All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Are Covid cases doubling or not? And if so, in what time frame? If you listened to Boris Johnson and chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, you’d be forgiven for being confused. The Prime Minister said this week: ‘The chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser warned that the doubling rate for new cases could be between seven and
The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad. News and analysis Stockport and Wigan are expected to be put under stricter lockdown measures due to the rising number of
During the first Covid wave, the government secured emergency powers that allowed it to put in place new restrictions without parliamentary scrutiny. Those powers are up for renewal next week, but as James Forsyth writes in this week’s cover piece, a number of Tory MPs are unhappy about this. They are trying to force the government
Yesterday’s measures from the Chancellor were necessary. His timely assistance focused on a new targeted and temporary job support scheme to replace the expiring furlough, easing loan repayment terms for firms and a wider, more flexible VAT regime. One needs to examine the details of these to ensure that they are as comprehensive as they
Has the coronavirus crackdown gone too far? Some of Boris Johnson’s own MPs certainly think so. This week, Tory MP Edward Leigh accused the government of ‘authoritarianism’ over the decision to impose greater restrictions during this second wave of coronavirus infections. Leigh is right to be concerned: we have seen the rights and privileges that
If opposition parties back it, the Brady amendment – which calls for parliamentary votes before nationwide Covid restrictions are introduced – will pass. The signatures to the amendment have just been published and there are enough Tories on the list to wipe out the government’s majority of 80 As I say in the magazine, both the rebels and
Rishi Sunak’s Job Support Scheme may represent the most ambitious programme to socialise or nationalise work in British history – because at a time when so many companies face bleak demand for their goods and services, it subsidises employers to put their staff on short hours, or turn them into part-time workers, as an alternative
In January, Sir Keir Starmer told Border Television’s Peter MacMahon that, look, of course an SNP victory in next year’s Holyrood elections would plausibly constitute a mandate for a second independence referendum. It might, indeed, be argued that the SNP have such a mandate already, there being a pro-independence majority in the current Scottish parliament,
The Chancellor’s statement unveiling his winter economy plan offered a reality check on living with coronavirus. Despite pressure from the opposition and a handful of Tory MPs to extend the furlough scheme, Rishi Sunak confirmed that it would come to an end in October. In its place, he announced a new jobs support scheme – whereby the government and firms
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After new restrictions were announced this week by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak today unveiled his Winter Economy Plan. Telling the Commons that he ‘cannot save every business’, the chancellor said that the government would pay up to 22 per cent of workers’ wages. The package may be generous, but is it a sign that
Earlier this month, there was a bit of a fuss when the Co-op’s Twitter account said it would not be advertising in The Spectator due to our coverage of transgender issues. This is a pernicious trend in the media and The Spectator has a policy of refusing to deal with corporates who indulge in such
The UK economy is no longer hibernating; it is ‘adjusting’. Today’s measures announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak are designed to help an economy expected to limp through the coming months, quite painfully in certain areas, hopefully on its way to recovery. But are they enough? The role of the government and the employer has switched:
If there is one country which has influenced the government’s toughening of Covid restrictions over the past fortnight it is Belgium. It was Sophie Wilmes’ government which, faced with a resurgence of Covid cases in late July, came up with the idea of placing a limit on the size of social gatherings – five rather
When Boris Johnson announced further lockdown restrictions this week, it was inevitable that Rishi Sunak would again splash taxpayers’ cash. The Chancellor duly delivered this afternoon. But one thing is clear: slowly but surely Sunak is turning the taps off. The Job Support Scheme, which replaces the furlough scheme, means the government will pay up
Boris Johnson is at odds with his parliamentary party on the biggest issue of the day. Not Brexit – where the vast majority of Tory MPs continue to back his hardball approach – but Covid. No. 10’s approach, as I say in the magazine this week , now is one of pre-emption. They want to clamp down on
The National Trust has been making headlines of late over its decision to dip a toe into woke waters. As well as a previous drive for rainbow lanyards and trading antique furniture for beanbags, they recently came up with a dossier listing the country pads of Winston Churchill, Rudyard Kipling and William Wordsworth as properties with connections to ‘colonialism and
Europeans see the UK as an outstanding centre of counter-terrorism — but one that is wholly incapable of counter-extremism. Britain has a world-class security and counter-terrorism apparatus. MI5, MI6, the police, military and GCHQ together have unrivalled capabilities when it comes to disrupting domestic and international terror plots (at least 25 in the last three
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed away. America has lost one of its finest lawyers. An outstanding lawyer is a gift to a nation. But RBG is one America never actually used. The same is equally true of her friend Antonin Scalia. Two brilliant lawyers that most nations would give their right arm for. I think
The news that a Brexit border will be introduced for lorry drivers entering Kent has aroused hilarity and derision among some Remainers. These critics see in Kent the personification of all that is parochial and plebeian. Horrible old Kent, with its proles who epitomise Little England at its most execrable and risible. The truth is that we people
It has been more than 100 years since women got the vote. We’ve had two female prime ministers. The #MeToo movement has been and gone. And yet people are still suspicious of what women say. Has the battle for equality been won? I’m not convinced. In the last few weeks we have seen: a best-selling author’s books
The death of Harold Evans last night will mean tomorrow’s newspapers will be rightly filled with tributes to a pioneering editor. But he left the Sunday Times 40 years ago and did a lot more with his life than his 16 years in the editor’s chair. Specifically, he wrote about his trade, to share what he
There are two kinds of people in this life: people who say Gavin Williamson is the least capable member of the Cabinet and people who have heard of Ben Wallace. The Secretary of State for Defence, in an intemperate answer in the Commons, claimed the UK waged ‘illegal wars’ under Labour. Wallace was speaking during
‘Is that all there is?’ a dejected Peggy Lee mused in her sixties jazz number of the same name. Humza Yousaf’s statement in the Scottish parliament this afternoon left me musing along much the same lines, and no less dejectedly. The SNP justice minister had come to Holyrood with a peace offering for opponents of
Gasps abounded in the Commons this afternoon after a testy exchange between Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and his Labour opposite number. A clearly riled Wallace decided that he had had enough of John Healey’s interventions during the second reading of his bill to limit prosecutions of servicemen and women. The cabinet minister told the House:
Martial law was declared yesterday. And today Boris was expected to arrive at PMQs dressed in jackboots, an olive tunic and wraparound shades, with a Glock 18 machine-pistol tucked into his holster. Instead he wore a plain business suit. Perhaps he wanted to give his people a friendlier impression of their overlord. He seemed unusually jovial and upbeat
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In a televised address to the nation last night, Boris Johnson hailed Britain as a ‘freedom loving country’, but said that a lack of adherence to existing coronavirus restrictions meant new measures are needed. Is the government right to blame the public for a rise in Covid cases, or should they adopt a more contrite
When Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the furlough scheme back in May, he committed more support than anyone expected. In June and July, the government continued to pay 80 per cent of employee wages (with a cap of £2,500 per month) and has also picked up the majority of the tab in August and September. But
One of the questions regularly asked by Tory MPs on the libertarian wing of the party: why isn’t the UK taking the Swedish approach on coronavirus? After the Prime Minister announced this week that the public ought to expect at least six more months of restrictions, Johnson has faced a backlash both within his own party and among certain sections
In a strategy that now appears to be one of outright suppression, the government has put huge stock in the approval of a vaccine before too long. But could the answer turn out to be not a vaccine but an anti-viral drug? Research by a team from Bristol University and published in the journal Science
The government’s decision to reject ‘self-ID’ is a victory for this transgender woman. When I transitioned eight years ago, I had two ambitions: to keep my job and to stay out of the press. I achieved the first, but failed the second. However, this week’s announcement vindicates my decision to speak out. Back in 2016,
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A new poll from Harvard suggests that Joe Biden could win the votes of 60 per cent of under-30s in November’s election. But does the Democratic candidate really energise young people, or are they simply repelled by Donald Trump? Freddy Gray speaks to Marcus Roberts, director of international projects at YouGov, about the numbers dictating