All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
While Tony Blair has been pledging a slice of his massive post-PM earnings to The Royal Legion, a tale reaches me – from an impeccable source – about what Gordon Brown is up to. He once indicated he’d devote his post-PM life to modest good works, but it appears he is also trying to build
It looks like the wheel-clampers are in retreat after Haroon Zafaryab’s heroics the other day and Lynne Featherstone’s subsequent “ban on clamping and towing on private land“. And as they leave the field, it’s worth returning to a piece that Ross Clark wrote for The Spectator last year in which he tied the cowboy clampers
The Winter Fuel Allowance was an emotive part of the election campaign, with Labour accusing the Tories of planning to scrap it and David Cameron promising not to. At no point during that debate was it asked whether the WFA was a good way to spend money. Our report earlier this year, Cold Comfort, examined
100 days in, a danger emerging for the coalition: the idea that it is balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class. The Daily Mail front page today warns in apocalyptic font of a ‘Bonfire of the middle class benefits’ while the Times says ‘Families to lose out in bonfire of the benefits.’
While the milestone of 100 days is not new – US presidents are still measured against the progress made in 100 days by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933 – it is important. A poor start can create the impression of a government of novices. A good one can provide a new government with critical momentum.
It’s been 100 days since love was in the air in the Rose Garden. So, how’s it been for you? For most, the Honeymoon continues. An ICM poll for the Telegraph reveals that 46 percent think the government is governing well and that 44 percent believe the government is doing a ‘good job’ in securing
A terrific Five Books discussion about conservatism, liberalism and libertarianism with Cato’s Brink Lindsey in which BL quotes a few essential lines from JS Mill: ‘In politics, again, it is almost a commonplace, that a party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state
The Winter Fuel Allowance has tapdanced back onto the political landscape today, and it’s all thanks to some insightful work by the FT’s Alex Barker. He had an article in this morning’s pink ‘un which suggested that IDS is lobbying to have it, and and some other “middle-class benefits”, trimmed to help pay for his
Matt Yglesias has a splendid post bemoaning the utterly unecessary regulation of barber shops and hairdressers in Washington. His commenters think he’s being silly and that hairdressers should be regulated. James Joyner and Kevin Drum also bring their clippers to the fight. Unsurprisingly, this regulation in DC produces regulatory capture. In fact, in regulating hair
Guido has already highlighted one of the most important graphs from this Ipsos MORI treasure trove, showing that the public have overwhelmingly accepted the need for spending cuts. But this other graph forms a striking companion piece: Sure, the public may be split on whether the coalition will be good for public services. But the
It is just one poll and of the Sky News Panel but a survey to mark the Coalition’s 100 days has the Lib Dems down to 8 percent. (One note of caution, the sample seems to have more Tory voters from the last election than you would expect). The Lib Dem’s falling poll ratings
Over-promising, as Barack Obama might tell you, is dangerous. Candidates everywhere could learn about expectations management from this chap in the Philippines… [Hat-tip: Hattie Garlick]
Few writers can make a silly season story read like official history, so it’s worth drifting behind the Times’ paywall to read Rachel Sylvester on Boris and Dave’s mutual emnity. It is no secret that BoJo and DC are united in rivalry, but Sylvester adds a second dimension with insider quotations – a mix of arch witticisms and savage partisanship.
Not many Labour minister enhanced their reputations during the Last Days but, at least as far as the non-payroll vote was concerned, Alistair Darling was a rare exception. He seems to think so too, if today’s Donald Dewar Lecture at the Edinburgh Book Festival is any indication. Some extracts from his address: “Labour lost because
That didn’t take long, did it? After only a year in charge of UKIP, Lord Pearson has quit the role even more abruptly than he took it. In his resignation statement, he confesses that he is “not much good” at party politics – and it is hard to disagree. A memorable low was his interview
George Osborne has been quiet these past few weeks, tussling with ministers desperate to preserve some of their budget from his spending review. Today though, Osborne will emerge from the Treasury’s recesses to launch a political attack on the ‘deficit denying’ opposition. Come on, Osborne will ask Darling et al, where are these £44bn of cuts you
The most bizarre story of the day is Michael Crick’s post saying that in Number 10 there’s discussion of Vince Cable running as a Coalition candidate for Mayor of London. Now, I’d be totally shocked if this was to happen and have made some calls it still strikes me as thoroughly unlikely. The three main
University funding is beginning to dominate op-ed pages. Yesterday, Matthew d’Ancona put the case for a graduate tax from the conservative perspective; and to which Douglas Carswell has responded. Today, Professor Alison Wolf, a specialist in Public Sector Management at KCL, makes the point that any debate about higher education funding is prejudiced because Britain’s
Whither American conservatism? Well, there’s the path trod by Reihan Salam, Josh Barro and Ross Douthat, each of whom have produced sane and humane pieces on the Burlington Coat Factory Community Center otherwise known as the “Ground Zero Mosque” or you can hitch your wagon to Newt Gingrich’s caravan and cheer when this self-styled man
Not long until Labor Day and the semi-official kick-off for the mid-term elections. Which also means that the papers will be stuffed with predictions that the losses in the mid-terms show that Obama is doomed and so on. Whether one cares for the President or not, this is simply not the case. Happily Norm Ornstein
It’s easy to be loose with a trifling £4.6m when you’re Tony Blair. Many will denounce his decision to give the advance and any royalties on his memoir to the British Legion as opportunistic – a cynical gesture characteristic of the man. As ever with Blair, there is more than a hint of a public
When President Obama asked General Petraeus to take over the Afghan command after General McChrystal’s Rolling Stone implosion, there was much speculation that the two men would clash over the date for America to begin withdrawing troops. Obama had set down July 2011 as the starting point but Petraeus was almost certainly going to want
Smart man, Tony Blair: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is to donate the profits from his memoirs to a sports centre for badly injured soldiers. A spokesman said Mr Blair would hand over the reported £4.6m advance payment plus all royalties to honour “their courage and sacrifice”. The Royal British Legion will receive the money,
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
As Pete notes, Nick Clegg is moderating the debate over the spending review in David Cameron’s absence. It’s an unenviable task. IDS and Liam Fox have been the most cussed opponents of George Osborne, but all ministers are fighting for their budgets behind the scenes. This morning, reports suggest that Chris Huhne could break from
…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. James Forsyth charts the university funding debate, and reports that the coalition is preparing to attack the new Labour leader. Peter Hoskin welcomes the appointment of Alan Milburn as social mobility tsar, and thinks that Simon Hughes has a hold over the coalition.
Another reason to be glad of the Brown government’s downfall is that there seems to be less silliness about the summer holidays. Today, Nick Clegg returns to London to steer government in David Cameron’s absence – but there’s no fanfare, nor energetic pretence that the Lib Dem leader is actually “running the country”. Unlike those
This is the second of our posts with Reform looking ahead to the Spending Review. The first, on health, can be found here. What is the budget? Education is the biggest area of government spending after welfare and health, totalling £89 billion in 2010-11. This budget increased by 64 percent in real terms between 1999-00
My, what a busy character Simon Hughes is at the moment. Seems like hardly a day goes by without some fresh observations from the Lib Dem deputy leader – and he doesn’t even rest on a Sunday. Today, there are two Hughesbites worth noting down, both from an interview with Sky. The first: “We should
Good to see that Craig Levein, the new Scotland manager, has a sophisticated grasp of football tactics. As this note left in the dressing room last week demonstrates: Final score? Sweden 3 Scotland 0.
Westminster might be in holiday mode, but behind the scenes the coalition is preparing to take on the new Labour leader. As I say in the Mail on Sunday, the coalition is determined to hit whichever Miliband wins early and hard. The Cameroons believe that Tony Blair’s decision not to attack Cameron straight away in
Frank Field, John Hutton and now Alan Milburn – the red tinges to the coalition mix are like a Who’s Who of reforming Labour politicians. Milburn, we learn today, is to return to government as an adviser to David Cameron on social mobility. It’s a role he should be accumstomed to, as he was tasked
Ken Livingstone’s long reign as a Labour London Mayor was predicated on his supposed insurgency against New Labour’s orthodoxy. Well, he remains intent on dissociating himself from his party. For instance today, he has endorsed Eric Pickles’ abolition of the Audit Commission. ‘This is one Tory cut I support,’ he said. This contradicts John Denham’s position.
A poll in today’s Daily Mail might have the Tories down to 29 percent (in part due to a very large number of undecideds) but it is Charlie Whelan’s interview blaming Peter Mandelson for Labour’s election debacle that is getting all the attention. In a fit of campaign nostalgia, CCHQ has tweeted out a bunch