All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will this afternoon announce big reforms to the UK’s asylum policy – including fast-tracking illegal migrant deportations, changes to human rights law and plans to stop granting visas from certain African countries if their governments don’t co-operate on immigration. While Mahmoud’s tough talk will go down well with voters concerned about
Next month Jonathan Carley will appear in court in Carmarthen, charged with wearing military uniform without permission. This charge comes after a man purporting to be a Rear Admiral was pictured at a Remembrance Sunday service in Llandudno while wearing an impressive row of medals. One was Britain’s highest awards for gallantry – a Distinguished
Some 91 prisoners have been freed by mistake between April and October of this year, according to government figures released last week. Normally I’d be joining in the full-throated chorus of exasperation, as I do with the fresh clown shows that Labour thoughtfully provide every couple of days. But I’m a bit quieter about this
The most apposite comment on Shabana Mahmood’s proposed reforms to the asylum system came from Kemi Badenoch during yesterday’s Commons statement on the plans: ‘The Home Secretary has done more in 70 days than her predecessor managed in a year.’ On one level that was damning with faint praise, given that Yvette Cooper’s tenure in
It is more than a month since thieves stole the crown jewels from the Louvre and the chances of recovering the loot, worth an estimated €88 million, diminish with every passing day. The robbery was initially dubbed the ‘heist of the century’, a brazen theft in broad daylight as visitors strolled through the world’s most
Shabana Mahmood is a bright minister among a cabinet of duds, dealt a difficult hand and playing it rather well. There was a good deal to like about her speech this afternoon, launching the document describing the government’s plans to deal with refugees and deportation. The idea of reviewing refugee status every 30 months, with a
None of Shabana Mahmood’s asylum reforms is as radical as the terms in which she is talking about this issue. In an op-ed teeing up Monday’s announcement, she writes: ‘Unless we act, we risk losing popular consent for having an asylum system at all.’ I cannot remember the last time a Home Secretary made such
Judging by how well it fares in the annual UN World Happiness Report, there’s not much rotten in the state of Denmark. It regularly tops the UN chart and while it might feel slightly glib to compare wealthy nations with warzones – why can’t those gloomy Afghans, languishing at 147th, cheer up? – the wider
Another day, another bad poll for Labour. YouGov research has revealed that a whopping 75 per cent of Scots disapprove of the UK government, with just half of those who backed Labour in 2024 saying they would consider voting for the reds again. But this doesn’t necessarily spell good news for the nationalists: while 37
Around this time of year TV schedules groan under a blizzard of feel-good festive movies, all of which share essentially the same plot: a hard-charging corporate bigwig burnt out on life in the city returns home to Middle America for Christmas, where they learn important life lessons from folksy neighbours, fall in love with the
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This afternoon, the Home Secretary will set out in the House of Commons her proposed reforms to the asylum system. The headline changes proposed by Shabana Mahmood have been well briefed in the weekend press: refugees will have temporary status and be required to reapply to remain in Britain every two-and-a-half years; those arriving would
‘Long Eaton is dying a death. I was born and bred here, so I’ve seen it go downhill quite quickly. There’s not a lot here. We’ve got two supermarkets, bad road infrastructure, it’s dying.’ Listening to a mum from the outskirts of Nottingham describe her frustrations with her community in a recent focus group, the
Say what you like about the sweary, suspiciously blonde chef-entrepreneur Gordon Ramsay – and people have been known to do so – but there’s no denying both the longevity and apparent success of Britain’s best-known restaurateur. Thanks to a television career that has lasted since the late 90s, the image of Ramsay as a hard
Before I left for the Your Party rally in Manchester, I carefully looked at myself in the mirror. My Star of David necklace and rings with Hebrew etchings were off, and I ran through, yet again, the alternative name and identity I had prepared in case anyone asked. After all, it’s not every day that
Today we will learn exactly what Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood meant when she hinted last week that the government would adopt a Danish-style migration policy to deter new arrivals. One thing she will announce is a ban on visas for nationals of three countries which she says are not taking back enough failed asylum seekers:
This afternoon, the Home Secretary will set out in the House of Commons her proposed reforms to the asylum system. The headline changes proposed by Shabana Mahmood have been well briefed in the weekend press. Refugees will have temporary status and be required to reapply to remain in Britain every two and a half years.
‘This is a moral mission for me, because I can see illegal migration is tearing our country apart, it is dividing communities. People can see huge pressure in their communities and they can also see a system that is broken, and where people are able to flout the rules, abuse the system and get away
To Bangladesh, where the country’s ousted former prime minister – and aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq – has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death. A special tribunal judged Sheikh Hasina responsible for ordering a violent crackdown on student-led protests in 2023 – during which up to 1,400 people died,
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is set to announce a series of new measures in the Commons today to combat illegal migration. The new laws are said to be based on measures introduced in Denmark which have significantly reduced the number of asylum seekers arriving there. In 2014, 14,792 asylum seekers went to Denmark; in 2024
One of the most grating and nauseating verbal constructions of our times – ‘Our NHS’ – has with grim inevitability began to evolve and expand. It was only a matter of time before someone or some organisation deemed it necessary to affix that possessive determiner to another state-run organisation, and you hardly need to guess
Tomorrow Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, is set to announce changes to Britain’s asylum system, designed to discourage those who arrive through illegal routes. Those changes will include making housing and financial assistance ‘discretionary’ so that they can be denied to those who are able to work, and increasing the length of time asylum seekers
A border ‘ditch’ may prove to be the thing that brings the right back to power in Chile. Although the communist-affiliated candidate Jeannette Jara leads the polls going into this weekend’s election, a second-round run-off seems almost certain, with a consolidated right-wing alliance – running on a platform to cut illegal immigration – likely to
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Katherine Dee is the new technology correspondent for The Spectator World. She joins Freddy to discuss the phenomenon of necromancy, the practice of communicating with the dead, and how AI is fuelling it. How is technology blurring the lines between the living and the dead?
As the Gaza ceasefire struggles into its second month, a significant difference between the position of Israel and that of its chief ally, the United States, on the way forward is emerging. This difference reflects broader gaps in perception in Jerusalem and Washington regarding the nature and motivations of the current forces engaged in the
The UK Supreme Court has made a very confused ruling about whether or not Scottish courts are breaching the right to a fair trial in rape cases. Some believe this is a ‘landmark ruling’ that could, ‘trigger multiple appeals by men convicted of sexual offences in Scotland’. In my opinion the court is having its cake
Andrew Bailey recently claimed that the Bank of England has saved the government £125 billion. The Bank’s governor was responding to criticism from Reform deputy leader Richard Tice that the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street has cost taxpayers a fortune. Just weeks earlier, Reform leader Nigel Farage questioned the very idea of central bank independence, suggesting he
In 1614, the Scottish writer John Barclay published a slim Latin book with the grand title Icon Animorum, or The Mirror of Minds. In it, he marched the nations of Europe across the stage: the proud Spaniard, the scheming Italian, the frivolous Frenchman, the solemn German, the valiant but volatile Pole. It was caricature rather than anthropology,
The build-up to any Ashes series in Australia provides great entertainment all of its own. This time, as the first test in Perth draws nearer, the contributions from former players in both camps have been unsurprising and surely unnecessary, and also a trifle shrill and irritating. These criticisms can hardly help with preparations for the
The trap draws open. The long, slender bodies of the greyhounds bolt out in pursuit of the taunting, mechanical hare as a thunderous cheer erupts from the roaring crowd. But over the years, that roar has gotten quieter. Dog racing, once a form of public entertainment more popular than the cinema, is on its last
Toby Young, Spectator columnist and founder of the West London Free School, will team up with historian David Starkey to take on veteran broadcaster and author David Aaronovitch and political commentator Stella Tsantekidou. Locking horns over one of the most divisive questions in education today, they’ll go head-to-head over whether private schools are a stain on Britain’s conscience, and you can watch via
‘We’re sorry we missed you; your delivery is scheduled for tomorrow’ the email reads. Another day, another bungled parcel delivery from Evri, the 21st Century equivalent of the hapless postman. Except posties have a certain charm and Evri and its competitors – Yodel, DPD, DHL, FedEx et al. – most certainly do not. If you have ever received three text messages and two emails in the
Keir Starmer’s ‘reset’ talks between the UK and EU are continuing. Having agreed in principle to renewing the post-Brexit diplomatic and economic relationship in May, there is now negotiation over the details. Naturally enough, some of these negotiations concern money – and specifically how much the UK will pay to Brussels. Many EU programmes require
There’s not one damn thing I like about New York’s mayor Zohran Mamdani. I don’t like his politics, his religion, his flagrantly daft promises. And I absolutely hate the fact that – while not my type – he is, objectively, extremely good-looking. Aren’t there any politicians I like who look good? Is it just me,
