Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

We need to talk about Scotland

The Scottish government has published the first instalment of its new independence prospectus, a paper with the remarkably verbose title: ‘Building a New Scotland – Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland?’ Scottish government resources have been diverted away from the tedious day-to-day business of running the country to produce this

Mark Galeotti

How Russia’s cartoon heroine turned on Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin’s regime has a track record in building up public heroes whom it hopes to use, only to find the ungrateful wretches unwilling to play the roles it intends. The most recent is Natalia Poklonskaya, a woman whose trajectory from cartoon heroine to legal adviser has starkly illustrated the way Putin faces criticisms not

Is the war slipping away from Ukraine?

After the decisive failure of Russia’s attempt to overthrow the government of Ukraine by seizing Kyiv, Kharkiv and other key cities in February and March 2022, Russia has concentrated its depleted forces in the Donbas and set itself far more limited objectives. In the two months since its retreat from the north of Ukraine, Russia has

Freddy Gray

Can California be saved from ruin?

50 min listen

Freddy Gray talks to Michael Shellenberger, the author and campaigner, fresh from his recent run in the primary elections for governor of California. Shellenberger’s most recent book, San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities, is available to buy now.

James Heale

Tory MPs split on Johnson’s absence

Boris Johnson has left the country – but that hasn’t stopped him from annoying his backbenchers. The Prime Minister is visiting Ukraine today to meet with President Zelensky. He’s announced that the UK will expand its training capacity for Ukrainian forces to process up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days. That ought to be a

John Keiger

Why is Macron so desperate to bring Russia in from the cold?

Emmanuel Macron should get a new historical advisor. He continues to repeat – this time at his Kyiv press conference on Thursday – that Russia must not be humiliated following its invasion and war against Ukraine. Politicians indiscriminately pluck at historical examples to justify controversial policies. For Macron, the aftermath of the First World War serves as

Ross Clark

The truth about Britain’s ‘record-breaking’ heatwave

Will temperature records be broken today? You bet they will. By the end of the day you can be sure we’ll be bombarded with headlines along the lines of ‘Records tumble as Britain wilts’ – or, in the case of the Guardian, ‘Record-breaking heat heightens fears of climate crisis’. But don’t get too excited. Read

Katy Balls

Is it time to call Sturgeon’s Bluff?

8 min listen

The calls for Indyref2 are coming thick and fast from the SNP leader this week with a plan for a monthly speech to express the benefits of Scotland leaving the UK. But would allowing a referendum now be better than resisting one? Newer generations of Scots tend to be more nationalist than their elders. Should

Svitlana Morenets

What Ukrainians think of the Macron, Scholz and Draghi visit

The photo said it all. Zelensky’s face when embraced by Macron summed up how Ukrainians saw yesterday’s visit from the leaders of France, Italy and Germany – the Ukrainian media reaction today has varied from scepticism to ridicule. They had arrived to say that Ukraine should be given EU ‘candidate status’ – a goal that

‘What is a woman?’: the trans film that makes for harrowing viewing

What is a woman? A question like this might seem like a strange premise for a 90-minute documentary. But we live in unusual times when primary school children can answer a question our leading politicians struggle to get to grips with. Matt Walsh’s film shows that ordinary people are often baffled too. His interviewees responded with confusion, obfuscation

John Keiger

France could plunge the eurozone into its next crisis

In the French presidential elections, and now in the legislatives that will close on Sunday evening, the one issue kept under the carpet is finance. Neither the centrist Macronista grouping ‘Ensemble!’, nor the far-left Corbynista-like Nupes coalition of Jean-Luc Mélenchon has updated the electorate on how their manifestos are to be funded. And yet over

Steerpike

Another Boris diplomatic blunder

Boris Johnson has never been one of nature’s diplomats. Unconventional, irreverent, Brexit-backing and norm-defying, the blonde bombshell’s two-year tenure at the Foreign Office is now remembered as one of the less happy periods of his political life. Still, even cynical veterans of the ambassadorial circuit were left unimpressed with the Prime Minister’s performance at the

Boris has Gordon Brown to thank for his bishop troubles

Bishops are in the news at the moment. They have outraged No. 10 with their opposition to the policy of deporting potential asylum seekers and other migrants to Rwanda. Government ministers are said to be muttering darkly about evicting the Bishops from the House of Lords, effectively disestablishing the Church of England in revenge. This

Steerpike

Labour frontbencher backs Lisa Forbes

For the past two years Sir Keir Starmer has done his damnedest to distance Labour from the Jeremy Corbyn years. He’s stripped his predecessor of the whip, purged his party of many of his supporters and shifted Labour policy across a swathe of issues. Starmer even mocked Boris Johnson at the despatch box this week

Lisa Haseldine

Is Lithuania next on Putin’s hitlist?

For countries bordering Russia, Putin’s war on Ukraine raises a disturbing question: might they be next? A bill put forward to the Duma’s lower house on June 8 suggests Lithuania is in the country’s sights. If passed, the proposal by MP Evgeniy Fedorov could see Russia potentially try to lay claim to Lithuania’s territory. Bonkers

Ross Clark

How high might interest rates go?

To nobody’s surprise, the Bank of England has hiked its base rate, and, equally unsurprisingly, it has chosen to do so by a relatively modest 0.25 per cent, bringing rates to 1.25 per cent. In 25 years of its existence, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has never raised rates by more than 0.25 per cent

Steerpike

Which MP’s time is worth the most?

The explosion in new TV channels hasn’t been good news for all broadcasters but it’s certainly benefited one group of people: media-loving MPs. The register of MPs’ interests has today been published and the contrast in hourly pay between different right honourable members makes for fascinating reading. David Lammy, for instance, has made more than

Katy Balls

Lord Geidt reveals what pushed him over the edge

Over twelve hours after Lord Geidt resigned from government, Downing Street has published his resignation letter. In his letter tendering his resignation as the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on minister’s interests, Geidt raises his concerns over partygate – noting how he ‘alluded’ to his ‘frustration’ previously – namely over Johnson’s failure to make any public

Michael Simmons

NHS waiting list rises above worst-case scenario

The NHS crisis continues, with a set of data today showing that the extra cash invested by the Tories is not translating into progress. Those waiting 52 weeks for an operation climbed 5 per cent to 323,000. This is worse than the NHS worst-case scenario leaked to The Spectator and published on our NHS data

The end of the Russian dream

I was born in the USSR in 1978 and was just becoming a teenager as the Soviet Union fell. For a schoolboy this was heady stuff. There was no more talk of ‘Good Old Lenin’ in class, and literature and history sessions suddenly became interesting. For the first time, we openly discussed the Stalinist Terror

Who might replace Putin once he’s gone?

How long does Putin have left? Combined with rumours of ill-health, Putin’s disastrous military campaign in Ukraine has led many to question how long he will cling to power. According to the Russian-Latvian independent news platform Meduza, ministers and oligarchs alike are unhappy at the scale of sanctions and the slow and uncertain progress of

Steerpike

Hoyle and grandees declare war on booze

First it was drugs, then it was the press. Now Lindsay Hoyle and the grandees on the House of Commons Commission have turned their guns on the demon drink in a bid to restore parliament’s reputation. They are seeking to end the age-old tradition of ‘Thirsty Thursdays’ in the Palace of Westminster, whereby staff enjoy

Lloyd Evans

Starmer certainly put more welly into it at PMQs

Last week, Sir Keir was monstered by his critics after a feeble performance at PMQs saw him he fail to trouble a wounded Boris. Even his closest allies were in despair. ‘Put some more welly into it,’ advised his deputy Angela Rayner. Today we saw Sir Keir transformed and unleashed. He was flinging wellies in

Steerpike

Coventry council’s Russian misadventure

More than three months on, the ramifications from Putin’s invasion are still being felt across the globe. Sanctions, protests, boycotts – couldn’t happen to a nicer despot. One minor consequence in England though has been the demise of Coventry council’s twin city relationship with Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad. The Labour-run authority temporarily cut ties with