All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
According to the Home Office if you are a non-Muslim and you make the following statement your presence will be deemed ‘not conducive to the public good’ and you will be barred from entering the United Kingdom: ‘It [Islam] is a religion and a belief system that mandates warfare against unbelievers for the purpose for
One thing that was noticeably absent yesterday was Tory crowing about Labour having signed up to the coalition’s current spending plans. Instead, George Osborne’s response to Balls concentrated on whether Labour would borrow more. Given the Osborne-Balls relationship, you might have thought that the Chancellor would have relished the idea that Balls had been forced
Eric Pickles is a very popular figure around Westminster. This picture explains why. It is also 1,000 times funnier than the knackered ‘Eric Pickles is a fat northerner’ jokes that some of his witless cabinet colleagues crack on a habitual basis.
The savings-hungry government has set its sights on welfare-related Annually Managed Expenditure (AME). At £183bn a year – it’s over half of all government AME spending. The state pension is the largest piece of the pie, accounting for around £80bn. Tax credits cost £25bn and housing benefit £22bn. A radical AME cap has the potential to
The old boys of Dulwich College have closed ranks, if their online presence is anything to go by. I hear that super-sleuth Michael Crick has been digging into the past of Ukip leader Nigel Farage. The pinstriped soak’s old girlfriends and early career in the city are of interest to Crick, but his main focus
Here’s another sign that America’s economy is on the mend: US culture wars are in the news again. When Americans are not depressed about unemployment and ‘declinism’, they revert to rowing about liberty. It’s what they do best. But the culture wars are becoming a culture rout. Yesterday was another good day for America’s progressives: the
In the battle for the media’s attention Danny Alexander’s infrastructure statement is losing out rather badly to George Osborne’s choice of burger — a more easily digestible subject than the specifics of the government guarantee for a new nuclear power station. When he was asked about it on the Today Programme, Osborne seemed rather baffled
Poor old Ed Balls. His economic policy seems to be imploding, and he was reduced this morning to concocting stories about the Wicked Tories. He revived his favourite theme: that ‘welfare’ includes people who are working and claim tax credits. So in reforming welfare the Wicked Tories are attacking the working poor, whom they portray as
Danny Alexander has delivered his eagerly anticipated infrastructure statement to the Commons. He described the package as ‘the most comprehensive, ambitious and long-lasting capital investment plans this country has ever known.’ That’s quite a claim, Danny. To judge the truth of it, the public can examine the speech below, the Treasury’s interactive guides and the full document here. Major upgrades are
A bunch of back bench Conservative MPs have won the right to present to parliament, via the almost pointless conduit of private members bills, a sort of alternative manifesto. A fairly uncameroonie alternative Queen’s Speech. The MPs in question include Peter Bone and Philip Hollobone, both of whom sound a little as though they had
Aye, the old ones are the best. You might think that George Osborne’s decision to leave the Scottish block grant more-or-less untouched in yesterday’s spending review would be a cause for chuffedness north of the border. You’d think wrong. Osborne announced a 1.9% reduction in real-terms funds made available to the Scottish government. Alex Salmond’s
What are the Ashes? This question was put to former England cricket captain Ted Dexter, the guest of honour at the launch last night of the writer and broadcaster Simon Hughes’s latest book. Dexter replied that the Ashes is an idea; the terms of engagement that had united two sporting nations in rivalry for nearly 150 years.
Jane Austen is a ‘contingency character’, we have just learnt. In his last appearance as Governor of the Bank of England before the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons, Sir Mervyn King explained that the great novelist rather slightingly so described stands in reserve to feature on any of our bank notes if
George Osborne’s latest spending review has demonstrated how little progress he has made on pushing Britain towards fiscal sanity. On the latest View from 22 podcast, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman analyse Osborne’s statement to the Commons yesterday, the political significance of his plans and how Labour managed to fluff their response. Colleen Graffy, a
Are food banks a scandal? For this week’s Spectator, I visited the Salisbury food bank, set up in 2000, to find out what causes families to turn to these charities. I must admit that when I arrived at the headquarters of the Trussell Trust, which runs many of the food banks in this country, I was
One of the pleasures of Mr Steerpike’s job is stumbling across little photographic gems like this shot of Michael Gove, above. It would be selfish not to share them with Coffee House readers and ask for their thoughts and suggested captions in these Coffee Shots posts. So do post your comments below, and if you
In February, David Cameron managed to rally of group of likeminded countries to agree a historic cut to the EU’s long-term budget. However, due to the maddening complexities involved in the EU politics, a cut isn’t always a cut (just as an opt-out isn’t always an opt-out). Which is why, while all eyes in Westminster
Johannesburg I just called my pal Colin, a TV news cameraman who has been parked for days outside the Pretoria hospital where Nelson Mandela is being treated. I said, can you please tell me when the old man is going to die so that I can sort out some deadlines with the Spectator? He said, sorry,
Boris Johnson’s powers of persuasion have once again wooed George Osborne. In today’s spending review, the Chancellor has put aside £2 million to investigate Crossrail 2 — a new underground line for London. The fact the Mayor was able to bag another win from Osborne — Crossrail 1 was protected from funding cuts in 2010 —
listen to ‘Spending review 2013: the Coffee House analysis’ on Audioboo Shock news at PMQs. Miliband scored a hit. He succeeded in making Cameron look silly. True, he enjoyed his triumph a little too much, but his performance will have cheered his party enormously. For weeks they’ve had to watch their leader bungling at the
listen to ‘Spending review 2013: the Coffee House analysis’ on Audioboo Ed Balls had a rather shouty time in the Commons this afternoon when he responded to George Osborne’s spending review statement. It was a shame, because his lack of variation in tone and pace from ‘angry bellow’ level made what wasn’t a bad response
Pippa Middleton is back in the Spectator tomorrow. Here’s a little peek at what she says: ‘The last time I wrote in these pages, I issued a challenge to Boris Johnson to take me on at ping pong. The Mayor said he’d be up for it, and his office duly contacted The Spectator to arrange
listen to ‘Spending review 2013: the Coffee House analysis’ on Audioboo The Liberal Democrats insisted that they wouldn’t accept any more welfare cuts. But George Osborne still found a way to put welfare at the centre of his statement today as he sought to put, what he calls, the ‘welfare party’ on the back foot.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer had the Tory backwoodsmen shaking their order papers and cheering during the spending review when he announced the following: ‘We’ll make sure the site of the Battle of Waterloo is restored in time for the 200th anniversary, to commemorate those who died there and to celebrate a great victory of
listen to ‘Spending review 2013: the Coffee House analysis’ on Audioboo The Chancellor spoke for over 50 minutes – but not once did he mention the real reason for this Spending Review today: his comprehensive failure on living standards, growth and on the deficit too. Prices rising faster than wages. Families worse off. Long-term unemployment
We know that local government is looking at a 10% reduction in today’s Spending Review. So the traditional game played by some councils of bemoaning the lack of money is even more pointless than usual. It’s now down to us as local authorities to behave differently when it comes to delivering services, and that covers
Following Julia Gillard’s ousting as Prime Minister of Australia, here is the leading article from this week’s Spectator Australia examining her political demise. In recent weeks, authority and credibility had been draining away from Julia Gillard as if from an open wound. The effect of three years of mounting mistrust in the country and her party over any number
listen to ‘Spending review 2013: the Coffee House analysis’ on Audioboo George Osborne loves a good dividing line: he sees it as his job to ‘weaponise’ policies in a way that benefits his party. So what were the key divisions that he set out in today’s Spending Round statement? 1. The full package Clearly the
Listen to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth discuss the 2013 spending review: listen to ‘Spending review 2013: the Coffee House analysis’ on Audioboo
listen to ‘Spending review 2013: the Coffee House analysis’ on Audioboo
Should the West intervene in Syria? This week’s Spectator debate on this topic saw an impressive swing of opinion in the audience once the speakers had made their cases for and against intervention. All agreed that the first part of the motion debated – ‘Assad is a war criminal: the West must intervene in Syria’
Julia Gillard has lost a leadership ballot in the Australian Labor Party to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. She called the contest to bring an end to the battles in her party – and in doing so has lost her job. Before the vote, she said: ‘Anybody who enters the ballot tonight should do it
One set of businesses are already feeling the pain from the successful completion of the spending review. Westminster pizza outlets have come to rely on large orders from the Treasury the night before a spending review or Budget announcement, but the deal was sealed on Sunday night, and so all was calm last night in