All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
11 min listen
This morning’s figures show that the UK went into a technical recession last year. Forecasts suggest it will be a short and shallow recession, but how badly does this reflect on the government’s priorities to increase growth and lower inflation? Also, will this make Rishi Sunak think again about his plan to meet as many
The case of the ‘paraglider girls’ just keeps getting worse, exposing a criminal-justice system that seems to have become riddled with bias and Israelophobia. A mixture of bias, ignorance and cowardice has been exposed at every level of the criminal-justice system On Tuesday, a judge at Westminster Magistrates Court essentially let three women – Heba
Sadiq Khan has announced six new names for the previously boringly-named Overground. The practical point of it is that the Overground goes everywhere and is quite confusing to navigate if you’re an occasional visitor. Breaking up the orange (which only stayed that way because Boris Johnson liked it being the same colour when he was
How much longer can Sir Keir Starmer’s local survive under the ever-blundering regime of Sadiq Khan’s City Hall? As every Westminster obsessive knows, Starmer’s favourite pub is The Pineapple in Kentish Town – a site ‘woven into the fabric of the community since it was built in 1868.’ Yet the battle-class boozer is struggling to
Who does Vladimir Putin want to win the US presidential election this autumn? Last night, the Russian president gave an unexpected answer to that question. In an interview on the Russian state TV channel VGTRK, Putin was asked ‘Who is better for us, Biden or Trump?’ The smirk on journalist Pavel Zarubin’s face suggested he
Scottish Labour gathers in Glasgow this weekend in both a mental and electoral state few thought achievable just a short few years ago. Having polled less than 10 per cent in the (albeit meaningless) European Parliament elections of 2019, followed by another humiliating third placed finish at the Holyrood elections of 2021 with less than
The Parkrun saga over times for transgender runners staggers on, but the organisation has only itself to blame. For want of a clear policy on sex and gender, Parkrun seems to have upset everyone. Last week, at least one event director quit as the company erased its run records wholesale in what looked like a knee-jerk
A year ago today, Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation as SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland. The consensus was that her departure from the political frontline would be a blow to both her party and the wider Scottish independence movement. After almost nine years as First Minister, Sturgeon left office as a dominant figure
On Monday evening, more than 60 activists gathered outside the home of Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative backbencher and former junior defence minister and chair of the Defence Select Committee. The protestors had assembled to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, although several were also heard supporting the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have recently been
Crime is up, half the Tube network is delayed or suspended, but never fear, Sadiq Khan is here. The Mayor of London has today unveiled his latest wheeze to show he’s not all inaction man: bestowing six different parts of the Overground with new, right-on names and distinct colours. After all, who needs a statues
The triumph of green ideology within our institutions, corporations and public life is staggering. Notions that would have once been confined to meetings in the back of a Brighton bookshop are now the common coin of government, big business and, of course, the cultural elites. All of them now seem to agree that cheap and
At the start of last year Rishi Sunak made the promise to ‘get the economy growing’ one of his five major pledges. Today he is confronted with headlines that the UK fell into recession at the end of last year, as the Office for National Statistics reported this morning that the economy contracted by 0.3 per cent
Happy birthday to me. Today I turn 48. I’m celebrating in an age-appropriate way: a trip to the physio for a stiff shoulder, then publishing some gloomy words about pensions. Being born in 1976 makes me part of what marketers called Generation X. Arguably though, the 1965 to 1980 cohort should be tagged the ‘Forgotten Generation’.
It may seem perverse to claim that the former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon saved the Union between Scotland and England. She is after all a Scottish nationalist who has dedicated her life to the cause of Scottish independence. But her actions since she resigned exactly one year ago from her post as First Minister
David Cameron is currently in the States, urging politicians there to back support for Ukraine. Currently Washington DC is ensuring a stalemate over £75 billion of aid for Kyiv’s struggle against their Russian invaders. The Foreign Secretary used an article in the DC website the Hill to urge Congress to support Ukraine with more funding. He
Simon Fanshawe has been installed as the rector of Edinburgh University. The arrival of the comedian and Stonewall dissident to the post will hopefully bring to an end a dismal episode in the life of one of Britain’s greatest academic institutions. But don’t bank on it. The campaign by transgender activists and others to uninstall
Left-wing journalists have won a huge battle in France against CNews, the country’s most popular news channel. France’s Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, has given the media regulator Arcom six months to investigate the channel to determine whether or not it is keeping to strict rules on balanced and independent journalism. CNews is one
Britain’s unemployment statistics are unreliable, and the Office of National Statistics is experimenting with a new method of counting the number of people out of work. Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, said as much this afternoon while giving evidence to the House of Lords Committee on Economic Affairs. Until the 1990s the
Well, it’s a pig of a coincidence to have Ash Wednesday coinciding with Valentine’s Day. So, at the start of Lent, on the very day that traditionalists are allowed one light meal and two collations – basically less of everything and no meat – you’re meant to be celebrating the love stuff, always supposing you’re
10 min listen
Inflation figures released this morning have remained at 4 per cent – a worry for Rishi Sunak’s five pledges. There are several hurdles are still to come for the Prime Minister this week, including growth figures tomorrow and two by-elections on Friday. Why are the Tories keeping things low-key on the campaign trail? James Heale
In one of the many quotations spuriously attributed to Winston Churchill, the former prime minister was supposed to have said ‘success is the ability to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.’ It is a piece of advice – regardless of its origin – that the Duchess of Sussex seems to have absorbed
Yesterday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, three women were convicted of terror offences for wearing clothes or carrying signs that appeared to glorify Hamas – and they were let off virtually scot-free. The leniency of this ruling raises yet more questions about judicial impartiality in this country At a central London pro-Palestine march the week after the
The collapse of the retail chain The Body Shop marks a new low in the sorry tale of Britain’s shops and their struggle for survival. The brand was put into administration by private equity firm Aurelius only a few weeks after it had been acquired from its former owners Natura & Co for £207 million.
The government had been facing two economic challenges this week, ahead of the by-elections in Kingswood and Wellingborough: the publication of the latest inflation figures and the economic growth figures for the last quarter of 2023. It has just about survived the first challenge. This morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics shows the inflation rate
Vote for me or you’ll end up with Keir Starmer. That was the threat from Rishi Sunak on Monday evening when in front of the GB News cameras he addressed voters in Country Durham. The Prime Minister warned that the general election will be a straightforward choice between the Conservatives and Labour. He then listed
Football has turned messy in Hong Kong. Last Sunday, the beleaguered Hong Kong Chinese Communist party was hoping for a public relations boost after Inter Miami agreed to play a friendly in the city against the Hong Kong Team. Instead, the game was overshadowed by a furious row after Miami footballer Lionel Messi failed to
When news broke that Israel planned to start an offensive in the city of Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, it was faced with a barrage of warnings and condemnations, including from its allies. Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged Israel to ‘think seriously’ before it launched a large-scale operation in the city.
15 min listen
Keir Starmer has rolled back on his support for the Rochdale by-election candidate, Azhar Ali over further comments made about on Israel-Palestine. John McTernan and James Heale speak to Natasha Feroze about the lessons Labour can learn, and whether antisemitism could topple Starmer. Also on the podcast, Rishi Sunak has been taking advantage of Labour’s
Labour has now suspended Graham Jones as a parliamentary candidate after a recording emerged of him allegedly saying that Britons who travel to Israel to fight for the IDF should be ‘locked up’. The former MP, who is standing again in Hyndburn, was taped appearing to refer to ‘f***ing Israel’, and saying it was ‘illegal’
Lord Cameron has shown again this afternoon how much the government’s tone on the conflict in Gaza has changed recently. The Foreign Secretary was taking questions in the Lords and heavily laboured the point that Israel should think twice before going into Rafah. He repeated his regular argument that there had been too many Palestinian
I’ve just given evidence to a House of Lords Select Committee which is considering the future of news and media more broadly. The best thing that politicians can do for the press is leave us alone: protect our independence (from politicians and government) but also protect the press from politicians and governments of other countries.
Rishi Sunak seems to have realised a trick for pushing more building without confronting Tory Nimbyism. Under plans unveiled today, he’s going to ease restrictions on building in urban areas, where prices are most pressured and where Tory votes are rarely found. Councils missing their housing targets will be restricted in when they can refuse
‘UK’s Rwanda Bill incompatible with human rights obligations… damning report by MPs warns.’ So ran the headline yesterday morning, referring to the report released by the joint human rights select committee on the Safety of Rwanda Bill. As often happens, however, immediate appearances can deceive. Constitutionally, the UK is administered by a ministry with the confidence of the House