All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Everyone forgets the third article of impeachment. The charge sheet against Richard Nixon, adopted by the House judiciary committee following the Watergate burglary and a conspiracy to impede its investigation, famously accused the president, first, of obstruction of justice and, second, of violating citizens’ constitutional rights. Thirteen days later, on August 9, 1974, and with
A couple of days ago, Paul Mirengoff observed that ‘Going back at least as far as Ronald Reagan, incumbent presidents have not done well in first debates.’ Was that true tonight? Yes and no. President Trump interrupted too often, he did not respond to Chris Wallace’s questions or Joe Biden’s assertions with the specificity that
Keir Starmer’s achievement is remarkable: ten months after Boris Johnson’s resounding victory, he has transformed Labour from no-hopers into a force that is terrifying the Tories. As the Conservative tribe prepares to gather for its virtual party conference, the obvious question is whether defeat at the next election is a realistic prospect. The answer, unlike in January
Some of our most illustrious universities now look more like juvenile detention centres, all in the name of stopping the spread of Covid-19. This last week has seen police raids and strict lockdowns on students’ lives, many of whom will have been leaving home for the first time. Young people compare their campuses to prisons, complaining of illegal detention
Last night’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden started amicably enough. Both men strolled on stage, Trump wearing a red and blue striped tie, ready to battle. Joseph ‘Average Joe’ Biden greeted the president with a ‘How are you, man?’ From that point on, the debate quickly degenerated into one of the most
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The Prime Minister was forced to apologise this afternoon after misstating new lockdown rules brought into force overnight in the North East. Is government incompetence costing it support? In a live episode of Coffee House Shots for The Spectator’s Alternative Conference, Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and James Johnson, co-founder of polling
On Sunday, Azerbaijan began shelling Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh — a disputed piece of territory in the Caucasus peopled primarily by the Armenians but owned, at least on paper, by Azerbaijan. In the 1920s, Soviet administrators, disregarding demography, had placed Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan. In the run-up the USSR’s demise, the local Armenians voted overwhelmingly to
Free speech requires a leap of faith: a belief that even if bad speech does harm, the good done by allowing people to say what they think clearly outweighs it. You either have that faith or you do not. Unfortunately it seems that the Law Commission does not, at least if a recent document it
Ain Qana is a pretty pastoral village perched on a hillside in southern Lebanon. On 22 September a large explosion destroyed a building on the edge of the village. It was about 12 miles from the Israeli border. Reports indicated it was a munitions storage linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group. Hezbollah is
Forget gender, race, or whether you will or won’t wear a mask in polite company. The biggest dividing line in the UK is education. The new focus on non-university routes could be the healing balm we need. Picking over the pieces after the 2016 referendum, pollsters discovered the single most dramatic split between Leave and
Ladies and gentlemen — tonight we are going to witness the most hotly anticipated TV debate in history. In the red corner, aged 74 and weighing in at 250 pounds, the reigning champ, the tangerine typhoon, Donald J Truuuuump. In the blue corner, a challenger all the way from planet amnesia, the 77-year-old stuttering cyclone,
The Prime Minister has never been known as a details man — and he shows no sign of changing his style anytime soon. Boris Johnson was unable to explain the details of his newly announced lockdown rules in North East England. During a Q&A after a speech in Exeter this morning, the PM was asked about the new
Steve Baker has returned to his former role of government tormentor-in-chief this week, piling pressure on the government over its use of emergency powers on coronavirus. Speaking at The Spectator‘s Alternative Conference, Baker criticised documents from the government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) as ‘dreadful’. The papers, published earlier this year, proposed a strategy
Tim Davie has this month taken on the role of BBC director-general in spectacular fashion, announcing plans today for auntie to be given the authority to strip its stars of their Twitter accounts if they breach impartiality guidelines. This will no doubt come as a shock to some. Gary Lineker, a staunch Boris Johnson critic, has been regularly
As the transgender war plays out online in Britain, a far bloodier turn of events is unfolding in Pakistan. This month, transgender activist Gul Panra was shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s capital Peshawar. Another transgender woman, named Tariq alias Chahat, who had joined Panra to perform at a wedding, was also wounded in the attack.
China’s commitment to become ‘carbon neutral’ by 2060 has excited environmentalists but it should be seen as part of China’s strategy to become the world’s economic and military hegemon. Carbon neutrality by a date as remote as 2060 will not constrain the ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the slightest. It is time
New confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been rising now since early July — steadily at first and then sharply since early September. But is there any sign of an increase in deaths? The latest weekly figures from the Office for National Statistics for deaths in England and Wales, released this morning, do record an
When Boris Johnson addressed the nation last week to give an update on his coronavirus strategy, the Prime Minister offered a rebuke of the idea put forward by some Tory MPs and scientists that vulnerable groups ought to be shielded and the rest of the population allowed to live close to normal lives. He argued that suggestions the vulnerable
The outbreak of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the weekend is the latest episode in a saga stretching back to the waning years of the USSR. Although recognised as being part of Azerbaijan, the region of Nagorno-Karabakh is a de facto independent zone populated by ethnic Armenians. Its independence came as a result of a
Monday night’s Commons debate showed the extent of Tory backbench frustration with ministers over their refusal to consult parliament on increasing coronavirus restrictions. But it also showed that the situation isn’t beyond repair. MPs were blunt in their criticism of the government but were also polite and clearly keen to avoid a stand-off. Parliamentarians just
Is the government heading for a Commons defeat on its coronavirus powers? Judging from the speeches on the Tory benches in the chamber this afternoon, things are not looking particularly promising for Boris Johnson. Desmond Swayne used the debate to ask whether the Prime Minister has been abducted by Dr Strangelove and reprogrammed by Sage while Lucy Allan
Donald Trump has a lot to worry about these days. The man who is deathly afraid of being ‘a loser’ could be weeks away from losing in the most visible way to Joe Biden, a competitor Trump has blatantly suggested may be taking performance-enhancing drugs to stay awake on the campaign trail. He is facing
It will involve hundreds of hours of haggling over thousands of different products. It will have to pass torturous debates in Congress. And it will have to survive an election cycle or two. There are lots of hurdles in the way of a British trade deal with the United States. But now we have perhaps
Peter Murrell is the most powerful man in Scotland but almost no one has heard of him. The SNP chief executive shuns the spotlight but he is one half of Scotland’s ruling class: he is the husband of Nicola Sturgeon. The Sturgeon-Murrell reign has gone largely unchallenged in the ultra-disciplined SNP — but that is
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Graham Brady’s amendment to give backbenchers a vote over new coronavirus restrictions looks set to pass through the Commons this week, provided it is selected by the Speaker. With the government determined not to give MPs a say, can they avoid a showdown with Tory backbenchers? Cindy Yu speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.
The Times reports today that parliament’s bars are exempt from the 10 p.m. curfew as well as from mask-wearing on the grounds that they are formally considered ‘workplace canteens’ — providing what some see as a legal get out for MPs and Lords hoping to enjoy privileges denied to the rest of the country. But
We have had plenty of anecdotes about people failing to be diagnosed with serious diseases during lockdown. This is thanks to either to hospitals cancelling appointments, GP surgeries stopping face-to-face meetings or people picking up the message that they should protect the NHS by trying not to use it. It seems clear that the rush to
Steve Baker is well-known for his rebellious streak, famously causing Theresa May major problems with her Brexit negotiations. It now appears Baker has found another PM that he can rail against. Speaking to Ross Kempsell this morning on Times Radio, the MP for Wycombe said: People have got a great deal of faith in Boris
Yesterday afternoon Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed some rare good news: the new Covid-19 track and trace app, which launched last week, has already been downloaded over ten million times. Clearly, the British people are eager to use the promise of contact tracing technology to limit the spread of the virus. The app’s arrival is
It was only a matter of time, in retrospect. There is a new political party in town. This one is called Reclaim and is the brainchild of the actor and singer Laurence Fox. I’m sure all of you know who Fox is already, but if not, here’s a refresher: earlier this year, Fox went on
Is anyone really surprised that Donald Trump’s tax affairs are opaque? Or that he is not as rich as he claims? Is it really all that horrifying that he has for years claimed business losses in order to offset his significant income tax liability? Does it appal us that the Trump family used a Delaware-based
The ire of the House of Windsor is on display again. So too (more worryingly for them) is their impotence. Harry and Meghan’s latest public utterances have clearly rankled with the royals the couple have left behind. From the palace’s perspective, the pair have well and truly crossed a line with their comments about the
