All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Marine Le Pen has been declared ineligible to run for president of France. She has been given a suspended prison sentence, she will be barred from standing in elections for five years, and she will have to wear an ankle bracelet for two years. She will also have to pay a fine of €100,000 after
Sooner or later, it is going to dawn on the owners of electric cars that they have been enjoying one of the longest introductory free offers in history. The moment of realisation may even come tomorrow. That is when, for the first time, electric cars (EVs) are going to become liable to pay road tax.
Zut alors. The trial of the decade is concluding in France today, with major ramifications for the next presidential election in 2027. This morning Marine Le Pen and eight MEPs were found guilty of misappropriation of public funds. The case revolved around the alleged embezzlement of EU funds to pay RN staff for party work.
The Reform Party’s local election campaign launch in Birmingham was more rock concert than political rally. Thousands of the party’s supporters packed out the 10,000-seat arena on Friday. The Tories – and indeed the other parties – could learn a thing or two about inspiring their party faithful. The contrast between Reform’s local election campaign
Could Idris Elba, the film star and anti-knife crime campaigner, be in the running to be Labour candidate for London mayor? He is rumoured to be the party’s top choice to replace Sir Sadiq Khan, who is expected to stand down ahead of the next London mayoral election, likely to take place in 2028. Could he?
Labour MPs are still reeling from last week’s Spring Statement in which the Chancellor slashed welfare spending and made further cuts in a bid to calm both the markets and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Yet this week could prove even more seismic when it comes to the state of the public finances. On
A series of striking videos have emerged from the Gaza Strip over the last week. Crowds of Palestinians, chanting slogans against Hamas, have taken to the streets in a rare public display of dissent. Some have criticised the mainstream Western media for treating these images with restraint, claiming a missed opportunity to spotlight what could
Perhaps Donald Trump is not quite the chump the Kremlin has taken him for. Trump is ‘pissed off’ with Russia over its foot-dragging over a ceasefire in Ukraine, he told NBC’s Kristen Welker. More, Vladimir Putin’s demands that Ukraine’s government be replaced with a transitional one as the price for peace negotiations made Trump ‘very
Has a generation ever been so minutely poured over as today’s young people? From Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, his bestselling social science book detailing the impact of social media on children, to Netflix’s Adolescence, the terrifying drama depicting the impact of the manosphere on teenage boys, youngsters are under the microscope. A Channel 4
So Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, is in favour of building airports now? That’s a turnaround. In January she railed against Labour party leader Keir Starmer when he dropped his opposition to a third runway at Heathrow. To execute such a U-turn in the midst of a ‘climate emergency’ is ‘reckless, short-sighted and
A decades-long failure to take Vladimir Putin’s warnings at face value has proven dangerously counterproductive. Putin has made it clear that Nato’s eastward expansion is perceived as an existential threat to Russia, using it as justification for his invasion of Ukraine. Despite this, Keir Starmer persists in advocating for Nato peacekeepers in Ukraine – a
Justin Welby says he forgives serial abuser John Smyth On the BBC this morning, former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby gave his first interview since resigning in November last year. He told Laura Kuenssberg that he was ‘profoundly ashamed’ of his speech in the House of Lords in which he had joked that ‘there is
A historic election defeat leaves the Conservatives crushed, Reform rampant and a left-wing government securely entrenched in power. The similarities between Canada in 1993 and the UK result of 2024 have been much remarked upon. But what is less discussed is the aftermath of that ‘93 result and the ten years it took to finally
A peculiar incident occurred this month at an Israeli army base in the Negev: a wild caracal – a desert feline native to the region – bit two Israeli soldiers. Though minor and medically insignificant, the episode subsequently found its way across BBC Arabic’s platforms: X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Within a couple of days, the BBC had published
When the discovery of a new Iron Age hoard was announced this week, a video was released showing a long table laid out with ancient metalwork. The last time I saw anything similar was when the media were shown the Staffordshire Hoard in 2009. That was a pile of Anglo-Saxon military gold and silver, bought
Britain’s economic outlook may have been skewed by bad data – and it could be costing billions. Wage data pored over by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is set to be revised in the coming weeks – and the implications could be serious. The nine economists who decide the country’s interest rates
It looks set to be a happy April for MPs who are in line for a 2.8 per cent pay rise, lifting their salaries to £93,904. Your reaction to that figure likely depends on how much you earn. So does mine – and since I’m about to argue that MPs are underpaid, it’s only fair I
Many Brits who were raised as Christians have abandoned their faith, according to a report by the Pew Research Centre. The survey found that 38 per cent of those brought up as Christians are ‘religiously unaffiliated’, while 4 per cent had converted to other religions. The verdict on religion seems gloomy. But I have a
The US and Britain are busy with their plans to stop the war in Ukraine. President Trump is pressuring Kyiv to freeze the war, keeping the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine under Moscow’s control. In Trump’s vision, Ukraine will neither join Nato nor receive US security guarantees and will have to rely on economic cooperation with Washington as
In 2003, Donald Trump took delivery of a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a $450,000 German supercar that blended precision engineering with Formula 1 bravado. Photographed grinning over its bodywork in Manhattan, he looked every bit the unabashed playboy flaunting a new toy. Two decades on, he’s threatening to hammer the very firm that built it –
A rickety boat took me across the murky, brown waters of the mighty Mekong River from Chiang Saen in Thailand, with its giant golden Buddha perched on the hillside, to the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in supposedly communist Laos. But the SEZ is neither particularly communist, nor even really a part of Laos.
The heavy-handed conduct of the police these days often provokes accusations of ‘Orwellian’ behaviour – and with good reason. There has been a litany of reports in recent years of people being investigated and cautioned for remarks, often made in private, that have been adjudged ‘offensive’ or ‘hurtful’. In the eyes of many, we now
Amanda Spielman, former Ofsted chief inspector, is set to become a Conservative peer. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is elevating Spielman – who served as head of Ofsted between 2017 and 2023 – to the House of Lords for her outstanding record in improving school standards. Spielman’s peerage is richly deserved. She helped ensure that Tory
Vladivostok, the ‘ruler of the East’, is preparing to celebrate the 165th anniversary of its founding. City Day, as they call it in the capital of Russia’s Far East, will see week-long celebrations, including sailing regattas, street performances and an enormous firework display. The naval base, home to Russia’s Pacific Fleet, usually gets in on
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An MP for 35 years, Michael Heseltine served as Environment Secretary and then Defence Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government. Following his well-publicised resignation in 1986, he returned to government under John Major and was Deputy Prime Minister for the last two years of Major’s premiership. Once seen as a potential successor to Thatcher and Major,
If you have had your eye on a bungalow along the Devon coast, a cottage in the New Forest, or a tastefully painted terrace in one of the sea-facing villages in Norfolk, this could be your moment. Many holiday home owners are choosing to sell up to avoid a hike on council taxes. From next
War in Ukraine, and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, is forcing Europeans to prioritise defence. Keir Starmer has slashed Britain’s aid budget to pay for an increase in defence spending to 2.5 per cent of national income by 2027. But how should the UK use that uplift in order to keep
Myanmar, or Burma as it used to be known, has experienced far more than its fair share of tragedy over the past 75 years or more. The death and destruction caused by yesterday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake is the latest in a litany of suffering which this beautiful but benighted South-East Asian nation has endured. I have
Stonewall’s boss Simon Blake has vowed to fight for a ban on conversion practices that includes ‘every member of the lesbian, gay, bi and trans community’. The Stonewall CEO told the Guardian: ‘It’s really important that a conversion practices bill covers all practices designed to try to change or correct somebody’s sexual or gender identity.’
Young people are unwilling to go to school. They are unwilling to go to the office. And they are unwilling to go to war for this country. Is this about Generation Z being born with a natural predisposition to laziness and solipsism – or is it about parents who want to be their child’s best
Hey Duggee, the children’s TV show, beloved by preschoolers and parents alike, has come under fire for introducing a gender-neutral raccoon. In the award-winning Cbeebies show, Duggee is a cartoon dog who runs a clubhouse for young animals known as the ‘squirrels’. In each episode, the squirrels earn a badge (and a hug) by learning about
It was an ominous start to the day of Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement, when she had to rush out messy, last minute changes to Labour’s package of welfare reforms. To unhappy Labour MPs, this confirmed their belief that the policy is Treasury bean-counting masquerading as reform. They’re not wrong. The current trajectory was unsustainable. We
Donald Trump’s latest scheme to exploit Ukraine is gaining momentum. Kyiv has been handed a rewritten, 58-page minerals deal, which obliges Ukraine to repay every cent of US military and humanitarian aid it has received since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Washington is also demanding control over half of Ukraine’s income from its natural resources, including oil
The head of the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, Michael Stewart, is to carry the can for failures exposed by the Southport attack last year. Stewart’s role has been in question for some time, following revelations that Prevent failed to stop Axel Rudakubana murdering three girls at a dance class in Merseyside last July. Rudakubana was first