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Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

Sinn Fein’s immigration stance has blown up in its face

It’s been three days since Ireland went to the ballot box to decide the local and European elections and, much to consternation of pretty much everyone, we’re still waiting for the final results. The exit polls though show a remarkable collapse in support for Sinn Fein. Mary Lou McDonald’s attempts to become respectable with the

Fraser Nelson

The truth about the rise of the ‘far right’ in Europe

‘The rise of nationalists and demagogues is a danger for our nation but also for Europe,’ said Emmanuel Macron as he announced his general election. Strong talk, as befits his newly-called general election campaign but is that really what has just happened? Look closely and the results are more nuanced – and more interesting.  If

Labour could make Britain’s prison crisis worse

On Saturday night, Labour announced its plans to ‘fix the prison crisis and keep criminals behind bars’. If this announcement is the full extent of Labour’s prison policy, then disaster awaits them in government. At least Labour seems to recognise some of the problems. They point out that as a result of overcrowding our prisons

Steerpike

Starmer’s shadow cabinet split on private schools

Labour have made much of their VAT raid on private school fees, proudly trumpeting the policy as one of the few instances of a ‘popular’ tax. So it must have been to the chagrin of Starmer’s spinners then to see two of their leading frontbenchers contradicting each other about the costs of the policy. Appearing

Isabel Hardman

Douglas Ross resigns as Scottish Tory leader

Just when you thought this election campaign couldn’t get any more tumultuous, Douglas Ross has announced he will resign as Scottish Conservative leader. He had lost the support of his colleagues – particularly those in Holyrood – following his decision to effectively take over a Westminster colleague’s constituency when that MP was seriously ill in

Steerpike

Listen: BBC’s ‘careers week’ blunder

Another day, another BBC blunder. This time it involves Radio 2’s Zoe Ball Breakfast Show this morning, which announced that this week is ‘careers week’. In a call out for contributions, Ball urged listeners to phone in if they feel they have ‘the most obscure job’ and to divulge what their ‘careers officer’ told them

Katy Balls

Can Sunak get his election campaign back on track?

As a general rule, you know your election campaign has gone off track when politicians are being asked on the broadcast round whether their leader will quit before polling day. This is what Tory minister Mel Stride encountered over the weekend on Sky News following the backlash over Rishi Sunak’s decision to miss part of

Freddy Gray

The European elections and the ascent of the right

Can the ‘far right’ still really be called the ‘far right’ if it becomes the mainstream? That’s a question for political scientists to ponder as tonight’s European elections results come tumbling in. The right is winning in France, with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally will win twice as many votes as president Macron’s Renaissance. Macron

Gavin Mortimer

Macron’s snap election is his biggest gamble yet

Emmanuel Macron tonight dissolved France’s National Assembly and announced there will be new parliamentary elections with the first round of voting on 30 June and the second round a week later. The president made an unscheduled appearance on television one hour after exit polls declared a crushing victory for the National Rally in the European

Steerpike

Watch: Green leader’s nuclear disaster

There are some decent arguments in favour of unilateral disarmament. So it’s a pity then that Carla Denyer did not make any of those when she appeared on LBC to give a car-crash interview earlier today. The Green co-leader decided that the best way to convince the British people to get rid of their Trident

Steerpike

Watch: Tory aide stops Holden grilling

Which Tory minister is having the worst week in politics? It’s a title that Rishi Sunak seemed to have sewn up after his D-Day disaster on Thursday. But it appears his Tory chairman is now giving him a late run for his money. Richard Holden was sent out to defend the government today, following Sunak’s

Steerpike

Minister: ‘No question’ of replacing Sunak

It’s three days since Rishi Sunak’s Normandy gaffe but there’s no sign of the row going away anytime soon. The Sunday Times reports that Lord Cameron was ‘apoplectic’ about the Prime Minister’s decision to leave the D-Day commemorations early but, when asked why he had not ‘picked Sunak up by his lapels’, replied ‘There is

Julie Burchill

Why I’ll be voting Reform (reluctantly)

I’ve always loved voting. No matter how many times I’ve been disappointed, I’ll be out there next time round getting all misty-eyed as I put my X on the ballot paper and embarrassing the poor people running the show by blurting ‘Thank you for everything you do for democracy!’ before bolting for the door. It’s

How Putin plans to fund a forever war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin’s costly war in Ukraine has transformed Russia as the president has forced the country to pivot onto a war footing to support it. Now, going a step further, Russia is embarking on a significant tax regime overhaul, a move that hasn’t been seen in almost a quarter of a century. The tax shake-up

The hardest part of climbing Mount Everest isn’t what you think

Everest is, we’re told, ‘the highest garbage dump in the world’. It’s a place, if you believe the reports from this year’s climbing season, that is increasingly crowded. Terrifying video footage released last month showed climbers waiting their turn at the very top of the mountain shortly before two of them fell to their death.

Steerpike

Gavin Williamson in fresh ‘dirty tricks’ row

Is the master of the dark arts at it again? Sir Gavin Williamson is back in the headlines following a row about an alleged last-minute stitch up in his Staffordshire seat. With Reform riding high in the polls, every Tory MP is fearing for their future, given Richard Tice’s pledge to stand candidates across the

Will my generation still remember D-Day?

In the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, just inland of Utah Beach on the coast of Normandy, a crowd had gathered before an outdoor projector to watch the British, French and American heads of state pay respects to those who served and the thousands who gave their lives on D-Day. While the dancing and drinking and celebration

Why Biden’s Gaza ceasefire proposal failed

Ceasefire deals to end the war in Gaza have come and gone. President Biden’s unexpected announcement of the latest formula for a settlement, supposedly proposed by Israel, has already fallen by the wayside. In fact, Biden’s three-stage ceasefire deal looked remarkably like the previous ones: a six-week halt to fighting and withdrawal of Israeli troops

Jonathan Miller

French healthcare shows there’s another way for the NHS

Nigel Farage says the NHS ‘isn’t working’ and has suggested the UK adopt a French-style heathcare system. He’s evidently been reading my articles here and here. French healthcare isn’t perfect but compared to the bedlam of what most British politicians refer to as ‘our’ NHS, it’s fabulous. I speak from knowledge. I have experience as a

Fraser Nelson

Nigel Farage’s Tory manifesto

I’d say that Nigel Farage gave the best performance in last night’s debate. You might expect that: he’s a full-time television host, so he talks politics to cameras for a living. But of the seven that were on stage, he’s also the most experienced street fighter. He knew how to use humour and had a

A short history of cricket in Ukraine

Since the start of Vladimir Putin’s cold-blooded invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the stories and images being broadcast from the country are horrifying. War is gutting Ukrainians’ lives, but the ambitious and quirky place where I have lived and worked is still there. Many people are surprised, for example, to learn that Ukraine has several

Why was George Orwell a socialist?

When George Orwell’s publisher, Fredric Warburg, read the manuscript of Nineteen Eighty-Four in December 1948 he wrote a rapturous report to his colleagues, saying that the book was ‘worth a cool million votes to the Conservative party’. He described it as ‘a deliberate and sadistic attack on Socialism and socialist parties generally. It seems to indicate a

Philip Patrick

Can a government dating app solve Japan’s birth crisis?

The Tokyo metropolitan government has announced that it will soon be in the online matchmaking business. It is launching a dating app, which will hopefully appear in the summer, its latest attempt to get people to do their duty to the nation by finding a partner, getting married and procreating ASAP. The rules of the

Tom Slater

The troubling truth about the Greens

Wind farms. Heat pumps. Hamas apologism. It’s a curious combination, but one that an alarmingly high number of Green party candidates seem keen to pursue at this General Election. Yes, the political party nominally devoted to a single issue – ‘saving the planet’, at the cost of ordinary people’s living standards – has landed itself