All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Britain today celebrates the crowning of a new king, but the coronation will be watched and celebrated by millions across the Commonwealth. To an extent that is often not appreciated abroad, the Queen – who was Defender of the Faith – was revered by her subjects of all faiths. In our often sectarian world, she
18 min listen
Is the government using mass immigration to mask failures in the welfare system? James Heale speaks to Fraser Nelson and Matthew Goodwin, author of Values, Voice and Virtue.
I planned my trip from Palm Beach to London almost a year ago. Nothing was going to stop me coming to the UK to celebrate the King’s coronation, the monarchy, and the Special Relationship (Britain-hating Biden notwithstanding). I arrived full of goodwill and looking forward to this historic, and truly rare spectacle. Yet I was
Mumbai, India Weaving through the throng on a hot May afternoon, Kiran Gavande had a determined look on his face, despite the sweat that trickled down from his head. This wasn’t a routine trip to the market in Mumbai’s Lal Baug neighbourhood for Mr Gavande. Instead of buying onions and tomatoes, he was searching for
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says his party is on track to win the next general election after the Tories were hammered in local polls across England. The story of these local elections however appear to be Tory disaster rather than Labour triumph. The BBC’s Projected National Share (PNS) of the vote – based on
It is a cliché to say that Britain’s customs were invented by the Victorians. In the case of the coronation, it is also not true: the 1838 coronation of Queen Victoria was possibly the most underwhelming in British history, even if it did give us the Imperial State Crown and Coronation Ring. It is true
When Charles is crowned King today, he will be following in a long tradition of Christian kingship. The existing coronation practice of the British monarchy can be traced back over a thousand years to the crowning of the first King of All England, Edgar, in Bath Abbey in 973 AD. Edgar’s coronation service – devised by
Russia is gearing up for its annual festival of state-sponsored militarist kitsch that are the 9 May Victory Day celebrations, albeit in rather more limited form thanks to security concerns surrounding the ongoing war. Amongst all this, it is all too easy to forget that not everyone is consumed with nationalist pageantry. Instead, what is
Royal Mail needs a history lesson. In preparation for this weekend it has dedicated four special post-boxes emblazoned with a coronation emblem and Union Jack, sent to every corner of the UK. But what did it expect by placing the box in Cardiff city centre directly outside the pub named after Owain Glyndŵr, rebel and
The Conservatives have suffered 1000 councillor losses – and the count is not over yet. This was the figure Tory aides used when they were attempting to manage expectations in advance. That the party is on course to exceed it shows that the result is worse than many in Tory circles had expected. Meanwhile, Labour
The presence of drones over the Kremlin earlier this week was reported widely as the first attack on Moscow since the Napoleonic era: after an explosion, Russian officials claimed that this was an attempt on the life of a suddenly vulnerable Vladimir Putin. But it’s actually more akin to 1987, when an amateur German pilot
Since 2015, it has been common and rational for people in Westminster to ignore the Liberal Democrats. After the end of the coalition government, the Lib Dems suffered repeated electoral losses and misjudged or mishandled big political events: the fact that the most clearly anti-Brexit UK party has ended up with just 14 MPs today
30 min listen
Freddy Gray speaks to journalist Ben Smith, whose new book Traffic is an origins story for digital media. On the podcast they discuss how a new genre of journalism was birthed from a desire to cause trouble online, whether woke culture spawned from digital media and if we are nearing the end for the social internet.
You might have thought that a heavy defeat for the Conservatives in the local elections would silence those claiming that the government was out to disenfranchise left-wing voters by introducing compulsory photo ID for voters at polling stations. But not a bit of it. Paul Mason was up bright and early bleating about ‘serious vote
15 min listen
The local election results so far paint a fairly grim picture for the Conservatives, whilst Labour and the Liberal Democrats have made big gains in key areas. With Starmer in the advantage position ahead of the next general election, how will No. 10 respond? Is there a path for the Tories in 2024? Katy Balls
Results are still coming in fast but one of the big stories of this local election night has been the Tories’ southern discomfort. Onetime safe seats in the once-impregnable ‘Blue Wall’ have fallen overnight to the Liberal Democrats and to a lesser extent, the Greens and Labour too. The leaders of Windsor and Mid Suffolk
France and Germany have fallen out again after the French interior minister Gérald Darmanin accused Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni of incompetence in her handling of the migrant crisis. In response, Itay’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, has cancelled a meeting in Paris scheduled for today and he is demanding an apology from Darmanin for his ‘vulgar insults’.
As the results of the local elections continue to roll in, the Liberal Democrats look set to make promising gains across the country. But for one newly-elected Lib Dem councillor, yesterday’s vote has left him seeing double. Sitting Salford Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Twells has accidentally won a second seat more than 160 miles away
15 min listen
Early results from the local elections are coming in. The Conservatives were expected to perform badly, and Labour to make gains, and that’s certainly happened. But, if Labour were to replicate these results in a general election, would they win? And are the Liberal Democrats the ones really doing well? Max Jeffery speaks to Katy
Everyone knew that the Conservatives were going to take a pasting in the local elections. Aside from deserving a particular kicking for the horror show of 2022, with its runaway inflation and two prime ministerial defenestrations, this is just what happens to long-serving governments deep into parliaments. So the question foremost in the minds of Conservative
One of the trends Keir Starmer will be looking for is the reversal of the Brexit effect, with Labour heartlands coming back to Labour. A study of 200 seats counted so far – a pretty small fragment – does seem to show a correlation with the swing away from the Tories in the places where
It’s been a tough old time for Etonians. Having seemingly ruled the Tory party (and the country) for much of the past 15 years, the election of Rishi Sunak, a Wykehamist and proud school donor, put all that to an end. With Kwasi Kwarteng banished to the backbenches, Sunak’s cabinet became an OE-free zone: a
Rishi Sunak wakes to warnings that the Tories could lose 1,000 seats in the local elections. What had been talked up as expectation management is now viewed as a possibility as the party finds itself squeezed by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Keir Starmer’s party is showing signs of progress in some so-called red
This coronation season, punditry is bristling with acute reflections on the British constitution, especially its religious aspect. Or maybe not. There is more comment on Succession (an American TV show that half-satirises, three-quarters worships capitalist excess). But is it not at least a little bit interesting that we officially remain a Protestant theocracy? The Protestantism of the
In Scotland, everything from eye tests to prescriptions to university tuition is paid for by the state, even if you can easily afford to pay for it yourself. Such is the intoxicating effect of universal benefits that the only question up for debate in the Scottish Parliament is what else can be given to everyone
It’s local election day for most of the country – though not in South Cambridgeshire. The Lib Dem led District Council there has been in the news a lot this week but not for the right reasons. Council bosses there have just hailed the ‘overwhelmingly positive’ results of their four-day working week trial and are
The Tories might be trailing in the polls but there was no sign of glum faces in Westminster last night. The crème de la crème of the Conservative establishment was out in force to hail the fifth birthday of the Onward think tank. Star of the show was a beaming Rishi Sunak, displaying no indication of
Claims of financial skulduggery abound, Nicola Sturgeon is politically hors de combat and Humza Yousaf is quickly rebranding the SNP as a party not only of shatteringly incompetent government but also of lost causes, political irrelevance and sheer kookiness. Thinking Scots who don’t fancy the Tories might be forgiven for contemplating a switch of loyalties
George Osborne has taken a break from his myriad jobs to give his thoughts on health policy. Orange juice should be taxed, and smoking banned, according to the ex-Chancellor. Doing so had been ‘too controversial’ while he was in government; those ‘anti-nanny state Conservatives’ who oppose it are ‘not worth listening to. Leaving aside the
Will the Bank of England raise interest rates again? We’ll know for sure next Thursday, when we get the Monetary Policy Committee’s next announcement on the base rate, but today’s decision from the Federal Reserve to hike rates again makes it more likely that the Bank will follow suit. The Fed has announced another interest rate
