All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The concessions that David Cameron has reportedly offered the Conservative backbench on Lords reform are really not sufficient to keep them out of the no lobbies. Switching from a salary to a daily attendance allowance, which would keep peers’ earnings below £60,000 in most cases, is hardly going to set the benches alight. The reason
Yesterday’s welfare speech from the Prime Minister confirmed that there is still a long way to go in reforming the benefits system. Universal Credit and the Work programme will start the process, but will not be enough to tackle the extent of worklessness and benefit dependency that we have seen develop in the UK over
Talk to anyone in Downing Street and they can give you the four main reasons that voters cite for switching from the Tories to Labour: the Tory leadership is out of touch, the cost of living, immigration and welfare. The first two of these reasons are why the government has been prepared to risk further
Nearly a decade ago, a book called He’s Just Not That Into You became what is termed a ‘publishing sensation. I don’t know if this attempt to explain men to women was persuasive or not (the odds seem against it being so) but its title seemed pertinent to yesterday’s launch of the Unionist campaign to
This morning’s borrowing figures from the Office for National Statistics are a blow for George Osborne, showing public sector borrowing up £2.7bn on the same time last year. The stats show the government borrowed £17.9bn in May, while the 2011-12 deficit is now £127.6bn, up £3.2bn. Labour have seized on the figures, saying it’s the
This morning at our Schools Revolution conference, Michael Gove came under sustained attack from academies architect Lord Adonis and Neil O’Brien from Policy Exchange, who pointed to a slowing-down in the number of primary sponsored academies being set up. O’Brien pointed out that the majority – around 80% – of academies set up under Gove
Dear commuter, how’s your journey panning out after you were woken by the sound of Ed Balls politicking about fuel duty? The shadow chancellor was a ubiquitous presence on the airwaves earlier (to say nothing of the tabloid press), laying out his opposition to the planned 3.02p fuel duty rise. He was on fine form,
I have not often been called a ‘renowned political commentator’ (for readers of this blog it tends to be ‘hopeless naive leftie’ and elsewhere it’s ‘notorious Zionist neo-con’) so I was delighted to come across this description of myself in the Harlow Star. The article was prompted by my appointment as Visiting Professor at Harlow
The Greek coalition was already a pretty shaky affair but the resignation of the finance minister before he’s even taken office weakens it even further. Vassilis Rapanos, who was the Chairman of the National Bank of Greece, has been in hospital and his resignation does appear to be health related. But given that the two
All currency is faith. When the noble barman at the local pours a pint in exchange for your £5 note, he does so in the faith that the little blue note can be exchanged in turn for other goods and services. This is the basis of a ‘fiat’ currency system where the item exchanged has
Why has David Cameron chosen to launch what is effectively a 2015 manifesto pledge on welfare today? The Prime Minister’s speech, which he has just finished giving, had quite interesting timing: we still, after all, have just under three years before the next general election. Cameron has already dropped hints about how much further the
Iain Duncan Smith appeared on the Today programme this morning. In a heated interview with Evan Davis, the work and pensions secretary was interrogated about David Cameron’s radical welfare proposals. Conversation ranged from cutting rental payments for under-25s to protecting non-means tested pensioner benefits. The bulk of the exchange was devoted to discussing Cameron’s intentions,
Labour’s Opposition day debate tomorrow on Gove-levels might not reveal as much as the party hopes about where Liberal Democrat MPs stand on the Education Secretary’s planned reforms. True, you won’t see a Lib Dem lift so much as a finger in outright support of what Nick Clegg dubbed ‘a two-tier system’ created by scrapping
The coalition’s plan for House of Lords reform will go to Cabinet on Tuesday. It could have a trickier time there than expected: some Tory Cabinet ministers who favour an elected Lords are deeply unhappy about the idea of using regional lists. But, even before Cabinet, one active Tory big beast has come out against
David Cameron is at his best when circumstances force him to be bold, or so the thinking goes. With his government floundering and the wounded media baying for blood, the prime minister has counter-attacked with radical welfare reform plans. Yesterday heard rumours of reduced rent subsidies for the under-25s. Today comes news of proposed cuts
The Battle for Britain is heating up this week, with the pro-union campaign launched in Edinburgh this morning and a Spectator debate on the union on Wednesday. We have, as ever, a strong lineup – but the Scottish National Party is noticeable by its absence. I thought CoffeeHousers may like to know why not. We
If England had won that penalty shoot out against Italy it would have been a travesty. The press has been very kind to the national team this morning, partly because — as we kept being told — ‘expectations were low’ and partly because everyone still likes (with some justification) Roy Hodgson. But from the middle
As the dust settles after Saturday’s fracas between David Starkey and Laurie Penny, a source familiar with the situation explains to Mr Steerpike the history between these two scribes: ‘David and Ms Penny were supposed to be debating at a fundraising event for the Thomas Paine Society about a week ago. Penny was in
David Cameron’s 10 Downing Street has an unusual setup — it has a pollster, Andrew Cooper, as its chief strategist. This helps explain why the government is (to put it politely) more able than its predecessors to modify its policy positions to align with the nation’s priorities. Cooper’s polls are showing that pretty much the
Her Majesty the Queen must wish it was Diamond Jubilee year absolutely every year, such fun is she having. Watching Cheryl Cole duet with Gary Barlow must have been three minutes of almost incalculable joyfulness. How, she must have wondered, can they surpass this? Well, yet another treat is in store, for now she is
The Spectator’s Schools Revolution conference is being held on Tuesday next week. One of the special guest speakers, Lord Adonis, here gives the present government three lessons gained from his experience of the academies programme. Other speakers include Michael Gove, Michelle Rhee and Barbara Bergstrom, all of whom will take questions from the floor. There
At the time of the student protests, I laid out in the Observer the demographic facts that push unscrupulous politicians into picking on the young. Their political vulnerability is the best explanation for the regularity with which the coalition assaults their interests, I said. In democracies, politicians worry about those who vote and a majority
What are we to make the split between Danny Alexander and his predecessor as deputy Chancellor, David Laws, over the size of the state? Laws says today it should be 35 per cent of economic output, which is an excellent ambition. In an interview with BBC1’s Sunday Politics today, Danny says 40 per cent. A
The self-styled enfant terrible of the new radical left, Ms Laurie Penny, has taken her one-woman revolution to the heart of the establishment. Yesterday, she caused quite the ruckus at the Sunday Times Education Festival, hosted at Wellington College on a panel with David Starkey. As well as being banned from the speakers dinner at
13 years of Labour rule taught us two vital lessons about school reform. The first is that there is no direct link between money and results. Funding per pupil more than doubled under the last government: But for all that extra cash, Britain’s schools have slipped down the international league tables over the past decade.
Your Spectator will be a bit heavier this week. Free with every issue is a free copy of Spectator Life, our new quarterly magazine, full to overflowing with the kind of features you might not find in the main Spectator. Peter Hoskin, late of this parish, writes the cover story: an interview with the film
The situation in Egypt remains perilous, as protests mount against the military government which has delayed announcing the result of last weekend’s vote. Preliminary estimates, overseen by a panel of judges, put the Muslim Brotherhood ahead by 900,000 votes. But this is being contested by former Mubarak henchman, Ahmed Shafiq. Election monitors are examining more
A few years back the radio disc jockey John Peel died. Some public sorrow was expressed and soon Tony Blair issued a press release explaining his personal sadness. A little while later someone else who was popular died and the same thing happened. A few days later still and hundreds of thousands of people were
Martin McGuiness will meet Her Majesty the Queen and shake her hand in Northern Ireland. This is a seminal moment. It does not change McGuiness’s commitment to a united Ireland, but it is a strong statement from the Republican side that bygones are bygones. It is also a sign, perhaps, that the sacrifices Britain made
“I have some thanks and apologies for my parents,” said Melissa Kite at her book launch last night. “Apologies?” said her dad, from the corner. “Yes, I’m afraid so. For years, you have been telling people that your daughter is a successful journalist in London. Now, the world knows that I’m a complete car crash.”
‘I don’t buy and sell human beings,’ says Rick to the rival club owner hoping to get the pianist Sam. ‘Too bad,’ comes the reply, ‘that’s Casablanca’s leading commodity.’ Desperate men and women pay fortunes to people smugglers or have sex with them. Many are abandoned penniless, trapped and unable to return home, fearful of
Here we go again. Ed Miliband gave another speech about immigration this morning proving yet again that this is a subject about which no-one is ever permitted to talk. Any time a Labour politicians talks about immigration and the party’s record in government I am reminded of Evelyn Waugh’s acid observation on hearing the news
Michael Gove’s name is being muttered in parliamentary tea rooms, figuratively at least. The leak of his plans to replace GCSEs with a rigorous exam is opium to many Tories. Gove is well liked on the backbenches and within the party. And he also commands respect, being one of the few ministers who is not
Ed Miliband will give a speech on immigration later today, marking out the territory on which he plans to engage those voters who feel that their communities and livelihoods are under threat from migrant workers. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, prepared the ground for Miliband earlier this week by echoing her husband’s sentiments about