All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Is there anyone in Britain who believes that Rishi Sunak will take us out of the European Convention on Human Rights? If there is then that person may also still think they got an absolute bargain when they paid a man in a pub £10,000 in cash to take ownership of Tower Bridge. For the
The Tories are battling bad press almost every day now, what with rumours of rebellions and leadership challenges on top of a number of unflattering polls. The party might have hoped, then, that if former Conservative MPs wanted to raise party-specific concerns they would do so in private — rather than adding publicly to the
While the King and the Princess of Wales both battle cancer, the business of monarchy goes on. In the realms of the Commonwealth that includes ensuring the Crown is represented in each respective constitutional government. In Australia, though, the choice of candidate for governor-general is far from reassuring news for the monarchy. Samantha ‘Sam’ Mostyn, an
As if MPs didn’t have enough security threats to consider just now, a growing number of Westminster staff have raised concerns about being caught up in a phishing operation. 13 men have now come forward after receiving intimate and rather salacious messages from suspicious mobile numbers. Behind the messages, foreign affairs committee chair Alicia Kearns
Nato marks its 75th birthday today, but the alliance is in no mood for celebration. At its foundation, and for much of its lifetime, Nato worked well. On 4 April 1949, representatives of a dozen countries signed the North Atlantic treaty in Washington DC ‘to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples, founded
At least 29 workers died and two were seriously injured yesterday in a fire at an Istanbul nightclub. The Masquerade club is in the basement of a 16-storey building in the Turkish city’s Besiktas district, known for its nightlife, and was being renovated. Nine people have been arrested in connection with the blaze. The fire has shone a spotlight on the dangers to construction workers in Turkey. Last
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The killings of three British aid workers in Gaza has caused fury across the board in Westminster, with Rishi Sunak conducting a candid phone call with Benyamin Netanyahu last night. Today, the question is over whether the UK should ban arms sales to Israel in a bid to influence Jerusalem’s hardline approach to Gaza. Has
As Scotland’s embattled First Minister continues to face backlash over his Hate Crime Act, his party has been hit with yet more bad news. New polling from YouGov suggests that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party will become the largest party in Scotland, taking 28 seats and pushing the SNP into second place. The Nats are
David Cameron has got some front. The Foreign Secretary is haranguing Israel over its tragic unintentional killing of seven aid workers in Gaza, and yet he oversaw a war in which such ‘friendly fire’ horrors were commonplace. In fact, more than seven people were slain in accidental bombings under Cameron’s watch. Terrible accidents happen in
It’s three days since Scotland’s Hate Crime Act took effect and there is no sign of public outrage dissipating anytime soon. Within the first 24 hours of Humza Yousaf’s hate bill becoming law, over 3,000 complaints were submitted — with the First Minister on the receiving end of more complaints than JK Rowling. Mr S
What should we make of the recent hardening of Emmanuel Macron’s position on the war in Ukraine? At the beginning of the conflict, France’s president spent countless hours talking with Vladimir Putin; now, he spends his time entertaining scenarios in which French troops could be sent to Ukraine, and calling on other European leaders to
Counter-terrorist detectives investigating a stabbing of a dissident Iranian journalist in London have discovered that three suspects left the country within hours of the attack. Pouria Zeraati, 36, a presenter for Iran International, was knifed in the leg outside his home in Wimbledon on Friday. The suspects fled the scene to Heathrow before boarding a flight. Police
We’ve been here before. Iran has been here before. In 2020 its most senior IRGC commander, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a US air strike on his convoy as they drove out of Baghdad airport. Soleimani was a much mythologised figure across the Middle East, famed for his ability to direct Iran’s regional proxies to
Could a promise of more housebuilding win an election, or does the Nimby vote still rule the shires? Labour, it seems, has decided the former. The Times reports this morning that it has settled on a strategy of unashamedly promising more house-building, including on the green belt, after research by an outside organisation revealed that
Keir Starmer seems intent on exploiting the rising divide between Nimbies and Yimbies as we move towards the general election. With polling showing many of Labour’s target seats are in the most pro-development parts of the country, the party is looking to reject the orthodoxy that blocking housing wins more votes than it loses. Instead,
Is the SNP on a mission to make itself even more unpopular? Wellbeing economy minister Màiri McAllan is the latest politician to face a backlash after she confused voters with claims about Scotland’s progressive tax system on Twitter. McAllan first insisted that when making comparisons between Scotland and Ireland’s economic growth, the fact that Ireland
Each year poets throughout the land wait breathlessly for the results of the National Poetry Competition and the latest winners’ anthology. We can gauge the state of our national literacy by these pages – which is why this year’s results left some of us spitting feathers. The first two prizes have been awarded not to poetry at
It has finally happened. In trading on Tuesday afternoon, the UK’s FTSE 100 index finally closed in on an all-time high. It hit 8,015 points, itching above the previous record closing level of 8,014 set in February 2023 – even if it was still a whisker below the intra-day trading record of 8,043, also from
For the third time in recent years a party created by Nigel Farage is threatening the Tory party’s fading hopes of re-election. But this time the Tories’ very existence is at stake. Reform UK was founded in 2018 by Farage from the ashes of Ukip – which forced David Cameron to call and lose the
A well-known French radio comedian recently suggested an armed revolution in the event Marine Le Pen is elected President in 2027. Mahaut Drama made her comments not in jest, but during a debate at a left-wing media festival in Paris entitled ‘How to fight the far right’. Envisaging a Le Pen victory, Drama said: ‘What
The death of three British citizens in an Israeli strike has prompted fierce condemnation from the UK government. In a phone call on Tuesday night, Rishi Sunak told his counterpart told Benjamin Netanyahu that he was ‘appalled’ by the attack, which killed seven aid workers in a World Central Kitchen convoy. Sunak said that ‘far
Police Scotland, who are responsible for enforcing Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act, have found no criminality in a series of tweets posted by JK Rowling. On Monday, the day the Scottish law came into effect, the author, a gender-critical feminist, tweeted about a number of men who call themselves women – and insisted they were still men.
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Freddy speaks to pollster Cliff Young about Biden’s recent gains. Is Florida becoming more of a swing state again? Does Robert F. Kennedy Jr. take more votes away from Biden or Trump? And how much pressure do pollsters feel to get things right?
In a week that will prove testing for Humza Yousaf as public outrage over his hate crime bill continues, there is a tiny glimmer of hope for the beleaguered First Minister. A new poll has suggested that out of all the leaders of Scotland’s political parties, Yousaf is the public’s top choice for First Minister.
10 min listen
The SNP’s new Hate Crime Act came into effect yesterday, but already it has been met with backlash. On the episode, James Heale talks to Isabel Hardman and Lucy Dunn on why Humza Yousaf insisted on this law and whether it could overwhelm the police. Produced by Cindy Yu.
Good on Rishi Sunak. At long last we have a Prime Minister who has come out swinging in defence of free speech. When JK Rowling shared her opposition to Scotland’s new hate crime legislation yesterday, Sunak was quick to defend her right to speak out. If the PM truly believes that the Conservatives are the
In prison, drugs kill. HMP Parc, a private prison in Wales managed by G4S, has seen six inmate deaths over a period of three weeks. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), the official body tasked with investigating deaths in prisons, soon realised that ‘at least’ two of those deaths were drug-related. Imprisoned at HMP Wandsworth,
When the New Atheism thing was new, I wrote a piece saying that the people who supported it were pretentious and cowardly. They pretended to know what religion is, and said that it caused great harm. I said this was ‘intellectual cowardice’. The intellectual coward is one who chooses simplicity over complexity and difficulty. One
Scotland’s Hate Crime Act has got off to a rather rocky start, to put it mildly. On Monday, when the bill came into force, renowned author JK Rowling took to Twitter to reiterate her concerns about how expressing gender critical views (namely, that biological sex is a reality) could be an offence under the new
The thing about having three prominent house prices indices, all of which publish monthly figures, is that they are forever telling conflicting stories. Indeed, today’s Nationwide index, itself, nods in two different directions: prices were down 0.2 per cent in March, but the annual gain in prices was up from 1.2 per cent in February
Easter recess may be in full swing, but government ministers aren’t getting a break. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan was sent out on the morning round today, to talk about the Tories’ free childcare expansion package. Eligible working parents of two-year-olds can now receive 15 hours of government-funded childcare a week during term time. From September,
Among the many political advantages of the presidency, surely one is the ability to extend warm wishes to Christians, Jews and Muslims on their holidays. It’s a golden opportunity to invite a few for pictures at the White House and explain how much the holiday has always meant to you. Easy-peasy. For a Catholic president
The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest – the final of which will be held in Malmö on 11 May – is the latest peculiar target of pompous virtue signallers. The hosts of the UK’s largest Eurovision screening have announced their decision to scrap the event. The reason? Israel, of course. ‘We have collectively decided not to
On the surface of it, Germany’s new pathway to citizenship sounds like a rare dose of sense from the one country in the Western world whose modern history means it still understands why Israel has a right to exist. One surefire short-hand for establishing who means us ill is by singling out those who mean
