Some of my oldest and dearest school friends absolutely hate reading the news. One called me up nearly a week after Rishi Sunak called last year’s election to ask if I fancied a weekend in the countryside. ‘That sounds great,’ I said ‘but you know I’m working on the election?’ ‘Oh my gosh, there’s an
27 min listen
This week: Sophia Falkner profiles some of the eccentric personalities we stand to lose when Keir Starmer purges the hereditary peers; Roger Lewis’s piece on the slow delight of an OAP coach tour is read by the actor Robert Bathurst; Olivia Potts reviews two books in the magazine that use food as a prism through
44 min listen
This week: Peerless – the purge of the hereditary peers For this week’s cover, Charles Moore declares that the hereditary principle in Parliament is dead. Even though he lacks ‘a New Model Army’ to enforce the chamber’s full abolition, Keir Starmer is removing the hereditary peers. In doing so, he creates more room, reduces the
Keir Starmer has not been the luckiest general. But, in one respect, he has bested Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington will shortly be purged from parliament, two centuries after Waterloo. Like his ancestor, Charles Wellesley has led a life of public service. For that, he will shortly receive the sack as part of the greatest
When chancellors approach a major moment like a Spending Review, they tend to have a figure in their mind’s eye – someone who embodies the type of voter they hope to win over at the next election: a Mondeo man or Stevenage woman. Rachel Reeves clearly had a very specific figure in mind for today’s
I felt a mixture of annoyance and relief when I bought my first non-disposable Elf Bar last weekend, ahead of the disposable vape ban. Relieved, because to all intents and purposes, the new vape is identical to the old one. It looks the same, tastes the same and costs the same. The only difference is
The Work and Pensions Committee’s recent safeguarding report reminded me of the worst thing about working in politics: other people finding out you work in politics. There was the wedding where four men took turns giving me 30-minute monologues on why the Conservatives lost the election (as if living through it once wasn’t enough). My
If ever there were a week for me to commit a crime, this was it. The Sentencing Council – which advises judges on how long convicted criminals should be locked up for – was poised to implement guidance that would mean that, as an ethnic minority, I stood a better chance of avoiding prison than
It was an ominous start to the day of Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement, when she had to rush out messy, last minute changes to Labour’s package of welfare reforms. To unhappy Labour MPs, this confirmed their belief that the policy is Treasury bean-counting masquerading as reform. They’re not wrong. The current trajectory was unsustainable. We
