The Tories need a new purpose
One of the things that distinguishes Boris Johnson from the last three Tory prime ministers is that he has a…
Can booster shots help Britain avoid another lockdown?
For weeks now, ministers have been getting increasingly frustrated by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s failure (JCVI) to back…
Boris’s premiership is entering a dangerous new phase
The announcement of a tax increase for both workers and employers to fund more spending on health and social care…
Why didn't Tory MPs oppose Boris's tax hike?
Boris Johnson has just announced his plans to increase National Insurance by 1.25 per cent for both workers and employers…
Why isn't the vaccine UK approved for 12- to 15-year-olds?
This afternoon, the JCVI has essentially passed the buck on vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds. It has declared that the health benefits…
The Tories aren’t in party mood
Nearly two years on from the general election and 11 years since the Tories took office, they remain comfortably and…
How China tried to suppress the lab leak investigation
The lead figure in the World Health Organisation’s work on the origins of Covid-19 has givena remarkable interview to Danish…
How to burst the grade inflation bubble
The Tories regard a return to rigorously marked exams as one of their big achievements in education. In 2010, the…
Why Biden will not change tack on Afghanistan
Afghanistan will be a stain on the Biden presidency. His decision to continue with a US withdrawal from the country…
When will exams get back to normal?
It wouldn’t be credible to say that this year’s A-Levels grades are comparable with 2019’s: almost 45 per cent of entries…
The problems posed by booster shots
It is already known that there will be a campaign of booster shots in the UK this autumn to boost…
The China challenge has no precedent
The US has never been more worried by the rise of China than it is today. In my Times column…
Don’t pick a fight with the SNP
Since the Holyrood elections in May, the campaign for Scottish independence has been noticeably quiet. But that is about to…
Should Britain be vaccinating teenagers?
Last week there was acute concern in government about the country’s re-opening. Would restrictions need to be reimposed when schools…
The problem with not vaccinating teenagers
In the last week, the number of people testing positive for Covid has dropped by 36 percent. A fall in…
The tax-and-spend Tories
When you ask a government minister why something hasn’t happened, you get a one-word answer: ‘Covid’. It has become the…
How do the Tories stop the rise of an ever-bigger state?
When Gordon Brown raised National Insurance in 2002 to put more money into the health service, it was seen as…
Can Boris crack the unwhippables?
‘Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won,’ wrote the Duke of Wellington after…
Whitty's lockdown warning will trouble Boris
In a Science Museum webinar yesterday, Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, warned about the increasing number of people in…
The rise of the unwhippable Tories
When the government announced a Commons vote on its decision to cut the foreign aid budget from 0.7 per cent…
Sajid Javid says restrictions could return after ‘freedom day’
In another sign of the government’s more cautious approach to the July 19 unlocking, Sajid Javid has just told the…
The long list of problems waiting for the Tories after 19 July
The long-awaited easing of restrictions will not be the triumphant moment that many expected back in May. The Delta variant…
Boris Johnson's survival rests on reforming Whitehall
More than 40 years after it was written there are still lines in Yes Minister that are painfully accurate about how…
Freedom day will usher in new problems for the Tories
The next few weeks in politics will be dominated by the 19 July reopening, and whether hospitals can cope with the…
The cold reality facing Sajid Javid
The most difficult time for a new secretary of state is normally the first three months in the job. An…
