All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
There is no getting around the fact that these are awkward times for fiscal conservatives, such as myself. It has never been harder to make the case for lower taxes. We have the largest national debt for half a century as we come out of the worst recession for three hundred years, with zero political
14 min listen
Freddy Gray, Amber Athey and Matt McDonald discuss 2021’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, ahead of Donald Trump’s appearance tomorrow.
We already know much of what will be in Rishi Sunak’s Budget next week. Another £30bn for Covid-relief measures: furlough scheme into the summer, stamp duty holiday and the uplift in universal credit (which is also expected to be time-limited, despite pressure from the opposition to make a permanent adjustment). But this year’s spending splurges
Sixty-eight days out from the next Scottish Parliament election might seem an ill-advised time to change the leader of Scottish Labour. This morning, Glasgow MSP Anas Sarwar was unveiled as the winner of a low-key internal election, defeating Labour’s Holyrood health spokeswoman Monica Lennon by 58 per cent to 42 per cent. The leadership was
A dark cloud hangs over the Al Hol Camp where Shamima Begum is being held in North-Eastern Syria. She is said to be ‘angry and upset’ at the decision of the Supreme Court to not allow her to return to the UK to contest the loss of her citizenship. This bleak picture stands in stark
16 min listen
Katy Balls, James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson discuss Alex Salmond’s appearance before the Holyrood inquiry into how the Scottish government handled complaints of sexual misconduct made against him.
Every year, one match during the Six Nations – either in the heart of Cardiff or the depths of West London – sets the heart rate of Welsh rugby fans to dangerous levels. When Wales face England this weekend there is no doubt that millions west of Offa’s Dyke will be captivated by one of
The decades since the Islamic revolution have weighed heavy on the people of Iran. Living in fear, under extreme levels of surveillance and oppression, ordinary citizens have seen their quality of life plummet and their horizons shrink, as their country became an international pariah. Those who dared to protest have been brutally repressed by regime
Are Black people and Asians the same? Are they different from other ethnic minorities? What about Jews? And who do we include when we talk about Asians? Korean, Thai and Chinese people, or those from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India? Does ‘Asian’ refer to a set of skin colours or geographical locations? And what exactly is
When The Spectator went to High Court in Edinburgh to seek clarification over the Alex Salmond case, we did not act out of chumminess or a conviction that he was telling the truth. We are not natural allies of his. We are not sure if his explosive claims are correct, but we are sure that they should be scrutinised by a free
Was Winston Churchill a racist? For students like me who attended Churchill College, Cambridge, it’s a question which barely even merits an answer: of course he wasn’t. But some Cambridge academics appear to take a different approach when it comes to assessing the record of Britain’s most famous prime minister. Churchill College recently announced a
In thinking about the worst political speeches delivered in Britain, I reached for lectures that weren’t just technically poor but epoch defining in their badness. Each one had to have said something larger about the inherent problems of the political class in our beleaguered age. With that in mind, in descending order, here are five
Visiting Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1980s, I found myself warmly welcomed (I cannot remember why) by a lively group of Catholic feminists. Their heroine was Mother Cornelia Connelly. I was embarrassed not to have heard of her since she did her greatest work near us in Sussex. Hers is quite a story. In 1831, aged
As Alex Salmond finally testified before the Scottish parliament on Friday, it was clear that he was trying to walk quite a fine tightrope. On the one hand, the former first minister is alleging a conspiracy so vast that, if true, it would deeply discredit the central institutions of the devolved Scottish state. His claims
Today, after pressure from senior US lawmakers and staring at an impending statutory deadline, the Biden administration authorised the release of a declassified intelligence report on one of the most grisly state-sanctioned murders in recent history. The killing of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi may have occurred 16 months ago, but the
This afternoon, in the Robert Burns room of the Scottish Parliament, former First Minister Alex Salmond, for so many years the supreme political force north of the border, came out swinging against his successor Nicola Sturgeon and the wider Scottish establishment. In a remarkable evidence session, Salmond attacked the leadership of the Scottish government, suggested
Ever since its disastrous military defeat at the hands of Azerbaijan last year, Armenia has suffered from a wave of political unrest, with rallies and protests continuing sporadically. The principal demand of the protestors has been the resignation of the incumbent Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, whose agreement to a ceasefire favourable to Azerbaijan following his
Another pillar of the patriarchy has fallen. His name is Mr Potato Head – or rather, it was Mr Potato Head. US toy giant Hasbro has decided to make the branding for this nearly 70-year-old range gender-neutral, so it will just be Potato Head from now on. According to Hasbro, this is all part of
One of the big post-Covid unknowns is whether people will return to big city centre offices or not. As I write in the Times today, the truth is that no one in government can be quite sure of what is going to happen. The Government does have some levers it can pull if it wants
This inquiry is not about me. I’ve already established the illegality of the actions of the Scottish government in the Court of Session, and I’ve been acquitted of all criminal charges by a jury in the highest court in the land. These are both the highest courts in the land, the highest civil court and the
Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to prevent Shamima Begum from returning to the UK and mounting a legal challenge to the removal of her citizenship sends a strong message to other hopeful Isis returnees. But it might not be a victory in every sense. Begum’s return to the UK was described by the Home
Is the decline in new Covid infections slowing down? That is the picture painted by the government’s figures for confirmed infections, arrived at via the NHS Test and Trace system. The most recent figures show that the 71,320 cases recorded in the seven days to Wednesday are 15 per cent down on the previous seven
Keir Starmer is desperate for Brexit to be done. To that end, he whipped his MPs to vote for the Boris Brexit deal at the end of last year, fearing that to do otherwise would be to prolong Labour’s long running agony on the subject. The only problem with this plan is that Labour’s trauma
For some months now it has been apparent that the greatest threat to Nicola Sturgeon’s position as the uncontested queen of Scottish politics lay within her own movement. Opposition parties could — and did — criticise the Scottish government’s record in government but their efforts were as useful as attempting to sack Edinburgh Castle armed
The Supreme Court has today upheld the ban on Shamima Begum returning to this country to contest the Home Secretary’s decision to strip her of her citizenship. The judges ruled that her right to a fair hearing did not trump national security considerations. But Begum should never have been stripped of her citizenship in the
You have to feel for Germany. After a fraught vaccine procurement process, not only is the government struggling to persuade its citizens to take the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, but Angela Merkel has now stated that she will not be given the jab on account of her age. ‘I do not belong to the recommended age
14 min listen
The Chancellor is expected to announce tax hikes in next week’s budget as he looks to bolster the public purse and reassure markets. With capital gains and cooperation tax in his sights, how will the decision go down with Tory MPs? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Kate Andrews.
How will Rishi Sunak’s Budget land with Tory MPs? As reports circulate in the press that the Chancellor is considering raising corporation tax and capital gains tax as well as bringing in a stealth tax for pensioner savings, nerves are growing among Conservative politicians. The Northern Research Group of MPs, chaired by Johnson’s old friend Jake Berry, have
Emmanuel Macron won’t forget the Yellow Vest movement in a hurry. The ragtag army that recruited regardless of sex, age, region and political persuasions, seriously rattled the president of France in the winter of 2018-19. Never in his wildest dreams could Macron have imagined, when he signed off his fuel tax rise, that within weeks
Imagine telling a child they wouldn’t be able to attend school. You might expect to be met with tears, tantrums and confusion. They would understandably be upset at the prospect of losing their structures and support networks for an unforeseen length of time. This is what children have faced since schools and early learning settings
It was easy to miss because even at the best of times the House of Lords doesn’t grab public attention. But this week, something remarkable happened in parliament. In narrow legislative terms, peers have forced the government to accept amendments to the Ministerial and Other Maternity Allowances Bill. The Bill will make it possible for
17 min listen
Teachers will assess pupil’s grades next year, the Education Secretary said today. Has the decision come too late, and will it disadvantage students? Cindy Yu speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.
