All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Far more heat than light generated by this afternoon’s urgent question on welfare spending – but a telling spectacle nonetheless. The question had been put forward by a dissenting Lib Dem voice, Bob Russell, and it was up to George Osborne to answer it. He did so with sweeping observations, and attacks on Labour, rather
At least this government is honest. ‘There will be,’ Europe Minister David Lidington says, ‘no referendum on the transfer of competence or power from the UK to the EU during this Parliament’. The government will ensure that there are no more EU power transfer treaties; but, as Douglas Carswell, Tim Montgomerie, and Bill Cash all
One difficulty the coalition faces is persuading people that cuts in public spending – and reducing the number of public sector employees – is not in fact an attack on public sector employees. The coalition, contrary to what some pretend, remains in favour of doctors, nurses, police officers and even teachers. The Prime Minister may
Progressive coalition. Those two words haven’t been tied together too frequently since Gordon Brown scrambled for survival in the aftermath of the election. But Harriet Harman invoked them in her speech to the TUC today, and she wasn’t talking about a union between Labour and the Lib Dems: “We are witnessing an emerging political movement
Tony Blair’s political legacy was making “progressive” the contested ground in British politics. Hence “progressive Conservatism” and “progressive Liberalism” and, I suppose, “progressive Labour”. George Osborne once even talked about “progressive austerity”. It shouldn’t be a surprise that some voters are turned-off by this marketing triumph. Yet this apparent consensus masks the real differences between
Strolling through central Birmingham yesterday, I came across one of those brewery advertisements from the early part of the last century. “Unspoilt by progress,” it boasted – a slogan that popped into my head when I heard the unions’ various interventions this morning. As Iain Dale suggests, there is something very 1970s about what Crow,
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
Nick Boles proposed electoral pact (£) between the coalition partners would have a clear benefit for the Conservatives, it would make a deal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats after the next election impossible. That is quite a prize for the Conservatives. It would mean that David Cameron would continue as PM as long as the two
…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Fraser Nelson ponders what it is to be British. James Forsyth asks if anyone wants AV on its own merits, and reckons that there is a communication gap No.10 needs to fill. David Blackburn examines the case for Britain’s EU budget rebate, and
The unions are bent on confrontation. The elephantine Bob Crow, finding unlikely inspiration from Malcolm X , has called for a ‘campaign of civil disobedience’. Brendan Barber has described his hot-headed colleague’s remarks as ‘unhelpful’, and so they are. The situation is complex: the public sector is a Leviathan but one that provides lucrative contracts
What is it about the British and flag waving? I ask after watching last night’s superlative BBC Proms, a brilliant end to the best season for years. On HD and wired to the hifi, it was all the better. As the end approached, my Czech mother-in-law asked: if this is Britain’s flagship musical event, why
The coalition is about to face a lot more pressure. From September the 25th, there’ll be a new Labour leader orchestrating the attacks on it. Then, on October 20th the coalition will have to spell out cuts the like of which we haven’t seen in Britain for generations. If the coalition is to get through
The Observer has received letters revealing that George Osborne plans to deliver net savings of ‘at least £2.5bn’ from the Employment Support Allowance by limiting the amount of time people can spend claiming it. Here is Osborne’s letter to IDS, Cameron and Clegg: ‘Given the pressure on overall public spending in the coming period, we will
The TUC is mustering in Manchester and its leaders are in bellicose mood. Brendan Barber has called for a general strike; Bob Crow, brimming with the satisfaction of having wrecked London’s transport earlier in the week, has called for his members to ‘stand and fight’ the government’s cuts. These statements have a ‘Me and my
The Press Association is reporting that a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times has Ed Miliband leading his brother 51 49 among Labour members and trade unionist once second preferences have been taken into account. Now given David Miliband’s advantage among MP and MEPs, the other part of Labour’s electoral-college, the elder Miliband should still
Frank Field’s been thinking. He will make his report on poverty next week and he hints at its contents in an extensive interview with the Times (£). He is convinced that there is more to social mobility than money and he has some brilliantly simple ideas to alleviate poverty. He advocates creating four or five
This is the next of our posts with Reform looking ahead to the Spending Review. Earlier posts were on health, education, the first hundred days, welfare, the Civil Service, international experiences (New Zealand, Canada, Ireland), Hon Ruth Richardson’s recent speech and how to sell the case for cuts. On Thursday, I took part in a
AV is a funny electoral system. It is neither first past the post nor proportional. The country is being offered a vote on it because it is a little better for the Liberal Democrats without being too bad for the Conservatives. However, the pro-AV side needs to keep this sentiment under wraps. So it is
It is 9 years since 9/11. 9 years since George W Bush made this extraordinary appeal to civilisation, and the world still walks in fear.
A plain speaking man, Janusz Lewandowksi. This week, the EU Budget Commissioner said, not without a clear note of pleasure, that ‘the rebate for Britain has lost its original justification.’ The EU veers between incompetence and arrogance. Baroness Ashton embodies the former, Lewandowski the latter. His statement encapsulated why a majority of Britons want out
This is the next of our posts with Reform looking ahead to the Spending Review. Earlier posts were on health, education, the first hundred days, welfare, the Civil Service, international experiences (New Zealand, Canada, Ireland) and Hon Ruth Richardson’s recent speech. Last night the BBC showed 12 major regional television debates examining impending cuts to
Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. James Forsyth charts the coalition’s shifting horizons, and notes the coalition’s vulnerability on crime. Peter Hoskin says that Alan Johnson has been caught in the Coulson crossfire, and recalls Stephen Green’s double-dip warnings. David Blackburn watches the vice chancellors scupper Vince, and
Boris’s decision to announce today that he is to run again for Mayor of London is intriguing. Many in government circles expected Boris to wait until London’s settlement in the CSR had been finalised before announcing, his candidacy was the best card he had in the negotiation. So his declaration has sparked speculation that Boris
It’s official: Tsars have jumped the shark as surely as the phrase “jumped the shark” has itself jumped the shark. We’ve reached the end of an era since, frankly, I’m not sure you can beat the Obama administration’s appointment of, wait for it, an Asian Carp Tsar: The White House has tapped a former leader
All the baristas here at Coffee House would like to thank those who voted us no1 in Total Politics magazine list of top 60 media blogs. It’s a real honour, especially given the quality of the company we’re in. And two of our other stablemate blogs are also in the top20: Melanie Phillips at 14
Boris Johnson has announced his candidacy for a second term as London Mayor. Here is what he wrote for the Spectator on the campaign trail last time round. How, as Mayor, I would help our brave troops, The Spectator, 17 December 2007 Even if the story is exaggerated, the underlying psychology is convincing. It is
Sandy Arbuthnot in The Three Hostages: “Lord!” he cried, “how I loathe our new manners in foreign policy. The old English way was to regard all foreigners as slightly childish and rather idiotic and ourselves as the only grown-ups in a kindergarten world. That meant that we had a cool detached view and did even-handed
Two years ago, Richard Hooper wrote a report on Royal Mail which recommended part-privatising the service, among other measures. And today, with the official update to that report, we learn that his views have barely changed at all. If anything is different between then and now, it’s that the need to modernise Royal Mail has
Catholics fuss too much about anti-Catholicism. Yes, there’s been lots of hostility to next week’s papal visit. (Peter Tatchell’s documentary, which will be broadcast on Monday, looks particularly nasty.) The secularists have got their knives out, and Catholics are understandably alarmed and angry. But should they really mind? Isn’t Christianity supposed to be all
I’m not sure if the sun will ever rise in the east again: Michael Howard has supported a Ken Clarke prison policy. The Justice Secretary has launched a pilot scheme at HMP Peterborough that uses private bond investment to fund inmate remedial programmes to cut re-offending. The Social Impacts Bond will provide £5million to produce
Today, it seems, the uncertainty is going to come an end: Boris Johnson will confirm that he is running for a second term as Mayor of London in May 2012. In truth, though, we probably shouldn’t have expected anything else. The timings of the Parliamentary term, and the inavailability of safe seats, always made an
The annual memorial service at Flodden. Photo courtesy of Grant Kinghorn. Today marked the 497th anniversary of the battle of Flodden, perhaps the gravest military disaster in Scottish history and a fiasco that’s still keenly recalled in these parts where Flodden is a bigger deal than Bannockburn. The story goes that some 50 men from
This is the next of our posts with REFORM looking ahead to the Spending Review. Earlier posts were on health, education, the first hundred days, welfare, the Civil Service and international experiences (New Zealand, Canada, Ireland). Ruth Richardson, the former reforming Finance Minister of New Zealand, set the benchmark for the Spending Review in a
Is William Hague finished? That’s the sub-text to this interesting, even intriguing, Ben Brogan post in which The Telegraph’s man in Cameronland goes so far as to suggst the Prime Minister “should fear for his colleague’s state of mind.” That’s not all: In a series of Commons conversations this morning I was struck by the