All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
How strange to have spent a year in a world where to hug someone outside of your household is not allowed. For the past five days, six people in England have been able to meet up outdoors again, but only in a socially distanced way. Previously, the argument for crackdown on such instinctive human behaviour
The London Mayoral election is more of a procession than a race. The only real question is whether Sadiq Khan can manage to win on the first round or not. Shaun Bailey, the Tory challenger, is struggling badly. As I say in The Times today, there are a slew of reasons why the Tories are doing
As Boris Johnson prepares to deliver an update on Monday on government plans for immunity passports and international travel, the Prime Minister is already facing a parliamentary backlash. More than 70 MPs have voiced their concern over the use of ‘divisive and discriminatory’ immunity IDs in England. The cross-party group opposing ranges from Iain Duncan Smith and Steve Baker
To some, the persecution of a schoolteacher who showed his pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed may seem like a local quarrel. Does it really matter, many Britons will ask, that a few dozen men gathered at the gates of a school in West Yorkshire? Surely it will blow over before long, goes the
There is a certain kind of critic of independence who hears the news that public funding for Scotland is 30 per cent higher than for England and sits back thinking: ‘Job done’. The latest analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies does indeed confirm that the Union is a bargain for Scotland. It finds that,
The Union Jack is back. No TV interview with a government minister is complete without a flag and their departments have been ordered to hoist them above their offices. Soon our country will look like a never-ending Golden Jubilee street party, but with neither refreshments nor festivities. We’d all like a street party, but many are
As coronavirus swept the globe a year ago, Isis began issuing pronouncements. ‘God, by his will, sent a punishment to the tyrants of this time and their followers,’ said one such; ‘we are pleased about this punishment from God for you.’ With the world on lockdown, Isis followers were urged not to sit around at
Accounts differ. But it would appear that during a wide-ranging conference call earlier this week, the leaders of France and Germany broached the possibility of – wait for it – buying some of Russia’s pandemic pride and joy: its Sputnik V vaccine. If a deal is struck this would be a huge boost to Russia
Amidst all the dry economic arguments, one of the more emotive fronts on which the 2016 referendum was fought was whether Brexit could lead to the dissolution of the Union. Some Remainers made the argument that dragging Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland out ‘against their will’ would turbocharge support for independence. Unionists such as myself –
These are lean times for hospitality and retail. But at least pubs and shops have their champions, popping up on our television channels and radio stations. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, or in this case, taxpayer-funded grants. Where, though, are the voices raised for another activity – also struggling before lockdown – and now
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On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that congressman Matt Gaetz is being investigated over whether he had sex with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him. Freddy Gray speaks to Roger Stone, former adviser to Donald Trump and a friend of Gaetz, about the story.
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Keir Starmer said that needing a vaccine passport to go to the pub would go against ‘British instinct’, in an interview today. But is he really against the proposals? Katy Balls speaks to Kate Andrews and James Forsyth.
Has the pandemic really been good for the way the NHS treats mental health? That’s the rather startling claim I report on today in my i paper column. Ministers have started to talk — equally surprisingly, it has to be said — about the possibility that they are close to reaching parity of esteem between the
It is becoming harder and harder to ignore China’s aggressive behaviour. As I say in the magazine this week, China wants to pick off its opponents. Only a unified western response can stop this, but all too often that has been lacking. New Zealand was strikingly absent from the statement issued by 14 countries When Beijing
George Eustice has had a rocky relationship with farmers since taking over as environment secretary last year. Trying to balance agricultural interests with Boris Johnson’s vision of ‘Global Britain’ has proven a difficult challenge at times, with Eustice facing flack over the lack of food safety protections in the Trade Bill and criticism over his
Pfizer and BioNTech have released some extraordinary findings from a Phase 3 trial involving 46,307 participants, between seven days and six months after a second dose was administered. The vaccine was found to have a 91.3 per cent efficacy rate. These findings line up with the real world data coming out of Israel, which has
Xi Jinping’s overseas diplomats have attracted much controversy in recent years for their aggressive use of ‘Wolf Warrior’ tactics to denounce criticism of China on online platforms. But while past trolling incidents have sparked anger or dismay, the rest of Twitter was left baffled by the Chinese Embassy in Ireland’s most recent foray into statecraft-by-social media.
Should we vaccinate children against Covid-19? The question is going to be increasingly asked following positive results from a US trial of the Pfizer vaccine in 12 to 15-year-olds. The trial found the vaccine to have a 100 per cent efficacy in preventing symptomatic illness — higher than on older age groups. It was, however,
Oh dear. Onetime Labour leadership hopeful Clive Lewis, the soft left’s answer to Richard Burgon, has waded into the Sewell Report row with his usual tact, guile and diplomacy. Responding to an Independent headline which read: ‘No proof of institutional racism, claims key report’, Lewis, a former shadow defence secretary, tweeted a picture of a
We have a long experience of dealing with hate crime in Britain. In 1958 nine Teddy boys armed themselves with chair legs and iron bars and set about tormenting any black men they could find in Notting Hill. They were caught and brought before Mr Justice Salmon. The judge was taking no nonsense: he sent
On New Year’s Eve, Emmanuel Macron promised France an economic revival by the Spring. Cancel that. Instead, as the intensive care units are saturated by a third wave of Covid, we have a new lockdown light and a new message from the president: ‘Don’t panic.’ More than a year after Macron the general took personal
Sadiq Khan is all set to win by a landslide in London, so why not allow a failed election candidate a moment or two in the sun? Mr S was intrigued to see Georgian Democrat Stacey Abrams pop up on his timeline this afternoon in a classic Twitter ‘Get out the vote’ campaign message. Steerpike
Tonight President Macron announced a wave of new national lockdown measures across France, following reports that more than 5,000 people across the country are now in intensive care. In a television broadcast he said that schools would move to remote learning from next week, that a 7pm curfew would now be in place and that
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Today’s report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has made waves for its rejection of the existence of ‘structural racism’ in the UK, and recommendation to stop using the label ‘BAME’ when it comes to describing minority experiences and ethnic relations. Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Cindy Yu about what it
Shadow Lord Chancellor Charlie Falconer recently hit the headlines for claiming the covid crisis is ‘the gift which keeps on giving.’ Unfortunately, it appears the Blairite millionaire with the bulging wallets and slimmed down waistline is less giving when it comes to settling his own bar bill. The peer was one of nine recorded as
They say that dogs are man’s best friend, so it seems ironic that Britain and America are both being plagued by canine issues at the same time. Joe Biden and Boris Johnson are well-known dog lovers – but it appears that their pampered pooches Major and Dilyn are causing no end of trouble for them on
Since Keir Starmer’s election as Labour leader, he has been criticised for failing to take strong positions on a variety of topics. However, the issue where Starmer tends to talk the toughest is anti-Semitism. The Labour leader has promised to root out anti-Semites from the party and when the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found
Should we believe the conclusions of the World Health Organization (WHO) report into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which, as expected, dismissed the possibility of a laboratory accident while giving credence to the theory that the virus was imported via frozen foods? The first thing to note is that the report does not even claim to
Hartlepool is just the gift that keeps on giving. First there was Paul Williams’ love for older women of a conservative disposition and then there was the Northern Independence party’s meme-tastic bid for a Northumbrian republic. Now Reform UK have topped their ‘in out, shake it all about’ routine with Richard Tice by instead naming John
When was the last time you read about a cabinet minister saying officials had him ‘played for a fool’? Our Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland, is nobody’s fool but he’s certainly had the mushroom treatment when it comes to conditions at the privately-run Rainsbrook secure children’s unit. It’s a sign of a much deeper cultural malaise familiar
I’m not sure anyone won the first leaders debate of the Holyrood election but Nicola Sturgeon definitely lost it. The SNP leader spent more than an hour on the defensive, first from voters, who joined via Zoom to harangue her for prioritising a second independence referendum during a pandemic, and then by the opposition leaders,