Budget 2014: live audio
The Spectator
Wednesday
Friday
Former Labour minister Tony Benn dies – reaction
Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour party: ‘The death of Tony Benn represents the loss of an iconic figure of our age. ‘He will be remembered as a champion of the powerless, a great parliamentarian and a conviction politician. ‘Tony Benn spoke his mind and spoke up for his values. Whether you agreed with him
Thursday
‘Oh my God! You seem to know everything about me.’
Knives
‘Apparently our new neighbours have a stage act. Probably a singing duo or something.’
Telly
‘Darling, come quickly — Clare Balding’s not on.’
Tv 5
‘High-definition TV...low-definition plot...’
Cigarettes 2
‘In my day we had sweets that looked like cigarettes. They’re banned now, of course.’
Bob 2
Policeman
‘I’m an undercover policeman, but it’s my day off.’
Witches 3
Divorce 5
Finance
‘You are declared bankrupt. Carry on like it’s no big deal.’
Sugar 2
‘Stop! It’s 11 per cent sugar!’
Why British mothers need a tax break
Next week’s Budget marks George Osborne’s last chance to make a game-changing reform before the next election. The Chancellor will have his boasts ready: he’ll say that Britain has the fastest growth of any developed country. What he won’t say is that no developed country has needed to pile so much debt onto its citizens
Spectator letters: Slavery continues to this day; and why Russia’s re-emergence as a world power is down to Obama’s apathy
Slavery isn’t over Sir: I was alarmed to read Taki’s piece in this week’s High Life (8 March) which claimed that ‘slavery… has been over since 1865, except in Africa’. The Centre for Social Justice, whose board I chair, last year published its groundbreaking report It Happens Here, exposing the desperate plight of those in
Do wars always start in years ending ‘14’?
Years of war Imaginative souls have tried to compared the situation in Ukraine with that which preceded the first world war 100 years ago. Are years ending in 14 especially violent? — 1414 saw the Polish-Teutonic war, one of a dozen skirmishes between Poland and Teutonic knights between the 14th and 16th centuries. The war
Portrait of the week | 13 March 2014
Home Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour party, promised that, if elected, his administration would hold a referendum on membership of the European Union only if there was a new transfer of power to Brussels, which he called ‘unlikely’. If Scotland votes for independence, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds might have to