Labour’s worrying creep back towards the EU
In Labour’s manifesto this year, Keir Starmer cannily sought to reassure any Brexiteers out there by ruling out a return to the…
Boris is right: we need a referendum on the ECHR
Nobody should be surprised that Boris Johnson favours a referendum on leaving the ECHR, as his book now makes clear. Boris…
Why tuition fees should go up
The fees English universities are allowed to charge home students in England are fixed by government fiat. At £9,250 per…
Labour’s two-tier prison plans
There are not many women in prison, but those who are inside show worryingly high rates of mental illness, suicide…
Why the cost of replacing Britain’s border fleet has soared to £300 million
The fleet of border control cutters responsible for patrolling our waters (and at times for dealing with irregular migrants on…
Labour is in denial about our bad universities
Our universities are in a mess. Too many degrees lack intellectual quality and utility, and leave those doing them with…
Scrapping one-word Ofsted verdicts is a mistake
The decision to scrap one or two-word Ofsted inspection grades for England’s schools is good news for teachers – but…
Starmer may regret an outdoor smoking ban
It’s a curious political world. Few who voted Labour last month actually wanted Labour policies, or for that matter had…
The worrying return of non-crime hate incidents
The longer it continues in office, the more reactionary and beholden to vested interests this government turns out to be.…
Louise Haigh’s LTN policy is doomed to fail
The Labour party is in a bind over cars. Its instincts – collectivist, green, managerialist – strongly favour anti-car measures…
Are too many young people going to university?
University hopefuls trepidatiously opening their official A-level emails this morning will on the whole be happier than last year. All…
Will a social media crackdown really stop future riots?
The riots of 2024 will be remembered for many things. One of them is the way the establishment spectacularly closed…
Why Britain must say no – again – to China’s ‘super embassy’ in London
The previous Tory government may not have been very successful in containing the global ambitions of China, but at least…
24-hour courts are risky, but right
Yesterday evening, the government instituted a little-known procedure called the Additional Courts Protocol. Set up following the 2011 London riots,…
Does Labour care about free speech on campus?
Universities fought tooth and nail against plans to impose fines if they failed to uphold freedom of speech. That proposal…
Letting the worst universities collapse would be an act of kindness
Nobody said much about it before the election, but the new government inherits a ghastly financial problem with the higher…
Just Stop Oil fanatics deserve their lengthy jail terms
The prison sentences passed on the Just Stop Oil protesters who immobilised the M25 – five years for Roger Hallam…
Have the Republicans resolved their abortion dilemma?
The botched assassination attempt on Donald Trump could well generate a wave of sympathy that helps waft him into the…
How Hungary’s presidency could shake up the EU
Life in the Berlaymont building, the Brussels headquarters of the European Union, just got a bit more surreal. A striking…
Unesco’s Stonehenge threat isn’t worth taking seriously
If you gaze south from the sarsens of Stonehenge, your view at present is of a constant crocodile of cars…
Assange is released – but there is still a danger to press freedom
James Cleverly may now be a care-and-maintenance Home Secretary, but even so he will be heaving a sigh of relief…
The Supreme Court has put the future of fossil fuel projects in jeopardy
‘Britain is evolving from a democracy towards a kritarchy – the rule of lawyers,’ wrote Ross Clark in today’s Spectator magazine. His…
Reform’s radical manifesto would do wonders for democracy
In this election, neither Labour nor the Tories are particularly interested in serious constitutional reform. By contrast, there’s one smaller…
Cosying up to the EU would do Britain more harm than good
If anyone thought our relations with the EU since the Brexit referendum would be a respectful dialogue of equals, they…
Why the EU is cracking down on Hungary’s migrant policy
We are set for another high-profile tussle between Budapest and Brussels. Yesterday the EU Court of Justice chose to impose a…
