Tom Goodenough is online editor of The Spectator.
It won’t come as much as a surprise to many that Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, has backed Owen Smith in the party’s leadership contest. In July, Dugdale said that with Jeremy Corbyn in charge Labour faced being wiped out at the ballot box. As if that wasn’t a clear enough indicator of who
It’s August 2016 and the best time in human history to be alive. Well, at least that’s according to Johan Norberg, who writes this week’s Spectator cover piece on the new golden age. Never, he says, has there been less war, disease, conflict, discrimination or poverty. So why do we find that so hard to
Can Jeremy Corbyn reach out to – and win over – Tory voters at a general election? It sounds like an unlikely prospect but that’s exactly what the Labour leader pledged to do in the party’s latest hustings last night. Corbyn said that his aim is to convince people ‘by the policies we put forward…(including)
It’s August 2016 and the best time in human history to be alive. Well, at least that’s according to Johan Norberg, who writes this week’s Spectator cover piece on the new golden age. Never, he says, has there been less war, disease, conflict, discrimination or poverty. So why do we find that so hard to
Anjem Choudary’s arrogance eventually led to his downfall. He was convinced he could stay one step ahead of the authorities by picking his words carefully. Until now, that is. The hate preacher finally came unstuck when he encouraged others to join Islamic State. Yet whilst his extremist rants were always marked with an alarming confidence, his manner
Theresa May has somewhat shamefully maintained her reticence over the rights of EU workers to stay in Britain after Brexit. But some in the ‘Leave’ campaign are continuing to pile pressure on the PM to do the right thing and give assurance to the 3.5million Europeans living and working in Britain. Gisela Stuart was clear
The dawn of a new government sparks a search amongst journalists for the flashpoints and tensions within it which are likely to bubble over. Just weeks after Theresa May walked into Downing Street, the source of that potential turmoil in her Government already seems clear. And if the revelation of the Prime Minister’s intervention between Liam
Smartphone ownership is predicted to hit 2.5 billion by 2019 and 60 per cent of internet traffic now comes through our mobile devices. But does the world becoming more reliant on handheld gadgets to guide us in day-to-day life come at a price? In her cover piece this week, Lara Prendergast claims that we are
Labour has opted for Steve Rotheram to be their candidate in Liverpool’s mayoral election. It’s a big boost for Jeremy Corbyn, as Rotheram has been fiercely loyal to the Labour leader since Corbyn made him his PPS – essentially his right-hand man in Westminster – last September. He’s stuck by Corbyn along the way, and
Yesterday, it was the Chinese ambassador threatening Theresa May over Hinkley point. Today, it’s Lord Mandelson’s turn. The Labour grandee said that for the Prime Minister to ‘stretch out’ the Hinkley hold-up any further than the end of September ‘would be a mistake’. What was remarkable about Mandelson’s warning on Today just now was its
Just when it looks as though Donald Trump couldn’t go any further with causing outrage, he opens his mouth. This time, the Republican candidate appeared to suggest that gun owners could do something about Hillary Clinton if she picked Supreme Court judges in favour of gun control. Here’s what he said: ‘If she gets to
Is the tide in Germany turning against Turkey? It certainly seems to be. A poll today shows a majority of Germans favour ending the refugee deal agreed between the EU and Turkey back in March. The agreement has helped stem the flow of migrants flooding into Europe, making a repeat of the 1.1m people who arrived
Andy Burnham has won the race to be named as Labour’s candidate in the Manchester Mayoral race. The shadow home secretary’s victory was certainly convincing – he won 50 per cent of the vote amongst Labour members; interim mayor Tony Lloyd got 28 per cent, whilst former minister Ivan Lewis won 19 per cent. So what
Britain’s trade deficit – the difference between what we import and export – widened in the run-up to Brexit. Figures out today show that we imported £5.1bn more goods than we exported to the rest of the world. That gap widened by nearly £1bn between May and June, according to the ONS, in a picture
It was already clear that Theresa May’s decision to review the Hinkley Point power plant had not gone down well in China. The nuclear plant upgrade is backed by billions of pounds of Chinese money and is also intended by Beijing as a key opportunity to showcase the country’s nuclear technology. So when the delay to giving
We were warned during the referendum run-up that Brexit could be a disaster for tourism. Much of the Project Fear medicine focused on what it might mean for British tourists heading overseas; the answer could be largely summarised as all doom and gloom. Abta, for instance, warned that ‘a Brexit could…affect the flow of trade and
Theresa May has made wooing Scotland over Brexit one of her key missions. Her first trip as Prime Minister was up to Edinburgh to meet Nicola Sturgeon in order to reassure her that she was willing to listen to ‘all options’ following the referendum. It was an attempt to put out the fire started by Sturgeon in
Michael Heath, The Spectator’s brilliant cartoon editor, has been on Desert Island Discs – which is like a knighthood, but without the cronyism. He’s been talking through his illustrious career and his decades-long association with The Spectator. Subscribers know how well he draws; but his wit is a secret hitherto shared with those of us lucky
Since the vote for Brexit, the media has fallen over itself to cover the apparently large upswing in the number of ‘hate crimes’ being reported. One of the trends noted is a particularly high occurrence of such incidents in areas that voted ‘Leave’. In his Spectator cover piece, Brendan O’Neill argues that there is an
Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith have faced off in their first hustings of what has already proved to be a bitter leadership campaign. That disunity and turmoil was on display on stage in Cardiff last night. The Labour leader hit back at Smith’s dig about the ‘fractured’ state of the party by saying it was
