This is tonight’s Evening Blend email, a free round-up and analysis of the day’s political events. Sign up here. Today in brief The SNP’s Angus Robertson accused David Cameron of ‘effectively taking part’ in the war in Yemen by selling arms to Saudi Arabia. David Cameron accused Jeremy Corbyn of being prepared to ‘give away’
David Cameron is today expected to urge leaders to ease trade rules between Jordan and the EU to help with the Syrian refugee crisis. During his trip to Davos, Cameron will call for changes to spur economic growth and employment in neighbouring countries to Syria. Where might he have got this idea from? In August, Paul Collier –
‘This duck’s a bit rubbery.’
‘I’m on strike so a locum will have to make my mistakes for me.’
‘And now Glenn Miller’s Not In The Mood.’
‘I remember when all this was skyline.’
‘Honestly, some of the nonsense they expect you to fall for!’
‘Sorry, retinal screening is next week.’
‘You any idea where they keep the art in this place, Geoff?’
‘We aren’t drinking anywhere near enough for our age!’
Borderline case Sir: Alex Massie (‘The painful truth for Ruth’, 9 January) correctly identifies the challenges facing the Scottish Conservatives. But he is wrong to say it will ‘never’ be the moment for a Tory revival. Tax devolution is a game-changer. For the first time in years, the Conservative party gets to fight a Scottish
Treatment for that once-virulent condition, the British disease of strikes, has largely been successful. The number of working days lost to industrial action in the first ten months of last year was the second-lowest since records began. Pay and conditions have been relentlessly improving. Since the Winter of Discontent in 1979, the average worker’s disposable
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that, on Britain’s place in the European Union, ‘what I would like to see is a deal in February, then a referendum that would follow’. The pound sank to its lowest against the US dollar since 2010, after Britain’s manufacturing sector shrank unexpectedly by 0.4 per cent in
The first prize of £100, three prizes of £25 and six further prizes of the Chambers Dictionary of Great Quotations (2015) go to the following. The first four prizewinners also each receive a bottle of champagne. First prize Andrew Dymond, London SE24 Runners-up Mrs P. Bealby, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland; David Norwood, Puddletown, Dorset; Roderick Burgess, Cantsfield, Carnforth
The grid quotation was from the JOURNEY OF THE MAGI (T S ELIOT). Initial letters of superfluous words spelled out ‘Heap on more wood, the wind is chill / But let it whistle where it will / We’ll keep our Christmas merry still’, from MARMION (Sir Walter SCOTT). Unclued works by these authors were the
In this week’s issue, James Forsyth reveals the strategy that David Cameron will use to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU. He’ll campaign not just on the economics, but on security – arguing that Britain is safer as part of the EU collective: safer from the Russians, safer from terrorism. Isabel Hardman, the new
From ‘The Position of the Government’, The Spectator, 15 January 1916: Any man who knew the nature of Englishmen, or rather, let us say, of the English-speaking race, during war, would have been able to foretell that an enactment to compel shirkers to do their duty would be certain of something like universal acceptance… Our