Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
I’m not superstitious, but if I was Gordon Brown I wouldn’t take much comfort in tonight’s figure for the one-month LIBOR interbank interest rate. It’s an ominous 6.66% – having fallen just 0.09 percentage points since the 25-point cut in Bank of England base rate. The more important three-month LIBOR is down a paltry 3
The Jewish Chronicle calls to explain further following my earlier post. Jenni (with an i – my apologies) had heard Abrahams might be at the dinner and had set out to corner him. But the interview in question was not that night. It had come in dribs and drabs. “We had several conversations with him,”
Amidst all this mystery about the Jewish Chronicle’s interview with Abrahams, an interesting aside springs to mind. I am told that Abrahams was a late arrival to the Anglo Israel Association dinner at the Savoy on Tuesday. For a laugh, they pointed him in the direction of all the hacks – including one Jenny Frazer
“Interest rates are cut for the first time in two years, so does that mean we can spend more this Christmas?” so runs the headline from Radio One’s Newsbeat. As so often, it cuts to the chase. The million dollar question is how will lenders respond to the rate cut? How much clout does the
The Bank of England’s decision to cut interest rates is an acknowledgment that the UK economy is in a far worse condition that Gordon Brown makes out. It’s so important, because he’s getting away with murder. His skill was not in managing the economy well, but in making people believe it had been managed well.
It seems only yesterday that Jacqui Smith was saying “I don’t know” when asked how long terror suspects should be detained without trial. Now it seems she has decided on 42 days. The government needed to reclaim the news agenda, and this was a button waiting to be pushed. Why not 56 days? Why not
Last night I was at a Policy Exchange debate where I was proposing the motion that Cameron has changed the Tory party for good. They expected 40 guests, but had 300 applications so we moved to a larger venue. Why the crowd? Part of it is this strange, voracious appetite for debate in London right
I normally review PMQs from the chamber, and conclude Brown has bombed. So I tried a TV view for a bit of balance. Labour does looks better from this vantage point. In the gallery, you can compare the volume of roars (Tories far better) and see every face (Labour glum, Tories exuberant). But on TV
Gordon Brown likes to say people will judge this government not on day-to-day scandal but its record on public services. So the OECD’s study on education is devastating. It is the world’s most comprehensive assessment of pupil knowledge and skills – and it finds that English standards have fallen between 2000 and 2006. Our 15
One of the joys of blogging is that you can take a kicking instantly from people who disagree with you. I had this pleasure yesterday when I recommended that CoffeeHousers read the Daily Mirror piece accusing David Cameron of being a snob for holding a party and then just inviting the middle-class people to stay
The monthly Cameron press conference is far more congenial than Brown’s. Coffee is offered at the door, together with biscuits made by the chef in downstairs kitchen. But for all that, it’s quite thinly attended and short (30 mins). Cameron called every journalist in the room by their first name, being utterly at ease. I
I notice how, in the full-page adverts he has taken out today, Richard Branson says his Northern Rock bailout plan will place no “additional” burden on the taxpayer. Even he does not suggest there will not be a burden – ie that the taxpayer won’t be out of pocket for a vast amount by the
On Marr, David Cameron rightly said that the question on funding is “Who Knew?” This is also the title of a song last year by Pink which has been irritatingly replaying in my head since this all erupted. For my News of the World column (not online), I put this down as one of the
Hazel Blears’s appearance on Marr provides yet another example of how Team Brown likes putting up women on TV when it’s in real trouble; perhaps, it is because the women have more guts. Anyway, she was making the case for state funding. “Politics does cost money” she says, and if the public will not supply
Having trawled the papers for a 7am slot on Sky News, I can perhaps save you some trouble. Buy The Times today: it is simply brilliant. It’s splash tells us that MI5 has confirmed that British businesses are the subject of internet espionage by Chinese state organisations. This is laden with implications, especially in an
Tony Blair’s coming conversion to the Catholic faith will not be welcomed by all Catholics. There are many in the Vatican, and the Catholic church in this country, who wonder how a politician with his voting record can be admitted to the church. ‘My First Confession’ would be a great title for Tony Blair’s memoirs.
A big winner of donor-gate is Chris Huhne. He’s been the face of the Lib Dems on this, as Vince Cable continues to hound Northern Rock. The ability to jump on a news issue is a key skill required for a Lib Dem leader, and he’s demonstrating his credentials here. Where on earth is Nick
Given that the Metropolitan Police are probably more familiar with Labour Party financing than Gordon Brown himself, this shouldn’t be a long investigation. It could be over in as little as there months. The starting point here is the end point which Yates could not get to: that a crime has been committed. All that’s
Yates of the Yard is back. So runs the delicious rumour now the Old Bill has been dragged into the donations scandal: Yates won’t run the investigation but he has been appointed the overseeing officer. And Yates has a dossier of all the donors ready. He knows this situation backwards. To help his team on
How well is school literacy doing under Labour? The international PIRLS study shows England has plunged from 3rd to 19th in the league tables between 2001 and 2006 – a staggering dropped exceeded only by Morocco and Romania. This is how well we’re preparing for globalisation. Doubling the education budget has not, after all, worked.