All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
I was lucky (or unlucky, depending on your sensibilities) to be in a prime spot for Saturday’s royal wedding. Wearing my BBC producer hat, I worked on the huge outside broadcast on the Long Walk in Windsor. Thursday and Friday was all bunting, dogs sporting union jack collars and the Household Cavalry rehearsing. I interviewed
Until a few days ago, reporting of the almost completed Crossrail project had been focused chiefly on the impact of the new Elizabeth Line on local house prices, ‘Still time to buy into Acton’s Crossrail hot spot’ being a typical example. Now we learn that the project’s much repeated if slightly fudged claim about being
John Bercow has finally spoken out over reports alleging that he called Andrea Leadsom a ‘stupid woman’ in the Chamber on Wednesday. In a statement to the House, the Speaker admitted using the word ‘stupid’ but refrained from saying whether he had also used the accompanying words ‘woman’ or ‘f—— useless’. Bercow insisted that he
‘Trump Make Israel Great’ reads the banner on the deserted hotel next to the new American embassy in Jerusalem. Unlike most of the world population, Israelis regard the US President as a big improvement on Barack Obama. In government, his decision to move the embassy here from Tel Aviv has elevated him to near godlike
Oh dear. Although Theresa May’s divided government is currently in a state of deadlock over Brexit, the Prime Minister can at least take heart that the Tories aren’t the only party experiencing difficulties here. This morning Barry Gardiner was the victim of a car crash interview on the Andrew Marr show. With Marr on sick
Thanks to a weekend of nationwide jubilation over Prince Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle, politics has – for once – taken a backseat. However, there’s one story in the Sunday Times that is still likely to cause mild alarm: ‘Tory MPs prepare for snap autumn election as Theresa May hit by Brexit deadlock’. The paper
Yesterday, while the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was in full swing, Sarah Smith met with the Shadow Chancellor at the Labour party’s annual State of the Economy conference. McDonnell gave a speech at the conference promising to crack down on poor auditing practices that had contributed to the downfall of the
Watching Nick Clegg, Nicky Morgan and David Miliband sort of launching what might one day become a sort of new centre party amid a granary-full of Tilda rice in Essex, I realised why we still need the Labour party. Despite their equation of themselves with rationality — Sir Nick’s office advertises itself online under the
The following letter appears in this week’s Spectator I was touched by the sad article by Matthew Parris, in which he just cannot get over his horror at Brexit (‘Brexit has driven me mad, but I can’t let it go’, 12 May). Can I suggest a few things that might help him recover? First, he might
Inspiration for the latest challenge came from across the pond, courtesy of the Washington Post’s Style Invitational column, whose regular neologism-themed contests are always a blast. You were asked to take an existing word and alter it by a) adding a letter, b) changing a letter, and c) deleting a letter — and to supply
This week, Theresa May got her Brexit inner Cabinet to agree that, in the event of no trade deal being in place by December 2020, the UK would continue to apply the EU’s common external tariff. In The Sun this morning, I try and explain why Brexiteers aren’t kicking off about this and the other
Well, a star is born. I refer to the Rt Rev Michael Curry, bishop of that vanishingly rare breed, the American Episcopal Church, who stole the show at the royal wedding. Anyone who can make Elton John look like that – sort of a nonplussed toad – and generate barely suppressed mirth in the congregation
As previously mentioned in my Spectator Notes, the Guardian has not adapted well to tabloid form. I feel particularly sad about its Review section on Saturdays, which were the fullest books pages in Fleet Street and well understood how to be broadly left-wing without becoming doctrinaire and therefore unliterary. Now tabloid, the Review has boiled itself down
Controversy raged this week over whether calling an angry, white, right-wing man a ‘gammon’ is racist. The insult is first recorded in Charles Dickens’s novel Nicholas Nickleby in 1838. But what of people really called Gammon? — There are about 2,500 Britons with that surname, which originated in Cornwall. Their politics are not all right-wing: in the
Gaza has a galvanising effect on Europeans. Jeremy Corbyn, for example, appeared to have no consolatory words for France after last week’s Islamist knife attack in Paris, yet on Monday he posted messages on Twitter and Facebook expressing his disgust with Israel. Likewise in France, the far-left, curiously quiet whenever there’s a terrorist attack on their
How long can John Bercow hang on for as Speaker of the House of Commons? In recent months, he has come under pressure to resign his position amid allegations from former parliamentary staff that he bullied them. Adding to that, today Bercow has found himself the centre of a fresh row over his alleged behaviour.
This week Rod Liddle took over the London Palladium for one night only. Mr S’s colleague and comrade spoke to a sold out audience about his approach to writing and politics – as well as his managerial style at the BBC (clue: not legal). For those readers unable to bag a ticket, Mr S is pleased
It’s fair to say that Labour’s Emma Dent Coad is no fan of the Royals. The MP has backed the abolition of the monarchy and ran into trouble last year after poking fun at Prince Harry’s military record. It comes as little surprise then that Dent Coad won’t be watching tomorrow’s Royal Wedding. But instead
After almost five months without a government, Catalonia finally has a new leader. Quim Torra won a second-round investiture vote this week to take the helm of the region’s separatist government. Unfortunately for Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, Torra’s pledge is the same as his exiled predecessor’s: to pursue an independent Catalonia. The Catalan secessionists
Ahead of the abortion referendum in Ireland next week, there’s a newspaper advert doing the rounds on Twitter. Printed in the Irish Daily Star earlier this week, it reads: “Men protect lives. It is impossible to look away. As a parent, uncle, grandfather we have a bond that can never be broken. Vote No to
If some Conservative voters are reluctant to support the expansion of towns and villages, Liz Truss has a warning for them. “It’s a lot less uncomfortable having the field next to your house built on, than it is having your property appropriated by a bunch of Socialist-Marxists,’ said the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. She
Diane Abbott tried to go on the attack on Question Time last night, by suggesting that one of her fellow panellists has said that victims of knife crime in London were all drug dealers. The shadow home secretary said: ‘It’s really not true to say that every young person that gets stabbed in London is
In this week’s episode, we talk about Italy’s new coalition – what will the Five Star and Lega partnership mean for Italy and for Europe (00:35)? Journalist Peter Oborne and politician Stephen Crabb also get in a fiery debate about whether Conservative Friends of Israel are a little too friendly (12:00). And, on a slightly
It’s good to see that for all their bickering over Brexit and war of words over austerity, the Tories and Labour are firmly united on one point of view: that the poor must be saved from themselves. That the wretched are incapable of making sensible choices and therefore their betters must step in and make
A professor of black studies, Kehinde Andrews, has claimed the monarchy will do all it can to ensure Meghan Markle ‘passes for white’ when she marries Prince Harry. According to Andrews, ‘the only way she can be a princess is to downplay her blackness.’ In the same discussion, one of his students agreed: ‘She can’t
What’s the German for ‘The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley’? Mezut Özil (Arsenal) and İlkay Gündoğan (Manchester City) are two of the finest footballers in England’s Premier League. They’re both of Turkish descent, so when Turkey’s president Erdoğan came to London on a state visit, a friendly meeting and a photo
Racing is an expensive sport to stage. Courses and grandstands have to be maintained, health and safety regulations have to be observed. Human and horse ambulances have to be provided, turnstiles have to be manned and, to maintain the ‘integrity’ of a much gambled-on sport, stables have to be guarded, and photo-finish and race-patrol cameras
This is an extract from Robin Oakley’s racing column of 3 March, 2018. You can tell by the tone of the jokes how most occupations are regarded and we’ve all heard the traditional ones about the old enemy. ‘Why don’t sharks attack bookies?’ ‘Professional courtesy’. ‘Why did God invent bookmakers?’ ‘To make used-car salesmen look
The last time we had a royal wedding of comparable dynastic importance (i.e. only a bit important), Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson, in 1986. The Spectator of those times, which I was editing, carried almost nothing about it. The only piece was a television review by Alexander Chancellor, complaining that ‘The royal family are at the moment
Oh Israel, why must you do it? Why must you make such an almighty balagan of these things? Hamas is out to provoke you and you are evidently in the market for provocation. Would it kill you to step back and find a way of resolving a crisis that doesn’t involve dead Palestinians and international
He’s making the most of it before he gets the push. The Speaker chaired one of the longest-ever sessions of PMQs today. It lasted nearly an hour. He opened proceedings with a ceremonial speech welcoming a handful of visitors to the chamber. They thought they’d come to watch parliament but Bercow knew better. They were
Yippee! Now I can finally take a train to Scotland without putting money into Richard Branson’s pockets. This afternoon’s announcement by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling that the franchise on the East Coast mainline is to be taken back into the government’s hands returns the railway to the position it was in between 2011 and 2015.
The stramash between Theresa May’s government in London and Nicola Sturgeon’s ministry in Edinburgh over the need for the devolved parliaments to consent to the UK government’s EU withdrawal bill is, as the wags say, the world’s most boring constitutional crisis. So much so, indeed, that many voters in Scotland – to say nothing of
Benedict Cumberbatch has a reputation as one of Britain’s finest actors. The Sherlock actor has won plaudits across the world. He is also politically engaged – previously ranting on-stage about the government’s response to the refugee crisis following a performance of Hamlet at the Barbican. According to the Daily Mail, Cumberbatch let it be known