All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Did the protestor at last year’s the Oxford and Cambridge boat race last year achieve anything? In this week’s Spectator, Trenton Oldfield files a prison notebook describing his experience before, during and after the stunt. He considers his protest a success, raising the profile of elitism and inequality concerns. Douglas Murray thinks otherwise. They go
Today’s newspapers disclose that Cabinet members have received letters telling them to expect 10 per cent cuts to their budget in the next spending round. This will have been a letter designed to be leaked, and to establish a negotiating position. The Times says that the real figure is closer to 8 per cent, as
Here is David Cameron’s problem in a nutshell. During his immigration speech on Monday he said: ‘Put simply when it comes to illegal migrants, we’re rolling up that red carpet and showing them the door.’ Just two days later it was once again made clear that the red carpet is firmly in place and no
On 27 March 1963, ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’ was published. Better known as the Beeching Report, the paper was a seminal moment for Britain in the twentieth century. Dr Beeching’s report (and subsequent axe) recommended the closure of 5,000 miles of tracks and 2,363 stations, with 67,000 jobs lost. Most of Beeching’s initial suggestions
From tomorrow’s Spectator. Downing Street aides nervously run through the symptoms: a flat economy, poor press, leadership mutterings. Then they say, ‘It’s just mid-term blues, isn’t it?’ A second later, they add nervously, ‘It’s nothing more serious than that, is it?’ The truth is, nobody can be certain. There’s no reliable way of distinguishing mid-term
There have been angry mutterings from the backbenches today about the passage of the Justice and Security Bill last night, with allegations of cunning play by the whips. It appears that the start of yesterday evening’s discussions was mysteriously delayed until 6.15pm and Closed Material Proceedings (secret courts) were debated at around 7pm. The first vote took
Times journalist Sarah Vine has written the diary in the forthcoming edition of the Spectator. For those wondering why that caught Mr Steerpike’s eye, Vine is the wife of Education Secretary Michael Gove. Here is what Question Time looks to a participant’s spouse: ‘I was too chicken to watch. I can watch him do almost anything
If anybody doubts that free speech would be in danger after Leveson it is worth remembering what it is already like in this country. A couple of months back Julie Burchill wrote a column in the Observer about transsexuals. It was a response to complaints by transsexuals about a piece by a friend of Burchill’s,
Haven’t you heard? Today is the official launch of the People’s Assembly, a grassroots movement to amplify ‘progressive opinion’ in the public square. Think Arab Spring, but for Brits who don’t have quite as much to rage about. It’s being launched by Owen Jones, Mark Steel, Caroline Lucas, and other such luminaries. The main thrust of their
A conundrum for ambitious Liberal Democrats who have seen their CVs blighted by the scandal surrounding former party Chief Executive Lord Rennard. Though the portly peer denies all allegations of sexual impropriety with a stream of female staff, that has not stopped party hacks and flacks, both past and present, tinkering with their résumés. With
Eddie Mair has more front than Harrods. Consider this: a member of the British Media, Mr Mair, berates another former such member, Boris Johnson, for making up quotes! What planet are you living on, Mr Mair? Making things up is what people in your profession do for a living! The Leveson Inquiry focuses on one particular
David Miliband rather grandly told Sky News last night that the public’s “legitimate fascination” with the tension between him and his brother Ed had “obscured the real choice for the country” – that between Labour and the Tories. As if. The truth is that people had just stopped thinking about David Miliband. For all the hopes once
Trenton Oldfield, the Australian who was fished out of the Thames last year when disrupting the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, is now out of prison and has written a piece for tomorrow’s Spectator about his experiences. In it he reveals that the Metropolitan Police have offered to help him protest at the 159th Boat Race taking
Matt Hancock, the business and skills minister, addressed the Resolution Foundation’s low pay debate this morning, an indication of how seriously the Tories are taking the rising cost of living. He delivered a resounding defence of the minimum wage. He said that the evidence was overwhelming: the minimum wage did not harm employment levels: and declared
Last week, Alex Salmond announced the date for the referendum in Scotland, 18 September 2014. The question is phrased to his advantage. ‘Should Scotland become an independent country?’ it asks. This invites a romantic Yes. In sober, practical terms, the question really is ‘Should Scotland leave the United Kingdom?’ But perhaps we should welcome the
Here is a selection of what various Labour big wigs, political commentators and media figures have made of Miliband’s decision and his parliamentary career. And we’re interested to hear your thoughts on Miliband’s career and departure. Please leave a comment in the box below. Ed Miliband: Having spoken to him a lot over the past
David Miliband has confirmed that he is resigning as an MP to become President and Chief Executive of the International Rescue Committee in New York. A copy of his resignation letter can be read here. Those expecting a Geoffrey Howe-style confession will be disappointed; Miliband is restrained, except when describing his enthusiasm for his new
Enormous thanks to OGT for alerting us all to the brilliant article from the Independent – published on Monday March 20th, 2000. Here’s the first bit of it: ‘Britain’s winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives. Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of
The other day I had one of those awkward moments. We were guests at dinner. ‘You’re a wine writer!’ said our host. ‘I’d like your opinion on these two!’ You’re still supposed to say, ‘Goodness, these are delicious! What did they cost? Only £4.99 a bottle! That’s amazing!’ Instead you cast round for words that
David Miliband is quitting the House of Commons to go and work for the International Rescue Committee in the United States, the Daily Mirror has revealed this evening. Friends of both Miliband brothers have long thought that David, who expected to win the Labour leadership contest in 2010, was not really prepared to serve under
Digital politics is all the rage. Take what Rachel Sylvester described in today’s Times as ‘digital Bennism’ — an online movement that is becoming increasingly influential to the Labour party’s campaign methods. And in the forthcoming Spectator, I’ve a piece discussing why policymakers are adopting internet-centric ideals to challenge the traditional way of doing things.
The Cyprus situation has demonstrated that until the elections in the autumn, Angela Merkel’s primary focus is on a domestic audience. She clearly wanted to show that Germany is now prepared to take a far tougher line. As Open Europe notes the need for this is fast becoming the consensus view in Germany. So, the
‘The quality of patient care will be put at the heart of the NHS in an overhaul of the health and care system in response to the Francis Inquiry.’ This is how the Department of Health opens its press release about Jeremy Hunt’s response to the Francis Inquiry, delivered in the Commons this afternoon. The
Theresa May has announced that the UK Border Agency is to be abolished. In an unscheduled statement to the House of Commons, she described UKBA as ‘a troubled organisation’ with a ‘closed, secretive and defensive culture’. She said that the agency’s size, lack of transparency, IT systems, policy remit and legal framework ensured that its
The end of an era for Westminster lunchers. Shepherd’s, the favourite haunt of Cabinet Ministers, political editors and TV types since 1993, has closed. The sister restaurant of Langan’s Brasserie — the joint venture between notorious alcoholic Peter Langan and Michael Caine — Shepherd’s shut its doors unexpectedly yesterday, leaving staff stumped as to why.
If David Cameron had any sense, he would stand up in the Commons and say “I am withdrawing the Royal Charter. The law officers have assured me that Lord Justice Leveson, though a fine judge in many respects, did not understand the Human Rights Act. He failed to see that the courts would almost certainly
It was inevitable, after the Mair interview and the Cockerell profile, that Boris would dominate the news this morning. Steve Richards and Hugo Rifkind (£) have written about him in their columns, and there are numerous reviews of Cockerell’s programme to read – Paul Goodman at ConHome will make for a thoughtful and entertaining lunchtime
Alea iacta est. And not before time. More than a year ago and at the outbreak of this independence referendum virus I wrote an article for this magazine arguing that, crikey, there was just a hint that the Conservative and Unionist party might become relevant in Scotland again. Or, at any rate, there was an
You should take note when Benedict Brogan, an influential and widely sourced journalist who has been very close to the Cameron and Osborne operation over the years, writes of the fire-sale of Cameron shares. He says in today’s Telegraph that Cameron’s party view him as a ‘lame duck’ who makes ‘no difference’. This is an extraordinary
Very good report from Channel Four/Telegraph reporter Alex Thomson in Syria. This is about the use of ‘chemical weapons’ by one side in the civil war. Except, it seems, there are not simply two sides in the civil war any more. First the Brit journos stopped calling it an ‘Arab Spring’, given that the rebels
This morning’s papers have followed the lead of yesterday’s TV news bulletins: the prime minister’s immigration speech was not the success it might have been. The Times is lukewarm (£). The Guardian is suspicious. The Mail is derisive. And our own Douglas Murray is contemptuous of a speech which merely stated the ‘utterly obvious’. Yet
If David Cameron had any sense, he would stand up in the Commons and say “I am withdrawing the Royal Charter. The law officers have assured me that Lord Justice Leveson, though a fine judge in many respects, did not understand the Human Rights Act. He failed to see that the courts would almost
David Cameron has just delivered his end of term address to the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers. The Prime Minister made little news apart from going out of his way to praise Maria Hutchings, making clear he had no truck with efforts to blame her for the party’s poor performance in the Eastleigh by-election. He
Does it really matter now whether the eurozone breaks up or not? The damage may already have been done, in terms of business confidence. A £10 billion bailout for Cyprus has been agreed, but nobody will forget that its people woke up one morning to find their bank accounts raided — something you don’t hear