Thanks to this ComRes poll, the question floating around Westminster this morning is: how much?! You see, with only a day to go until the AV referendum, it has the No camp on 66 per cent, and the Yes camp on 34. That puts No a punishing 32 points ahead of its rival. Even allowing
The death of Osama Bin Laden may be a very arresting punctuation mark in the conflict against tyranny — but the conflict continues nevertheless, not least in Libya. The latest news from the country is that the rebels are maintaining their fragile hold on the port town of Misrata, although Western agencies are still struggling
“It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission. They might alert the targets.” There have been few blunter, nor more high-profile, condemnations of Pakistan’s intelligence operation than that made by Leon Panetta, the CIA chief, in interview with Time magazine today. And there are plenty of other noteworthy
The covers of our newspapers are emblazoned with Bin Laden this morning — but it is an article in a US newspaper that really catches the eye. Pakistan’s President, Asif Ali Zardari, has written an op-ed for the Washington Post that defends his country’s role in the struggle against Al-Qaeda. It’s a defence that has
After the events of today, the video above has fresh resonance. It is from the first presidential debate in 2008, and features Barack Obama defending his previously stated view that “if the United States has Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, top level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we
We have already seen Barack Obama’s statement on the death of Osama Bin Laden. Below is more reaction from across the world: David Cameron: “The news that Osama Bin Laden is dead will bring great relief to people across the world. Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the worst terrorist atrocities the world has seen
Here’s a map that I’ve put together of the area where Bin Laden was discovered and killed. The red point is his suspected residence, the blue and green points are Pakistani military centres. You can, of course, zoom in, out and around the image, as well as click on the points for captions: View A
The manhunt is over, as is the man. After almost a decade since 11 September 2001, a decade of the Afghan conflict, Osama Bin Laden is dead. The Al Qaeda leader was shot by US forces, not in a dusty cave complex in the mountains, but at a large house north of Islamabad. Announcing the
You thought Barack Obama had finished with Donald Trump by releasing a copy of his long-form birth certificate? Not nearly. At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night — video above — the US Pres took every opportunity he could to bait his bouffant-haired baiter. From the tongue-in-cheek music video that kicks of proceedings —
We’re used to AV platform-sharing by now — so it’s not the fact that Chris Huhne has written an article for the Observer alongside Labour’s John Denhan and the Green’s Caroline Lucas that shocks. It’s the words he then puts his name to. “Britain consistently votes as a centre-left country and yet the the Conservatives
There are, as James pointed out earlier, only five days to go until the AV referendum — and that means both campaigns are priming their final appeals for our hearts, minds and votes. So just what will those appeals look like? Today has brought some indication. As Paul Waugh reveals over at PoliticsHome, the Yes
I said a few days ago that the spirit of James Purnell lingers over the welfare debate in Britain. Well, you can now scratch out “spirit”. The real-life, corporeal version of Purnell is giving a speech in Australia today — and, judging by its write-up in the Guardian, it is one that should have some
I was planning on collating today’s sunny newspaper covers for Coffee House — but Tim Montgomerie has beaten me to it. So let’s, instead, turn our attention away from the Royal Wedding, and on to Libya. A striking thing has happened there this morning: Gaddafi has called for a ceasefire, and for negotiations between his
It is just under thirty years since Prince William’s parents, Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, were themselves married in St Paul’s Cathedral. Below are two Spectator articles relating to that wedding. The first is the Spectator editorial from the time, the second an essay by Auberon Waugh on the lessons to be drawn
Crude politics has intruded on the Royal Wedding after all, and all courtesy of Peter Hain. The Shadow Welsh Secretary has complained — on Twitter, naturally — that the BBC’s coverage of the event dwelt too long on David Cameron and Nick Clegg, and ignored Ed Miliband. “BBC airbrushing Labour like the Palace?” he asked
Perhaps it’s the pageantry of the occasion, but it does feel like one of those days for looking back as well as forward. In which case, we’ll have a double dose of Royal Wedding-related archive posts today, of which this is the first. And what a doozy it is, too: The Spectator’s editorial on the
This, it has to be said, is not much of a day for politics. Although the world’s laser-like attention will be focussed on Westminster, it will not be on the operations of our Parliament or its actors, but on Westminster Abbey and the marriage, of course, of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The cameras might
I know, I know, it’s deeply unromantic to anticipate tomorrow’s Royal Wedding through the prism of opinion polling. But as no one ever said that a political blog has to be romantic — and as there are some quite noteworthy findings among all the data — we thought we’d put together a quick round-up for
He may no longer be an MP, but the spirit of James Purnell lingers on. It was, after all, the former Work and Pensions Secretary who introduced the Employment Support Allowance as a replacement for Incapacity Benefit in 2008, with the idea of encouraging people – the right people – away from sickness benefits and