting his decision. Speaking at the Oldie of the Year awards where he won Jungle Survivor of the Year for his efforts, Buerk paid a reluctant thanks
‘News media representatives will be escorted at all times. Repeat, at all times.’ Fifteen years ago, US Central Command circulated Annex Foxtrot. Centcom had had its fingers burnt by the reporting of Vietnam, and it wasn’t going to make the same mistakes this time. The narrative of the Gulf war belonged to them. Today, the story
The annual XBIZ Awards, which I attended as a journalist last month in Los Angeles, is regularly portrayed by its organisers as the Oscars of the porn industry. And it has many of the trappings of the Hollywood ceremony: a catalogue of nominations, gushing acceptance speeches, a jokey host. But the sheen of respectability cannot disguise the reality.
With Simpson’s-in-the-Strand’s days reportedly numbered now that its owner is seeking a new tenant for the venue after 187 years of business, the best oldies gathered at the restaurant for what could be its last hoorah as they celebrated Oldie of the Year. Hosted by the Oldie magazine and with a panel chaired by Gyles Brandreth, attendees raised a glass, or five,
From ‘Military Rifle Shooting’, The Spectator, 6 February 1915: THE most serious problem which confronts those who are engaged in training our New Armies is unquestionably that of shooting. Drill and marching are important; trench-digging is vitally important; but what shall these profit the soldier if, when he has reached his tactical point and dug himself
Next year Al Jazeera English (AJE) will celebrate its 10th anniversary. It was launched to great fanfare in 2006 luring across the brightest and best in the industry with a chequebook that compensated for ratings. Refreshingly, it offered viewers both an alternate global perspective along with ‘fearless reporting’. To a large extent it has fulfilled
David Cameron has today been refreshingly honest about his plans for school funding in England: budgets will be flat, which (when you factor in inflation) will mean a drop of 7 per cent over the next parliament. Cue much mockery from Labour. But what will this mean for the future of education quality? Not very
Patrick Wintour has a fascinating piece in The Guardian on Labour’s dilemma on tuition fees. Particularly striking is that Ed Balls is deeply concerned about how Peter Mandelson might react to any new policy. Wintour writes: ‘Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, also knows there are serious figures in the party, including the former business secretary
Labour may be level with the Conservatives in the polls but it is still not trusted by the public. Lord Ashcroft’s latest national poll has the two main parties on 31 per cent of the vote — both down one point from last week. 59 per cent say they have already made up their minds about
One interesting nugget from Lord Ashcroft’s latest batch of polling is what his focus groups in two seats – Sutton and Cheam, and Elmet and Rothwell – had to say about the parties’ messages. Here’s a quick summary: Conservative: ‘Finish the job and get back on track’. Labour: ‘Vote Labour to save the NHS’, possibly
There doesn’t seem much doubt about which way the Commons vote today on ‘three-parent babies’ will go, does there? A combination of dismissive metaphors, characteristically British sentimentalism and morally astigmatic scientists seems likely to do the trick. Today in the Telegraph, Lord Winston, IVF supremo, opined that the thing was no more problematic than a blood
Even though he wasn’t quite prepared in the sartorial stakes for the visit of Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, George Osborne was ready to use the meeting between the two as another messaging moment. Following their discussions, the Chancellor has released this quote: ‘It’s clear that the standoff between Greece and the Eurozone is fast
It’s not the narrative we have come to expect: a bunch of people who really like Ed Miliband. Yet Mr S was surprised to find such group exists. EM4No10 may sound like a dodgy chemical used to make sweets, but it’s actually the rallying banner for a unique clique of Labour Party devotees who think Ed
Should we pardon all homosexuals who, in the past, were convicted under laws prohibiting sodomy or indecency or soliciting? The gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell thinks we should: ‘Pardon all convicted gay men, not just (Alan) Turing’ is the headline of his latest press statement. It certainly makes more sense than simply pardoning Turing, retrospectively,
What do you say when asked what life experience you have as a politician? Probably not ‘I was an economic adviser in the Treasury’ and ‘I taught at Harvard’. But to be fair to Miliband, his answer to one of the trickiest questions levelled at him this morning on Sky wasn’t much different to the
Natalie Bennett has just been taking questions as part of the Sky leaders’ debates for younger voters, and delivered the second Green U-turn of the day, this time on terrorism. After struggling on the Sunday Politics to explain why her party thinks that membership of a terrorist group alone should not be a crime, the
It is odd to hear David Cameron promise an ‘all-out war on mediocrity’ in education. An admirable sentiment, but it’s hard to reconcile with the fact that he demoted the very person who was working so successfully for that precise aim. Here’s what he intends to say in a speech later today: ‘So this party
If the Liberal Democrats stand any chance of making gains at the Conservatives expense, then Nicola Blackwood is precisely the sort of MP they need to depose. She won her seat, Oxford West and Abingdon, with a gossamer majority of 176 and its in the top three Lib Dem targets. Perhaps for that reason she
Is Labour wise to go to war with the head of Boots for warning that a Miliband government would be a ‘catastrophe’ for Britain? The party, which has spent considerable effort trying to persuade business that it is friendly after all, seems to be reversing over that hard work by turning on Stefano Pessina in
Reports have emerged of a new row that has engulfed parliament: where and where not to vape? After complaints of people using e-cigarettes near the chamber, the House of Commons authorities are mulling over how to treat the craze. Some MPs are pushing for a revival of the traditional Smoking Room so they can puff away on their