All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Nick Clegg announced plans today to end austerity, promising to make sure that the wealthy pay a larger contribution. However, the venue for this sincere declaration from the Lib Dems was one of London’s most expensive hotels. Mr S is curious as to why they picked the Shangri-La in the Shard to unveil their economic plan. It’s a
Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander may have been hoping for an inspiring backdrop to their tax policy launch today when they booked the Shard as the venue. Sadly, it was foggy. Oh, and only one rather sceptical-looking reporter, the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves, sat in the front row, which left them with this really inspirational photo
There has been much interest in the European Central Bank making a new call on Greek government bonds, saying that ‘it is currently not possible to assume’ the bonds to be safe assets once the bailout programme expires. This is as you might expect: after all Yanis Varoufakis, the new Greek Finance Minister, has been
One Direction band member Harry Styles is known for his colourful love life. Former flames include Taylor Swift, Caroline Fleck and Caggie Dunlop. Despite this Mr S was still surprised to read in an article on Mail Online that his list of former loves apparently include Cara Delevingne, Kendall Jenner and err David Beckham. Reporting on
One of this week’s most important stories is tucked away in the Times’ Higher Education supplement today. It appears that one of Michael Gove’s most important reforms, putting universities—not Whitehall—in charge of A-levels, is being reversed. The article reports that the A Level Content Advisory Board (ALCAB), which was meant to check on A-levels annually, ‘is to be
What are you doing when you vote? Much of the discussion about elections assumes – implicitly or explicitly – that voters are making a judgement about policies being put forward by the parties; that they would only vote for a party which had policies with which they broadly agreed; and, moreover, that these policies will
Nick Clegg is not having a good day. A survey of the Deputy Prime Minister’s seat claims he is behind Labour by 10 points in his Sheffield Hallam constituency. If accurate, this means that Clegg will be out of a job come May. Now it seems even his own team may have some reservations about his popularity
Is there something menacing about the march of the new political correctness? On the latest View from 22 podcast, Brendan O’Neill and Tim Squirrell debate this week’s cover feature on the new PC and the implications for freedom of speech. How easy is it to navigate this lexicon? Have we lost our British sense of
Was the burning alive of an enemy combatant by the Islamic State a ‘deviant’ act – as the moderate Muslim political party, al-Qa’eda, insists? It is difficult to know why burning a single human being alive is more ‘deviant’ than burning several hundred alive, in al-Qa’eda’s greatest hit, the destruction of the World Trade Centre,
To the fifth anniversary of Big Brother Watch, where Mr S joined David Davis and Alan Rusbridger in an apartment opposite Thames House to raise a glass to the campaign group’s victories against the surveillance state. Matthew Elliot, the organisation’s founder, told attendees that Big Brother Watch’s biggest role ‘is to make sure that the arguments for
For the best part of half a century Greenpeace’s constant campaigning on environmental issues has been an almost unmitigated success. Its effectiveness has brought it both astonishing wealth and almost unimpeded access to decision-makers. During this time, it has had what amounts to a free pass from the media, its claims and methods rarely questioned
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 6 January 1915: THE mountain has produced a curious little naval mouse. The meeting of the German Council of War, together with the Emperor’s State visit to the fleet at Wilhelmshaven, seemed to show that some great naval development was about to take place—either the coming out of
How did he get away with that? We’re assured that somewhere inside Labour HQ there toils a crack team of sleuths, analysts, Cameron-watchers, policy-fetishists and high-IQ saboteurs who spend all week devising Miliband’s Wednesday assault on the prime minister. And yet these world-class strategists seem to get beaten every time by the most predictable of
One would have thought that it was impossible for the Rotherham sex abuse story to become even more depressing. But it has. The Times, which has led the way in exposing this scandal, alleges that a police office and two councillors have been accused of having sex with the victims of this terrible scandal. The
One expert who sounded off to great effect in the run-up to yesterday’s vote on three parent babies was Robert Winston, IVF supremo and baby maker in chief. He declared in the Telegraph that the donation of mitochondrial DNA was really no more problematic, morally speaking, than a blood transfusion. Naturally this had an effect
‘Labour promises “no PM pictures”‘ reported the BBC three days ago: ‘The party said it would focus on issues rather than personalities. and not use negative personal campaigning. Its election strategist Douglas Alexander said the Conservatives were preparing to spread “fear and smear”.’ That was Sunday, and today is Wednesday and the official Scottish Labour
Nicky Morgan will announce more than 50 new free schools by the end of this month, Coffee House has learned. I understand that a protracted battle has been taking place in the Education department between the Lib Dems and the Tories, which has not been helped by a desire from some civil servants to slow
D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better was the song of choice in the Labour campaign that saw Tony Blair win the 1997 general election. Alas, Ed Miliband won’t be able to use the tune this time around. Professor Brian Cox, who played keyboard with the band, before becoming a TV scientist, says in an interview with the Evening Standard that he
David Cameron didn’t answer the question today at PMQs despite Ed Miliband repeating it five times. But in a rowdy chamber, it didn’t seem to matter as Tory MPs roared their approval at Cameron’s one liners. Cameron, in reference to Ed Balls’ disastrous slip on Newsnight last night, quipped ‘Bill Somebody is not a person,
I can’t say I’m surprised by the departure of Harry Redknapp. Since I started supporting Queens Park Rangers in 2008 we’ve gone through seven managers — 13 if you count the caretakers. Indeed, it’s a miracle he’s lasted this long. The club was relegated during his first term in charge and we only returned to
There are still perfectly reasonable, thoughtful Labour MPs who sincerely think their party has a good chance of winning a majority in May, even though most of their colleagues are reconciled to being the largest party. I’ve found more of them in Parliament in the past few weeks than I have found Tories who think
Last year Simon Danczuk was accused of disloyalty by his fellow Labour party members after he was photographed meeting Nigel Farage for a pint. Ed Miliband’s troupe can, however, breathe a collective sigh of relief as judging by a recent incident relations between Danczuk and Ukip members are far from friendly. The Labour MP for Rochdale has
The education secretary gave Durham Free School (DFS) until 3 February to make representations showing why it should not have its funding agreement ended. Nicky Morgan now has the school’s response: a detailed explanation of why the DfE’s threat to close the school is unfair, disproportionate and wrongheaded. The academy trust has also served notice that
Gordon Brown is holding an adjournment debate on the union this evening, which comes after an Ashcroft poll which shows precisely what danger the union is in. If today’s polls were tomorrow’s election result, the SNP would have 55 out of 59 seats in Scotland. It’s even set to lose Coatbridge, where it picked up
To be fair to Ed Balls, everyone forgets names from time to time. ‘His surname has just gone from my mind at this time of night,’ said the Shadow Chancellor, looking sheepish. We’ve all been there, struggling to remember the name or Jenny Thingummer, or Tom Whatsisname. But the wider problem is that Balls couldn’t
How much is the SNP going to harm Labour in the general election? Labour is already braced for a battering but a new set of polling from Lord Ashcroft shows just how great the SNP threat is. The Tory peer has polled 16,000 Scots in 14 Labour-SNP target seats and two Lib Dem seats — all areas that Ashcroft
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
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