All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
I know from bitter experience that you don’t have to be a best-selling author to be hounded by the trans ideologues. You don’t have to be an evil witch to be cancelled by the spoiled kids you made famous. You don’t even have to say you think gender identity is a load of poppycock to
The fifth Covid wave has started in Europe. Some governments are already imposing lockdowns and wage cuts for the unvaccinated as hospitals are filling up. Mass protests against restrictions are popping up, some peaceful like in Austria, others turning violent like in the Netherlands and Belgium. A nationwide lockdown in Germany is unlikely, but local
After three torrid weeks, Tory MPs were hoping for a better start to this one. Alas, it has got off to a rather bizarre start. The kindest thing that can be said about the Prime Minister’s speech this morning to the Confederation of British Industry is that it was peculiar. The main thrust of the speech was meant to be about green growth
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During the last general election campaign, Boris Johnson’s persona as the improvisational, brash, comedian was endearing to many voters and those in his party. But with multiple weeks of own goals and bad press is this attitude beginning to look careless rather than amusing? ‘People are now looking out for the next banana skin’ –
Boris Johnson kickstarted the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference this week with a surprising performance. The plan was to emphasise his government’s commitment to regenerating the economy, post-pandemic, with a green agenda. In practice, it was a confused and muddled speech which even the speech-giver (let alone the audience) found difficult to follow. The highlights were
How quickly things change. Just a month ago many EU countries were being praised for keeping some Covid restrictions in place, in many cases operating vaccine passport systems. By contrast, Britain was being attacked for removing most Covid restrictions in July. The UK suffering elevated infection rates ever since, leading to predictions that we could be
Eddie Redmayne was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in The Danish Girl, but now he is having second thoughts about the role he took on. Redmayne played the part of Lili Elbe, a Danish illustrator who is remembered as one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery. Highly experimental at the time, the procedure eventually led to Elbe’s
When Israel and the United Arab Emirates first started speaking in 1994, the meetings were kept secret. The Emiratis publicly supported the Palestinian cause. Israel was supposed to be the enemy. But last year, with the signing of the Abraham Accords that re-established official diplomatic ties between the two countries, that changed. In Dubai this week,
Oh dear. Boris Johnson’s much-trailed speech to the Confederation of British Industry has caused something of a social media storm – but not for the reasons the Prime Minister will have wanted. In a confused, shambling performance, the Tory premier lost his place repeatedly throughout the speech and spent three minutes riffing on his family
We are told that the Prince of Wales had no idea at the time that his underlings were offering to sell honours to random zillionaires. That’s lucky. Instead of being tarred by the sticky brush of corruption, then, he emerges from this minor scandal as a benign old nitwit, shovelled from one place to another by
Right-wing Frenchman Eric Zemmour, who is expected to run for the presidency of his country next year, has been designated persona non grata in London by the city’s mayor. ‘Nobody who wants to divide our communities or incites hatred against people because of the colour of their skin or the god they worship is welcome in
Fear and unease have stalked the corridors of Northcliffe House since the announcement last Wednesday of Geordie Greig’s defenestration as editor of the Daily Mail. A ‘funereal’ atmosphere has lingered over the paper’s staff ever since, with nervy hacks fearing the return of expletive-riddled editorial explosions associated with Greig’s predecessor Paul Dacre. There’s also considerable
Sajid Javid – 5.9 million are on NHS waiting lists This morning the Health Secretary Sajid Javid took to the TV studios in a week where his departmental remit has been very much back in the spotlight. The Austrian government has announced that it will be going back into a nationwide lockdown, and there is
Last week Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son and onetime heir apparent of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, appeared in the southern desert city of Sebha. A furtive, uneasy, and aged Gaddafi, who had been missing for several years, was dressed in robes that mirrored his father’s trademark look and if you squinted, it almost looked
During the Trump years, North Korea was hardly ever out of the news. From the US President’s threats of ‘fire and fury’ against the rogue state, to dramatic meetings with Kim Jong-un in Singapore and Hanoi, the world’s attention was firmly focused on Pyongyang. But with Trump out of office, the chaos of Covid-19, and
Mr S has been in his fair share of dodgy disco hot-spots but few captured his heart like Klute, the much-loved, much-hated Durham nightclub for generations of local students. With its sticky floors, cheesy tunes and lashings of cheap liquor, it’s no surprise FHM christened the Marmite establishment ‘the second worst nightclub in Europe.’ Klute
Four months ago, I had my second dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. I work for the NHS and fully support Britain’s vaccination campaign, so it was a simple decision for me to make. I had no problems with my first dose and I knew that the vaccines have been found to be highly effective
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been writing regularly on the seething controversies around biological sex and gender identity. I’m a barrister, specialising in discrimination and employment law and chair of the new human rights organisation Sex Matters, so I take a professional as well as a personal interest in the subject. My stance
Brazil’s Donald Trump has a challenger. Jair Bolsonaro is preparing to take on his predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in what will be the socialist’s sixth run at office. But if the flamboyant Bolsonaro is Trump, does that make Lula the Brazilian Biden? Part of the reason Trump lost was his erratic response to
While the Westminster bubble has spent the last few weeks focusing on Tory sleaze and COP26, the Welsh have been facing a far more consequential challenge. The problem is the country’s coal tips: monstrously black, heavy slag heaps, omnipotent and ever-present reminders of the great industry that once dominated Britain’s economy and fuelled the furnace
The Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai sits in a crowded restaurant surrounded by friends and her coach, who is going through next year’s training plan with her. ‘Tomorrow is November 20th’, he says, in a seeming non-sequitur. ‘No, tomorrow is the 21st’, one of her friends corrects him. ‘Oh yes, oh yes, the 21st’. This
Azeem Rafiq is not having a good week. In addition to having to issue a grovelling apology for antisemitic messages, this morning it was reported in the Yorkshire Post that a mobile number belonging to him allegedly sent creepy sexual messages to a teenage girl, declaring a desire to ‘grab you push u up against wall
Tennis is in the news again and this time it’s not Emma Raducanu’s prodigious feats making the headlines. Chinese sensation Peng Shuai, a onetime Wimbledon doubles champion, has gone missing a fortnight after accusing a former top party official of forcing her to have sex after playing tennis at his home. Unlike the craven apparatchiks of the International Olympic
What began in Austria has spread to Germany, then the Czech Republic and now Slovakia. Lockdowns for the unvaccinated are sweeping across central Europe, with Austria now declaring that vaccinations will be made compulsory in the country. Why did these extreme lockdowns become so popular in central Europe? Part of the reason is that the
The scale of the human tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan is hard to comprehend. The economy has collapsed, some 20 million people face death by starvation and international agencies like the World Food Programme have already doubled their estimate of what they will need just to keep people alive. They are appealing now for a staggering
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Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson about the latest lockdown in Austria, the prospect of Germany following suit, and Austria’s plans for mandatory vaccination.
Nils Grönberg was 19 years old when he was shot and killed: one bullet to his chest and one to his face. Images of his lifeless body lying on the ground in one of Stockholm’s more affluent neighbourhoods – the hyper-modern Hammarby Waterfront Residential Area – soon spread on social media. Many Swedes heard the
Kyle Rittenhouse is innocent. We knew that anyway, but the simple fact of something being true in no way guarantees that the legal system will recognise it. In this case, we are fortunate that law and reality have decided to agree with one another. Kyle Rittenhouse is innocent, but the state remains on trial. There
In 1975, India’s prime minister Indira Gandhi suspended democracy. The so-called ‘Emergency’ was largely of her own making, giving her the power to rule by decree. Hundreds of prominent writers and journalists, not to mention opposition leaders, were bundled off to jail. Remarkably, that was all it took for the rest to fall in line.
It’s been a rough old week for Hamas. The UK announced plans to proscribe the organisation, Justin Bieber ignored its call to cancel his 2022 concert in Tel Aviv, and even the recently friendly Labour party has vowed that it ‘does not and will not support BDS’. One minute, you’re going about your business, trying
I suppose this happens to all of us at different speeds, but I am getting a little fed up of this government. In particular, I am getting fed up of the gap between its rhetoric and its actions. Most of the time this is most noticeable with the Prime Minister, who gives his base the
Nicola Sturgeon wants to extend vaccine passports in Scotland, and today her government released a 70-page document purporting to show evidence. The snag? There’s not a shred of evidence to show that her vaccine passports are having any effect. The document, entitled Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine certificationww: evidence paper update makes a very bold claim: that Scotland’s
So farewell then Geordie Greig. The Daily Mail editor is leaving his post this week after just three years in the role, following an internal power struggle at Associated Newspapers. The supremely connected Old Etonian addressed the troops late this afternoon in the Northcliffe House newsroom, with many sharing in the ‘funereal’ atmosphere that greeted