All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
But not because of the argument Iain Dale makes here: Just a thought on the graduate tax. We already have a graduate tax. It’s called income tax at 40 per cent. This is an off-hand comment, sure, but it would also be a better argument if it were true. There are about 31.7 million taxpayers
‘Nudge’ posits that people can be subtly cajoled into changing their behaviour. The Cameroons were convinced nudgers at one stage. Greg Clark and Grant Shapps designed The Green Deal, a free home insulation programme to encourage green living, paid for by savings on energy bills. Then David Cameron and Steve Hilton conceived the Big Society
As the row over Naomi Campbell’s testimony at Charles Taylor’s war crimes trial fills up acres of space in the newspapers and hours of airtime for the news channels, I can’t help but remembering the friendship between the model and Sarah Brown. Brown even selected Campbell as her 21st century heroine in a 2009 Harpers
There were hints of toughness in his article at the weekend, but now David Cameron has rolled up his shirt sleeves and pulled out the baseball bat. In a combative piece for the Manchester Evening News the PM outlines out a zero tolerance approach to welfare fraud and administrative error. The two problems “cost the
You could almost hear the thumbscrews being tightened as Chris Huhne appeared on Today this morning to back nuclear power. The Energy Secretary has an, erm, patchy history when it comes to supporting nuclear – and that fact, coupled with his less than evangelical rhetoric on the matter in government, has got plenty of industry
As compliments go, there’s something slightly backhanded about Vince Cable’s claim that, “Having worked with [the Tories] at close quarters, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that they’re not as I’d envisaged them.” And that’s just one of the little nuggets embedded within his interview with Decca Aitkenhead this morning. The Business Secretary touches on everything from
One of the vulnerabilities of the Coalition is that when Labour moves position one of its flanks can be exposed. When the Coalition agreement was drawn up, it seemed sufficient that the Lib Dems would maintain the right to carry on opposing tuition fees as both Labour and the Conservatives were in a favour of
…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Peter Hoskin explains the Treasury’s cutting difficulty, analyses the politics of the Lib Dem conference, and praises David Cameron’s presentation of cuts. David Blackburn says that opposing social housing reforms looks like a marginal issue, and argues that David Cameron cannot become known
The Prime Minister is, as we know an Aston Villa fan. So we can expect him to be disappointed at Martin O’Neill’s departure. On his trip to Birmingham the other week, Cameron’s support for Villa caused the PM to, as the phrase has it, misspeak. He told the Birmingham Post that with “the Governor of
Well, well, it seems like there’s some internal disgruntlement about the changes at the Beeb. We’ve been forwarded this image of a message which has appeared on screens across Television Centre today. Look to the bottom line:
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
There’s a lot of economic speculation swirling around the Westminster washbowl at the momment, but little of it is as eyecatching as today’s report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Its finding that a third of employers are expecting to cut jobs in the next quarter is bound to spark double-dip fears, even
Sensible opponents of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” have been careful to argue that it’s not the idea of the mosque per se that offends them but the sensitivity of it’s location. Not everyone bothers with that distinction: In Murfreesboro, Tenn., Republican candidates have denounced plans for a large Muslim center proposed near a subdivision,
David Cameron can’t afford to be known as ‘The Milk Snatcher.’ It is for that reason that N0. 10 has airily dismissed Anne Milton’s suggestion that free school milk for the under fives be cut. Still, it is encouraging that Milton has the freedom to think the unthinkable in government – her immediate predecessors were
There’s a story in the Mail on Sunday today about MPs who have been either warned about their conduct towards House of Commons expenses staff, or issued with “yellow cards” which they do not know about. Among the MPs, er, named and shamed, are Theresa May, Bob Ainsworth and Denis MacShane. A lot of the
David Cameron’s neatly-constructed article in the Sunday Times (£) perfectly typifies the balancing act he is performing ahead of this autumn’s Spending Review. The Prime Minister has to sound tough on the deficit because, thanks to the fiscal brinksmanship of one G. Brown, that’s the job he has been appointed to do. But he doesn’t
Obviously it’s from Western Nevada County, California: SWAT Team Requested for Violent Midgets Details, alas, remain sketchy but here’s what we have so far: At 12:32 p.m., a caller from West McKnight Way reported steroid-using body-builders from Reno had beaten up the caller’s son and might have killed him. Midgets from Fulton Avenue had been
The Sunday Times YouGov poll (£) contains some statistics that will warm Cameron’s cockles. ‘The poll also backs the idea, floated by the prime minister last week, that new tenants in council and social housing should have a limited term of five or 10 years before they have to make way for others if their
What became of the likeable lads, that group of New Labour politicians who seemed more decent than the government in which they served? Alistair Darling was one, and he has effectively retired from the frontline of British politics. Alan Johnson was another, and today he gives a frank and wide-ranging interview to Rachel Sylvester. In
It’s only gesture politics, but sometimes gestures matter – which is why the Tories are thinking seriously about dispatching a party envoy to the Lib Dem conference in September. The idea, naturally, is to cement the bonds of friendship between the two sides, as well as to suggest that the Tories are happy to mix
Among the most eyecatching, and potentially important, stories of the day is this one in the Telegraph. It suggests that various departments have “failed” to outline a “worst case scenario” of 40 percent cuts that was demanded by the Treasury. And it even names and shames Caroline Spelman’s Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs
Simon Hughes led the angry response to David Cameron’s thoughts on social housing, and now he’s stirring it up again. In an interview with the South London Press – picked up by Sunder Katwala over at Next Left – the Lib Dem deputy leader has attacked the Right to Buy, saying that local councils should
What is that quote at the end of King Lear? I think it is something like “the wheel has come full circle”. I felt a sense of that wheel with the announcement by Mr Miliband yesterday that the BBC should be democratised and become some sort of mutual co-operative. I have been campaigning for democratisation
The “Most Irritating Politician” stuff was meant to be a bit a laugh, and I think most people took it as such. I think the appalling Harman (who has actually done quite well as stand-in leader,) was a fairly deserving winner, even if I thought you lot were rather too doctrinaire in your voting. But
Here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the past week: Fraser Nelson says that there is no Cabinet rift on benefit reform. Peter Hoskin uncovers the equality landmines that Labour have left the coalition, and reports on a ranking of post-war prime ministers. Andrew Haldenby begins a series of posts by the
Hat-tip for video: ConservativeHome
With today being the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, I thought I’d excavate The Spectator’s leading article from the time: A Crisis of Civilisation, The Spectator, 10 August, 1945 In Mr Churchill’s statement about the atomic bomb issued by Mr Attlee on Sunday exultation at having anticipated the enemy gave way to
A few weeks ago I wrote for Coffee House welcoming the Government’s decision to scrap Prevent grants administered by local authorities. In that article, I cautioned that scrapping something should actually mean scrapping it, not just moving resources around. Today, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has released research showing that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) also
The front cover of the Times (£) provides a dreary snapshot of what the coalition can expect once the cuts start to bite. Unison have responded to job losses in the NHS by arguing that the government is “conning” the public over the impact on frontline services. And they’re threatening to all get all litigious
You probably don’t have to be a swivel-eyed pro-lifer – for purposes of disclosure, I should say that I am a swivel-eyed pro-lifer – to think that there is something a bit sinister about abortion clinic advertisements being shown on TV. Even people who fully support a woman’s right to choose might admit that it
Another slip-up from the PM on international matters, but Labour risk looking ridiculous by overblowing it all:
For the foreseeable, Vince Cable is going to be a political barometer figure: journalists and other innocent bystanders will sift through everything he says to check the temperature of the LibCon coalition. In which case, they’ll find little to excite or worry them in his cool interview with the Newcastle Journal today. The Business Secretary
MPs have never really got along with the new expenses body, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. But now their mood towards it seems to have become even frostier. I imagine that IPSA’s three-month anniversary, and the rather complacent-sounding celebrations that accompanied it, are something to do with that. Tom Harris’s wonderfully acerbic Birthday message, from
Well, I’ve done the totting up and the results won’t terribly surprise you. The winner, or loser, by a mile is Harriet Harman, followed by Peter Mandelson, and with three scumbags running neck and neck behind him: Galloway, Blair and Brown. After that comes Mr Balls. A surprising number of you really hate Simon Hughes,