All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Ian McEwan’s new novel What We Can Know isn’t even out yet, and already someone has spotted a goof. In response to an early review in a Sunday paper – which reports that McEwan’s novel is set in a world where a Russian hydrogen bomb has missed its target in the United States, exploded in
This evening Emmanuel Macron will almost certainly be searching for his fifth prime minister since January last year. Francois Bayrou’s decision to call a vote of confidence in his government looks like a calamitous misjudgement, one that will plunge France into another period of grave instability. Comparisons are being drawn with the tumult of the Fourth
“Success”, Winston Churchill was once reputed to have said, “is the ability to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” By this metric, Prince Harry must be about the most successful figure in public life today. Despite a series of myriad embarrassments and humiliations, which have included his Sentebale charity descending into chaos,
If you’re a Brit who doesn’t hate Jews – a smaller number than you might think – then you may be surprised by a poll published over the weekend by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, to coincide with its protest march through London. The CAA’s YouGov poll found that the number of people who admitted –
During the five years Jacinda Ardern led New Zealand, much was made of her ‘transparent’ style of touchy-feely leadership and willingness to deal with thorny questions. Yet on the biggest issue of her record – her zero Covid policies – the former Prime Minister has gone missing. A planned week-long public hearing at an inquiry
After 48 hours, the final appointments have been made to complete the government’s reshuffle. A raft of rising stars from the 2024 intake like Josh McAlister, Josh Simons and Kate Dearden have all been handed junior ministerial posts. Kanishka Narayan, a tech enthusiast and Labour’s only Old Etonian, has gone to the Department for Science.
On Friday, former Deputy Prime Minister and housing minister Angela Rayner resigned after an ethics probe into her tax affairs was published. The move prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer to begin a mass reshuffle of his government, with his new cabinet appointments here. Starmer’s timing made it a rather coincidental coup, with the news overshadowing
It is a plot line worthy of a Sopranos episode. A newly-elected Prime Minister, flushed with electoral success, triumphantly sacks his onetime rival – only to discover, a year later, that she is now in pole position to become his new deputy. That’s right folks, Emily Thornberry – the gin-loving, flag-bashing Islington Dame – has
At the Reform UK conference, Nigel Farage claimed that he would stop small boats crossings in two weeks if elected prime minister. When Laura Kuenssberg asked him how he would manage that, Farage scaled back the promise, saying ‘as soon as the law’s in place, as soon as you have the ability to detain and
The next election will not be won on immigration. Britain has already made up its mind. Voters want it controlled and reduced, full stop. That is why Nigel Farage’s party is head and shoulders clear in the polls. But if Reform’s pledge on immigration has been sold to the British public, the real question, as
Over the past five years, Britain has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people claiming disability benefits. There are now 2.8 million working-age adults who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness, a figure that has risen by over 700,000 since 2019. Personal Independence Payments (PIP) are also increasing rapidly, with over 50,000 new applications
BrewDog is in trouble. Its beers have been axed by nearly 2,000 pubs. Punk IPA – once a craft beer titan – has vanished from bars across Britain. The firm is closing ten of its own pubs, including its flagship bar in Aberdeen. Last month, co-founder Martin Dickie left. There’s little doubt that BrewDog has lost
During the early noughties, I pierced hundreds of ears at Claire’s Accessories, the chain store that collapsed into administration last month in the UK. These piercings rarely went smoothly and the evidence often resurfaced: a wonky earring here, a scar there. Good riddance (unemployment notwithstanding), then, to this lavender blight on teen culture. After a
When King Charles paid tribute to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks following his death in 2020, he called him ‘a light unto our nation’. It was a phrase that captured something profound and widely felt. Rabbi Sacks, who had served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013, was
Today, Pope Leo XIV will perform his first two canonisations, both of which were due to take place earlier this year but postponed after the death of Pope Francis. The recipients will be Pier Giorgio Frassati, an early twentieth century Catholic activist from Turin, and the 21st century’s first saint, Carlo Acutis – also known by
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At the Reform conference in Birmingham, the Spectator’s editor Michael Gove sat down with Reform UK’s head of their department of government efficiency Zia Yusuf. They discussed Labour’s track record in government, Zia’s faith and his tech background, why leader Nigel Farage is his political hero and how AI could change Britain.
In Tory world, it is a year for big anniversaries. One hundred years ago, Margaret Thatcher was born; fifty years after that, she won the Conservative leadership. To mark the occasion, various shindigs are planned, with the party conference next month expected to pay tribute to the Iron Lady’s legacy. A week after that there
Keir Starmer knows not to waste a crisis. The loss of Angela Rayner has been a huge blow to his government. She was the most charismatic politician on the front bench of the Labour government. Her ability to go toe to toe with populist politicians was a huge asset, particularly as the relentless rise of
Back in July I wrote in these pages that if too many Tories joined Reform, Nigel Farage’s party would risk looking like a rescue raft for rats leaving the sinking Conservative ship. Since then, the trend for repentant or redundant Tories to desert their old party – so comprehensively rejected by the voters – and
Not so long ago, an MP was free to earn whatever he liked however he liked, push off without impediment to work for businesses that he’d been responsible for regulating, and could hold his seat comfortably for the best part of 50 years. No longer. One might have thought that the stock of MPs would
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In Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, Britain has a double-edged sword: one of the most anglophile U.S. administrations of all time – but a greater awareness of UK domestic politics. From Lucy Connolly to the recent arrest of Graham Linehan at Heathrow airport, there is much chatter in America about free speech in Britain and
At last weekend’s European Society of Cardiology conference in Madrid, a quiet funeral bell tolled for aspirin. The drug has already been largely dropped as a painkiller, on the basis of having more side effects than paracetamol. Most often now it’s taken to prevent a heart attack. Now, a new study, published in the Lancet
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Lucy Dunn catches up with Tim Shipman at Reform’s party conference, taking place in Birmingham, to get his reaction to Labour’s reshuffle. The reshuffle took place following Angela Rayner’s resignation from government. Tim argues that it’s clear the reshuffle centred around getting Shabana Mahmood into the Home Office, where she can tackle some of the
It’s not even 10am, but already the Galilee sun is prickling the back of my neck. I’m standing outside a war room set up in the community centre of the village of Julis, watching a delegation of 200 Druze men arrive. One by one, they make their way up the steep path – most dressed in their
This summer I spent an afternoon, as I do every year, sitting with old friends in their garden a few miles from the Gloucestershire village where we grew up. Their garden adjoins fields, affording a clear view of the Malvern Hills. But this year, the view was different. We watched as trucks crawled across the
Gay Times, the longstanding monthly magazine formerly aimed at gay men – but now repurposed as an ‘LGBTQ+’ title – is in trouble: it has lost 80 per cent of its advertisers in the last year, and £5 million in advertising revenue as a result. ‘Good old-fashioned discrimination’ is to blame, according to its chief
Politicians have spent years talking about the need to create ‘green jobs’. In many ways they have succeeded: there are now nearly 700,000 people employed in green jobs in the UK. But while the likes of Ed Miliband may think this is a victory, the reality is that many of these jobs are a product of government subsidy,
Reform had clearly planned the Campest Show On Earth for their conference this year. Sparklers, club anthems and strobe lights: imagine Sir Keith Joseph was in charge of your primary school disco and you get a sense of the vibe. Unfortunately for the budding impresarios of Reform, they were upstaged. Just as their conference was
When Volodymyr Zelensky was asked to describe the security guarantees finalised for Ukraine at the Coalition of the Willing summit in Paris yesterday, the word he reached for was ‘theoretical’. Theoretical guarantees for a theoretical ceasefire: 26 countries pledging, in theory, to support peace in Ukraine on land, sea and in the air after the
Keir Starmer is carrying out a far-reaching reshuffle this afternoon after Angela Rayner resigned from her three roles (Deputy Prime Minister, Housing Minister and deputy Labour leader) following a probe into her tax affairs by Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser. The writing was on the wall for Starmer’s former second-in-command after her
Senior Reform figure Zia Yusuf has been on quite the journey within the party. The businessman first came to prominence as party chairman after taking over from now-deputy Richard Tice MP, promising to professionalise the growing party. Then, three months ago to the day, Yusuf shocked party colleagues and members by announcing his resignation from
The misjudgement over Stamp Duty which led to Angela Rayner’s resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, may be deeply embarrassing for her (and her party) but it will likely save her from the embarrassment of failing to achieve the government’s target of delivering 1.5 million new homes by 2029. In an interview on
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Angela Rayner has resigned following the ethics probe into her tax affairs. What impact will this have on Starmer’s government? And does this hinder her chances of succeeding Starmer one day? The Coffee House Shots team react live from day one of the Reform party conference, which is taking place in Birmingham. What’s the mood