All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
With less than a week to go before America’s August second debt ceiling deadline, negotiations have broken down. Nonetheless, a deal will almost certainly be done. The markets seem convinced, and it’s inconceivable to most observers that the US would arbitrarily default on its obligations (whether to bondholders, pensioners, or employees). Inconceivable, however, is not
As Paul Waugh notes, James Purnell’s article for the Times today (£) is striking for its attack on universal benefits. “I have never bought the argument,” writes the former welfare secretary, “that universal benefits bind the middle classes in. It feels too much like taxing with one hand to give back with another.” Although this
The Egyptian revolution may be in for its greatest challenge yet. Last weekend saw clashes between different groups of protesters, as one group sought to march on the Supreme Military Council. Now Salafists have promised to occupy Tahrir Square on Friday, seeking to turf out the broad-based group of revolutionaries that have occupied the square
Politics has a big, blond hair-do today, with Boris wiff-waffing all across the airwaves. The Mayor of London has already, this morning, called on George Osborne to do more to cut taxes, specifically the 50p rate and national insurance. And he will be leading a series of events, throughout the day, to mark the fact
All eyes were on Greece at last week’s crisis summit in Brussels, but other indebted countries took advantage of Angela Merkel’s generous mood. In line with concessions made to Greece, the Irish secured a substantial cut in interest repayments on its bailout loan: the rate has fallen from 6 per cent to somewhere between 3.5
There’s a new favourite in the race for the Republican nomination to take on Barack Obama in 2012. Yesterday saw Mitt Romney hobbled from his number one spot – on betting website Intrade at least – by Texan Governor Rick Perry. Romney had been seen as the candidate most likely to secure his party’s nomination
What a difference four months of air sorties make. Back in the early days of the Libya intervention, David Cameron was unequivocal when it came to Muammar Gaddafi remaining in the country: there was “no future” for the dictator within its borders, he said. But now, on top of comments by William Hague yesterday, the
There’s been a lot of fuss about this morning’s GDP numbers, but if David Cameron has his way we’ll soon be fretting about an entirely different set of statistics. The Prime Minister has given the data-crunchers at the Office for National Statistics a new mission: measure the nation’s well-being. The idea is to create new
Today’s growth figures are a problem for George Osborne. It’s basically part of his job description to nurture growth — but, looking at the graph above, he’s not having much joy in that. Even allowing for the fact that without one-off shocks such as the Japanese tsunami and the Royal Wedding Q2 growth might have
Growth in the 2nd quarter was an anaemic 0.2 per cent, in line with recent predictions. Another headline is that manufacturing fell by 0.4 per cent, in line with global slowdown in the sector. Also, the ONS says that growth would have been 0.7 per cent if it weren’t for the Bank Holidays, the fine weather and external
The release of the Q2 growth figures is still half-an-hour away, but Westminster is already on the boil. Much of the fuss and froth is because it’s expected that the economy barely grew at all between April and June, or perhaps even shrank. But some of it is down to this Telegraph story, which suggests
The excuse deployed by the police to explain their failure thoroughly to investigate the News of the World hacking allegations is quite persuasive: national security was a priority, and this seemed like something of a sideshow. During the first decade of 21st century, police officers found a new — and sometimes glamorous — role for
Terrible events in Norway and the ongoing phone hacking scandal have kept the economy out of the media in the last couple of weeks. Coverage of the latest bail-out of Greece last week was comparatively muted, especially considering how important it is for the eurozone and, by implication, the UK. However, if the soothsayers are
By now, George Osborne will have seen tomorrow’s GDP figures and I suspect will be having a mid-afternoon whisky. Ed Balls will be warming up for his demands for a Plan B. “Austerity isn’t working,” he’ll say — and will doubtless tour TV studios with his usual bunch of dodgy assumptions which he hopes broadcasters
Just when everyone is all afroth about the murky connections between the political class and the media, a letter by Andrew Lansley to Danny Alexander has mysteriously leaked to the Telegraph. It was sent two months ago, and it concerns the government’s public sector pension proposals. For five pages, Lansley riffs on about why the
Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which — providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency — you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no
It has mostly been a weekend of terrible and grisly news, especially with the details emerging from Norway about Anders Behring Breivik and his murderous brand of politics. But there was also, behind it all, a slight rebalancing of the British political debate. After weeks of grandmaster-like focus on the phone hacking scandal, our politicians
Andrew Neather of the Evening Standard was — and, for all I know, still is — a decent man. Although he worked as a speech writer for Jack Straw around the turn of the millennium, by the time I knew him he in the late 2000s, he had sensibly decided that bicycling was more interesting
Normally, Coffee House prides itself on being the cafe that never sleeps. But now, after four years — and a particularly furious recent few weeks — we’re taking a weekend break to cool our typing fingers and our keyboards. Normal service will, of course, resume on Monday. In the meantime, you can either use this
Much though most readers probably want it to, the phone hacking saga just won’t do the decent thing and die. Today brings fresh revelations. Colin Myler and Tom Crone, respectively former editor and head of legal affairs at the News of the World, have said that they sent an email to James Murdoch that supposedly
Billingham: A judge has given a couple a £500 reward after they locked a professional burglar in their porch. The burglar, who had been attempting to break in at 4am, was given seven years in jail. Portland: A 53-year-old woman has abseiled 60ft, for charity, down a cliff from which she fell at the age
This week will be remembered in history as the moment that America’s ambitions in Space ended. It’s an event that marks America’s withdrawal as the greatest global superpower in history; in fact, nothing describes America’s apparent decline quite as starkly as the final landing of the Space Shuttle, Atlantis, a couple of nights ago. Fate rarely contrives
Perhaps it is time for Glasgow to become a Charter City: More than a third of people in Glasgow North East have no school qualifications. A table published by the University and College Union (UCU) showed 35.3% of those of working age left school without passing a single examination. The result gives the area the
Here is a selection of posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson calls on MPs to save ‘Gobby’, and reflects on an odd parliamentary drama. James Forsyth says that there is a feeling that David Cameron has turned the corner over phone hacking, and wonders where Cameron’s praetorians might be. David Blackburn
It is fashionable to say that the nation is divided: the North and South, the haves and have nots, the politically engaged and the apathetic. Educational attainment has been added to that list, following yesterday’s apocalyptic report from the University and College Union (UCU), which found that there are more people without qualifications in one
A reportedly enormous bomb blast has shaken the PM’s office and the oil ministry in Oslo, the Norwegian police confirm. Reports have confirmed that the Norwegian Prime Minister is safe, but it’s not clear if he’s un-injured. Early reports suggested that this might be a gas explosion, but those were discounted because there is no mains gas supply
Next Tuesday, the ONS will release initial estimates of second quarter UK GDP growth. It may be a slight exaggeration to call it a ‘make or break’ moment for the Chancellor but ‘make or brake’ might not be a bad description. After six months of no growth, another three months of flat GDP would strengthen
Richard Kay’s column in the Mail contains the news, as expected, that Fiona Millar (AKA Mrs Alistair Campbell) is a shoo-in to replace Glenda Jackson as Labour’s candidate for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency. The seat is very marginal: Jackson scraped in by just 42 votes last time round. But, if Millar were to win
A recent turn in “Hackgate” has focused on the level of security clearance given to Andy Coulson. The insinuation is that Number 10 knew that Coulson would not be able to pass the so-called Developed Vetting level (DV) and therefore gave him a lower level. I have no idea what happened in No 10, or
Edward Llewellyn has been making headlines and there was speculation about his future. Many a right-wing MP rubbed their hands with glee, seeing Llewellyn as a ‘wet’ impediment to a tougher European policy. But, Number 10 came out strongly in support of the PM’s aide. Some people huffed, whispering that loyalty to friends like Llewellyn
Below, courtesy of the Telegraph, is a leaked copy of the draft proposals on managing the Greek debt crisis.There are no measures to reduce Greece’s debts to sustainable levels; subsidy is the preferred route. This will presumably hit German taxpayers the hardest, but Merkel has managed to obtain private sector involvement, a clear German objective in these discussions. However, this course is
Yesterday, in his statement to the Commons, David Cameron responded to a question from Labour MP Helen Goodman about Andy Coulson by saying: ‘He was vetted. He had a basic level of vetting. He was not able to see the most secret documents in the Government. I can write to the hon. Lady if she
Oddly, David Cameron’s most voluble supporter throughout the phone-hacking psychodrama has been Nick Clegg. The deputy prime minister took to the airwaves when no Tory dared or wanted to. Earlier today, Clegg gave a speech-cum-press conference and he defended the prime minister again, saying that he had very little to add to Cameron’s statement yesterday.
I was going to write something about the 2000th test match but was distracted by Murdochpalooza. Happily this is not actually the 200th test. Or it should not be. The ICC, reliably mistaken as ever, have given test status to the (disappointing) 2005 match between Australia and the Rest of the World. The Bearded Wonder