All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
In the days since the Huw Edwards scandal broke, the television broadcaster’s wife has been praised for a dignified statement citing her husband’s mental health struggle – with the presenter currently in hospital. Meanwhile, the police finding of no evidence of criminal behaviour means that the BBC is allowed to resume its original investigation. Some staff
Three weeks after marching on Moscow, the Wagner Group has seemingly been withdrawn from the battlefield in Ukraine, according to the Pentagon. Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said there was evidence to suggest that the 25,000-strong mercenary group was not ‘participating in any significant capacity in support of combat operations in Ukraine’. The Pentagon’s statement
It is Bastille day in France but few people are in the mood for festivities. The riots of a fortnight ago have left physical and psychological scars that won’t heal anytime soon. It is Emmanuel Macron’s seventh Bastille day as president, and his special guest this year is Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India,
Huw Edwards is in hospital. That shocking news, in a statement from his wife, Vicky Flind, delivered an icy blast of reality to a news story that had bubbled out of control for six days, dangerously so for the BBC. Although reporters in its News division, where I worked for 31 years, had covered the
Despite the inevitable and performative expressions of anger, regret and dismay following this week’s Nato summit, Moscow feels it has reason to be moderately content with its outcome. It has seen Ukraine frustrated in its failure to secure Nato membership – and fractures emerge between Kyiv and the West. Moscow’s contentment, however, may well be
Sometimes there is a problem so glaring that you wonder why no one is addressing it. Sooner or later, the government is going to have to deal with the black hole that will appear in the public finances as a result of the switch to electric cars. True, Jeremy Hunt has announced that electric cars
In January this year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak outlined his five priorities for Britain against a hazy timetable. Meanwhile in France, after months of parliamentary opposition, strikes and demonstrations against his pension reforms, President Macron’s legislation gained assent by a constitutional sleight of hand. To appease the country’s heightened state of tension in May, Macron
The sad thing about the BBC’s dedicated Scottish channel, which has suffered another collapse in viewing figures, is that it’s actually rather good. Their flagship news programme The Nine, broadcast from BBC Scotland’s cavernous HQ at Pacific Quay on the Clyde, is very professional. It is presented by the excellent Martin Geissler, whose name you won’t find on
China is engaged in a ‘whole of state’ assault on the UK and the government’s approach has been ‘completely inadequate’. That is the devastating verdict of today’s long-awaited report on China by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. The committee accepts that Chinese influence and interference activities may be difficult to detect, but questions whether the
That Rishi Sunak chose to announce his decision to give public sector workers a 5 to 7 per cent pay rise with a press conference tells you everything you need to know. There is no requirement for him to be anywhere near a pay announcement: indeed, it was chief secretary to the Treasury John Glen
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It looks like the summer could be about to get a whole lot easier after the government announced that millions of public sector workers will get a pay rise between 5 and 7 per cent. In a press conference this afternoon, Rishi said this was the governments ‘final offer’ and the result of consultation independent pay review
On the same day that junior doctors in England are staging their longest strike yet, new NHS statistics show that the service continues to struggle with patient demand. The number of waits for treatment – including elective operations and procedures – has now reached a record 7.5 million, according to figures published this morning. Over
Another year and another July has come round where viewers in the UK have been treated to the sight of some of their compatriots in Northern Ireland marking William of Orange’s triumph over his father-in-law James II, the Catholic Stuart King, on the ‘green grassy slopes of the Boyne’ – as the Orange song goes
The economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in May – down by 0.4 per cent compared to May 2022. But this dip is largely being attributed to the extra bank holiday for the King’s Coronation. This morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics shows some changes in behaviour due to this one-off occasion, including
Junior doctors are once again back on strike today, as they kick-off the longest industrial action in NHS history in pursuit of a 35 per cent pay rise. Up to 46,000 medics in England will spend the next five days away from the hospital, in yet another blow to the kneecaps of the already hobbling
BeKind is one of the Great Icks – to use the vivid word so beloved of Love Islanders – of our age. It’s a form of brainwashing which is particularly insidious as it’s generally applied to females, starting out in childhood when numerous items of BE KIND clothing can be found in the girls’ section
A report, just published by the NHS, is a stark 171-page indictment of our protective services. The investigation details the shocking failures of every agency either side of the prison walls to safely manage Zephaniah McLeod, a plainly very dangerous and mentally unwell man with a long criminal history, who was released from prison without
After five days of speculation, Huw Edwards has today been named as the BBC star at the centre of allegations about his private life. His wife, the TV producer, Vicky Flind, has released a statement in which she says her husband is ‘suffering from serious mental health issues’ and is now ‘receiving in-patient hospital care
Ben Wallace thinks Ukraine needs to be careful. The West has used a whole load of political energy this week to try and bring Ukraine closer to Nato, and its government’s response has been a bit unthankful. ‘There is a slight word of caution here,’ Wallace told a gaggle of reporters this morning, on the
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Tory whips will be smiling today after a mammoth three and a half hour voting session on amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill last night. All the amendments put down by the House of Lords were defeated by the government across 18 divisions. Are Rishi’s hopes of stopping the boats still alive? Where do Labour
The Nato summit in Vilnius has not helped Ukraine. Rather than facilitating the country’s swift accession into Nato, the alliance introduced conditions for membership called the ‘Annual National Programme’: a fudge, in other words. Nato leaders said they would continually ‘regularly assess progress… on [Ukraine’s] path towards future membership’. Ukraine would be invited to join
Blindness, ignorance and folly were on fully display at PMQs. Rishi Sunak was absent in Vilnius where he’s busy discussing with his Nato chums how to prolong or escalate the war in Ukraine. His deputy, Oliver Dowden, tried to fend off some excellent, probing questions from Labour’s Angela Rayner. She berated the Tories for overseeing
Deciding whether Ukraine should eventually join Nato is hotly debated. There are good reasons to favour its inclusion, but not now, while the war is ongoing. It would transform the war into a conflict between nuclear-tipped Great Powers and vastly increase the danger. Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, is not happy with the uncertainty over his
According to Cathryn Ross, Thames Water’s co-interim chief executive, householders with large gardens should be paying a higher price for their water than people with small or no gardens. Actually, they already almost certainly do. If they have a metered supply, their bills will be proportional to how much water they use – and will
In fairness to the Nats, they never let things get too dull. Just days after losing his party’s whip, SNP MP and Salmond ally Angus MacNeil has now announced that he will sit as an independent candidate until at least October. MacNeil was seen in the Commons last week having a bust-up with Chief Whip
What will Liz Truss’s legacy be? The obvious answer is her 49-day stint in Downing Street. But she is determined not to settle for that. Today in Westminster, she oversaw the formal launch of her new project, The Growth Commission, dedicated to spreading the message she tried to convey as prime minister: the importance of
Are you tiring of the stand-in routine at Prime Minister’s Questions? Oliver Dowden seems to be. When he first started this now regular gig for Rishi Sunak, the Deputy Prime Minister was clearly delighted that he could deliver the lines he’s been coaching other prime ministers to say for years. Today, as he stood in
Ministers should be hailing it as a major vote of confidence in the economy. King Charles should be clearing his diary to make sure he is available for the opening ceremony. And the broadcasters should be leading the news with it. In normal circumstances, you might expect the announcement that two major global corporations will
The Czech-born writer Milan Kundera has died, at the age of 94. Four years ago, Toby Young wrote this tribute to Kundera. I was surprised to learn that the novelist Milan Kundera celebrated his 90th birthday on Monday. I had no idea he was still alive. He has taken up residence in that old people’s
There’s a school of thought that, since Scotland isn’t likely to become independent anytime soon, interrogating the SNP’s claims about what independence would mean in practical terms is hypothetical and academic. This view is usually expressed by Unionists rather than nationalists, and reflects a frustration with the refusal of the constitutional question to go away.
The Nato summit in Vilnius has been an eventful one already. Even though no clear timeline for when the country can join the group was given, Ukraine’s hopes of one day becoming a Nato member were given a boost. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has hailed proposals as ‘a strong package for Ukraine, and a clear