Home George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made it clear in a speech that he intended to cut £25 billion after the next election, with about half of the savings coming from cuts in welfare payments. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister, said that the means proposed were ‘unrealistic and unfair’ and showed
Earlier today the Chancellor gave a speech on the economy where he set up a choice for politicians: cut back on welfare, or hurt ‘hard working families’ with tax rises and cuts to services like the NHS. Here’s the full text and audio of his speech:- listen to ‘Osborne: ‘Cutting the welfare bill is the
Simon Hoggart, one of the Spectator’s best-loved columnists, died yesterday after fighting pancreatic cancer for over three years. He began writing for the magazine in the mid-nineties, and started the column for which he was most well known in The Spectator – the Wine Club – in 2001. His last column was printed in our
‘No, hang on, I tell a lie… I do like some modern art, mainly the Pointillists, Seurat, Signac, sometimes even Previati...’
‘Forgive me for being so forward, but you have the most amazing legs.’
‘Have you been out drinking like a middle-aged person?’
‘Cut down on the blubber.’
‘Nightmares, flashbacks, mood swings. Yes, I know you were in Vietnam, but that was on a package holiday last month.’
‘Serpent, Adam. Adam, Serpent. I thought it was about time you two met.’
‘You’re not going to school in that skirt, laddie.’
‘Oh, go on then — you can beat to death one more hooker, but then it’s off to bed for you, young man.’
‘You know, there may be a way to move your bizarre invention around without having to carry it.’
‘You’re forcing me to passive-give-up-smoking.’
‘Newsnight’s gone terribly downmarket.’
‘And this is how much money we’ll get if we make a complete mess of the contract.’
In one sense David Cameron is lucky that the Conservatives do not enter 2014 with a lead in the polls. If they did, the Prime Minister would be under pressure for stitching up the Fixed Term Parliaments Act with Nick Clegg, thereby denying himself the chance of doing what all strong governments have done over
