Why did Jacinda Ardern resign?
24 min listen
Kate Andrews talks to Fraser Nelson and the New Zealand based journalist and author Andrea Vance about the surprise announcement from Jacinda Ardern that she will be leaving the world stage next month.
Kate Andrews
Kate Andrews is deputy editor of The Spectator’s World edition.
Saturday
Friday
Should Sunak be fined over seatbelt-gate?
14 min listen
Rishi Sunak may be facing a fine from the police for not wearing a seatbelt in the backseat of a car on his tour around the country yesterday. Is this all a storm in a teacup or is there a legitimate point to the row? Kate Andrews and Fraser Nelson debate on the podcast, hosted
Inflation is coming down – but when will we start to feel better off?
Despite this week’s inflation update, broad consensus remains that the headline rate is going to fall – significantly – this year. One of those people is the governor of the Bank of England. Andrew Bailey has told Media Wales that ‘a corner has been turned’ on those price hikes, as it appears the consumer prices
Wednesday
Why is Jeremy Hunt pretending he can control inflation?
When Rishi Sunak laid out his five pledges at the start of the year, his first and most prominent one was to halve inflation in 2023. A few weeks on: how’s that going? This morning’s inflation figures would suggest not so well. Inflation fell in the 12 months leading up to December 2022 to 10.5
Tuesday
Are we too downbeat about Britain’s economy?
Economic optimism is in short supply these days – but has pessimism about the UK’s economy been overegged by the likes of Sadiq Khan? The verdict of chief executives from around the world suggests as much: Britain has been ranked in the top three markets for investment, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’s (PwC’s) annual Global CEO Survey.
Will the Scottish trans row go to court?
15 min listen
Westminster and Holyrood are going head to head on Scotland’s newly passed Gender Recognition Bill. Last night, the UK government blocked the legislation from Edinburgh, citing that the powers it gives – requiring those identifying as a different gender to only live in that gender for three months, and reducing the age of self-identification to
More Brits are looking to get back to work
Unemployment in Britain has risen again and is now at 3.7 per cent, up 0.2 per cent on the quarter. It’s a very small change in the grand scheme of things but, perhaps counterintuitively, a change in the right direction. This morning’s labour market update from the Office for National Statistics shows that while the
Monday
The markets have put the Truss mini-Budget behind them
What is the lasting impact of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget? According to Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, the big implications for monetary policy have come and gone. Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee this afternoon about the UK’s financial security, Bailey noted that the spike in both gilt yields
What will be on the agenda at Davos?
12 min listen
It’s looking like a busy week in Westminster. So busy in fact that prime minister Rishi Sunak will not be attending the annual Davos meeting, organised by the World Economic Forum. His opposite number Kier Starmer will be making the trip however, is this a shrewd move from Labour? Also on the podcast, amended plans
The real problem with Davos and the World Economic Forum
The political and financial elite are gathered in Davos in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting, which starts today. Yet before the conference has even kicked off, the narrative around it has already been crafted: the WEF will have to pivot away from the free-market and globalist outlook Davos usually promotes, and
Monday
Who cares if Rishi Sunak uses a private GP?
Rishi Sunak is absolutely right to say, in softer terms, that his family’s healthcare arrangements are no one’s business. There is a reason that one of the core tenets of the Hippocratic Oath is confidentiality: accessing healthcare is a deeply personal and private matter. That’s as true for the prime minister as it is for
Saturday
Podcast special: Britain’s role in the global economic recovery?
35 min listen
Covid 19 has been a crisis without borders. In a highly interconnected world, every country has felt the impacts of the pandemic, from supply chain disruption to low productivity and high inflationary pressures. Should the post-pandemic economic recovery be a global project? For decades, the UK has been a key player on the economic world
Monday
Podcast special: the global role of British aid
45 min listen
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine shocked the world. Whilst fighting is happening in Europe, repercussions have been felt around the globe. Disruption to trade and supply chains means a rapidly worsening outlook for international development, making it harder to reach those that need support the most. Meanwhile the UK’s Covid recovery and the growing fiscal blackhole
Monday
GDP grows – but the UK isn’t out of the woods on recession
Have the prospects of a recession been overstated? That would be the most optimistic reading of this morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics, which released the latest set of monthly GDP data showing 0.5 per cent growth in October. This is the biggest monthly rise since January, when the economy was bouncing back
Sunday
Wes Streeting and the urgent need for NHS reform
The NHS England waiting list stands at 7.2 million – and the shadow health secretary is one of them. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph today, and subsequently on the media round, Wes Streeting is speaking openly about being ‘mucked around’ by the NHS. He has been trying for months now to get a scan
Friday
Will Hunt’s ‘Brexit freedoms’ kickstart Britain’s economy?
11 min listen
James Heale speaks to Kate Andrews and Katy Balls about Jeremy Hunt’s latest proposals to reform the banking system. Will the ‘Edinburgh Reforms’ kickstart the much-needed growth in Britain’s economy? And is this the Brexit future Rishi Sunak always wanted? Produced by Natasha Feroze.
Will Hunt’s ‘Brexit freedoms’ kickstart Britain’s economy?
Rishi Sunak’s government is trying to strike a difficult balance when it comes to discussing economic growth. On the one hand, there is broad consensus that the Liz Truss days (literally… just days) had to be dismantled to regain trust with the markets and retain the UK’s ability to keep borrowing at a stable price.
Wednesday
Is it time to forgive Matt Hancock?
Over the past few months, Matt Hancock has been seeking forgiveness for his rule-breaking affair during the pandemic. And the former-health-secretary-turned-reality-TV-star has been pursuing redemption in some strange places. He’s been buried six feet underground with snakes; covered in slime, frogs and spiders; and dared to ask the harshest audience these days – the public
Monday
Might next year’s economic pain be less than forecast?
This morning’s economic update from the Confederation of British Industry doesn’t make for cheery reading – but it could be worse. The organisation forecasts that the combination of high prices and low business investment will see the UK in recession throughout next year. Having previously predicted a 1 per cent rise in GDP next year,
Friday
Sunak and Hunt’s energy windfall tax is put to the test
And so it begins. French energy company TotalEnergies SE has become the first out of the gate to announce a change of plans for investment directly linked to the energy profits levy brought in by Rishi Sunak this spring, and expanded by Jeremy Hunt. The company says it will cut back its investment plan by
