All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Last week the Green Party announced that their membership has soared to 52,000, thanks to a little help from the free publicity awarded to them by the Prime Minister over the leaders’ debate. However, Steerpike hears that all is not well at Green Party HQ, or their ‘National Office’ as the non-hierarchical collective delicately call it. ‘Our
Eric Pickles’s letter to Mosques is pretty anodyne. It is hard to see how it could be objected to. But the Muslim Council of Britain is busy complaining about it. Its deputy secretary general Harun Khan is quoted in The Guardian saying, “Is Mr Pickles seriously suggesting, as do members of the far right, that Muslims
John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, has never been shy about courting publicity. He frequently churns out controversial opinion pieces for the red-tops and, just in case they don’t receive enough attention, he’s in the habit of re-issuing them as ‘press releases’. (You can see a list of the most recent here). He has opinions
What are you afraid of boys? The Green Party posed this question on Westminster’s College Green this morning as they launched a new poster campaign (driven around on pedal bikes, natch) calling for the Greens to be involved in the TV leaders debates. Leader Natalie Bennett also announced that the party’s membership is up to 44,175 today
It’s another election Monday and the three parties are still hanging about in their comfort zones, even though they appear to have moved on to other topics. David Cameron is talking about the economy, but with a softer, nicer-sounding edge that has riled some on the Left because it involves him talking about full employment,
Word is that Friday’s edition of The Sun was the last to have a topless woman on Page 3 – thereby closing a chapter of British cultural history. Immortalised, perhaps, in the following sketch from Yes, Prime Minister:- PM: Don’t tell me about the press, I know exactly who reads the papers: The Daily Mirror is
Catholics should not breed like rabbits and gender theory is a bit like the Hitler Youth. Yup, the Supreme Pontiff is giving another of his in-flight interviews and yet again he leaves everyone shaking their heads: ‘He said what?’ Now, let’s be clear. Francis reaffirmed Catholic teaching on birth control (sort of) while observing that ‘God
Chris Bryant’s call for more diversity in British culture, has hit a nerve with James Blunt. After Bryant, the new shadow culture minister, remarked that ‘we can’t just have a culture dominated by Eddie Redmayne and James Blunt and their ilk,’ the You’re Beautiful singer has responded in an open letter. Despite initially brushing off the comments on Twitter,
Global capitalism has eradicated poverty and generated prosperity in the developing world at an unprecedented rate. You might imagine that a global anti-poverty charity, such as ‘Oxfam’, would celebrate this fact. But no – today Oxfam is making the headlines instead because it is worried about global wealth inequality. In particular, that ‘the wealthiest 1 per
The hijacking of Oxfam by the politicised left is nothing short of a tragedy. It’s heartbreaking to see a charity that has built up so much goodwill from so many people being used by activists as a vehicle for global class war. As a result, Oxfam is switching its focus away from global poverty towards something
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 23 January 1915: WE have written elsewhere of the raid by German airships on Tuesday night, but may mention here the bare facts. The airships, of which there were apparently three, were seen at 1.30 in the afternoon off the Dutch coast, and they must have reached England
Nick Clegg always seems oddly upbeat when he’s doing interviews about just how badly his party could do in the General Election. Today when Andrew Marr asked him about Iain Dale’s prediction the Lib Dems will lose at least half their seats, Clegg said ‘I really don’t think thats going to happen’ and that ‘we will
According to Ed Miliband, my generation is about to be disenfranchised by the coalition. He’s getting quite worked up about it. On Thursday, he accused David Cameron and Nick Clegg of… “sitting by and watching hundreds and thousands of young people in our country lose their sacred democratic rights.” So what’s going on? By what treachery is
For most of this parliament, Downing Street has been thoroughly paranoid about Boris Johnson and his intentions. Any attempt by the Mayor to reach out to Tory MPs was met with deep suspicion. But now, the Tory leadership is actively pushing Boris to see Tory MPs — he was even invited to join the Whips
Of all the accusations thrust at the Conservatives by Labour over the NHS in recent weeks, their weakest has been the attempt to blame the Government’s reforms to the NHS for the pressures it is facing. Some will recall that we have been here before. In winter 2010, waiting times lengthened as the NHS was
From The Spectator, 16 January 1915: A VOICE FROM THE FRONT [To the editor of the “Spectator”] SIR,— You may be interested to hear that the other day—in a place which the Censorship regulations forbid me to mention —I saw a number of soldiers surrounding an officer who was reading the Spectator to them; and
Downing Street was a happy place after David Cameron and Barack Obama’s joint press conference yesterday. The US President was effusive in his praise for Cameron and his seeming endorsement of Britain’s economic strategy has delighted Number 10. But, I suspect, that in terms of actually influencing how people vote, the success of pensioner bonds
Ubiquitous Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has had to admit that he ‘spent’ £25,000 in a disastrous and embarrassing threat to sue his counterpart Jeremy Hunt. Burnham has had to declare donations in kind of £16,665 worth of legal services offered by Steel & Shamash, the Labour Party’s solicitors, and £8,250 from Gavin Millar QC,
From ‘Compulsory Service’, The Spectator, 16 January 1915: COMPULSORY service has not come yet, but it is drawing very near, and will certainly come unless some miracle should intervene—as, for example, the conquest of this country or the sudden collapse of our enemies. Those who dispute our statement that compulsion is coming must be very
The suggestion Mitt Romney might make another run for the Presidency of the United States made me think of a line from one of my father’s novels: ‘There’s nothing so sad as the memory of lost fucks.’ There’s a measure of wistful sadness but also some wry resignation. The obvious reaction is that, hey Mittens, third
David Cameron and Barack Obama have just finished giving a rather cutesy and extremely verbose press conference following the reinvigorating of their bromance/serious talks on the economy and counter-terrorism. The pair structured their opening statements to mirror one another, with each opening with a little tribute to the other. Obama said Cameron was a ‘great
We’ve spent plenty time on Coffee House challenging George Osborne’s more dubious claims (‘deficit halved!’, etc) as has much of the media. But happily, there now seems to be a truce. Grant Shapps, Tory chairman, has confirmed that from now on he’ll use clear and honest language when talking about the deficit – a promise made
On Wednesday the Home Secretary made a statement in the House of Commons about the terrorist attacks last week in Paris. Here is part of the Hansard transcript of the resulting debate: Mr Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con): Is the Home Secretary aware that when the Prophet Mohammed moved from Mecca to Medina all
Ever since Michael Gove was scolded at Cabinet for bringing his noisy mobile phone into the room, everyone’s been trying to find out what the ringtone is. Cabinet sources various described it to The Times as a ‘female ballad’ and a ‘Jazz FM-style comedown music after a heavy night out’. But the Chief Whip is
This trip to Washington couldn’t have gone much better for David Cameron. Not only has he had serious meaty talks with President Obama about the importance of tackling terrorism and cyberterrorism, but he also seems to have the President on side when it comes to Tory-sounding language about the need for a strong economy. But
After Vince Cable was ditched last week as the Liberal Democrat’s main economic spokesman, Mr S is pleased to hear that he still has some titles left to his name. Word reaches Steerpike that a number of staff working with the Business Secretary, who has a PhD in Economics, have been advised to refer to him strictly as Dr
‘We are avenging the Prophet Muhammad’ shouts the jihadi murderer as he escapes, having killed 12 at Charlie Hebdo. In Syria, an American fighting for al-Qaeda says: ‘I want to rest in the afterlife, in heaven. There is nothing here’. There are thousands of young men and women in our midst who share these sentiments.
About a third of children in the UK are overweight, increasing their risk of conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and joint problems in adulthood. Here are some hints to prevent yours from piling on the pounds: 1. Be slim yourself. Easier said than done, I know. But the point here is that you’re
In ten days time, Greece goes to the polls in what is, arguably, the most important election that will take place this year. For if — as looks likely — Syriza wins, then the Eurozone crisis will move into an acute and particularly dangerous phase. Syriza are committed to a loosening of the terms of
Caroline Fourest is a French journalist and feminist. Unlike so many of her Anglo-Saxon sisters she does not think freedom is only for white women, and is ready to condemn the oppression of women wherever it occurs. For instance, she exposed Tariq Ramadan, who on the one hand appeared the ideal moderate Muslim, while at the
Although Nigel Farage referred to his new political rival Al Murray as the first ‘serious opponent’ he has encountered in South Thanet, not all of Ukip are amused that The Pub Landlord is running for the seat their leader is after. David Coburn, the Ukip MEP for Scotland, has got himself embroiled in a Twitter spat with the Oxbridge educated
There is considerable frustration in the Tory ranks about the way the Prime Minister is handling the TV debates. Both those who think David Cameron should be doing the debates and those who think he should be doing everything in his power to avoid them are frustrated that the issue is beginning to take up the
After Mr S’s ‘Red Meat Month’ article revealed the trouble brewing between Neil Parish and Peta’s UK director Mimi Bekhechi over the Tory MP’s proposal for a meat month in Parliament, the pair appeared on today’s Daily Politics to try and put their beef to one side. listen to ‘Neil Parish and Peta UK director Mimi Bekhechi debating #redmeatmonth’ on audioBoom
Patriotic peers have demanded that David Cameron raise the US haggis import ban with President Obama at the White House today. As Steerpike noted yesterday, the 1971 ban on the product is under renewed scrutiny in the run up to Burn’s Night, with Lord McColl demanding answers to great cheers in the House of Lords