Leading article
Dishonest mistakes
On 20 May 2020, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement on social media which summed up the conditions in the…
Counting the costs
Two and a half years into his premiership, Boris Johnson has enjoyed no more than a month of that time…
Johnson vs Johnson
It is two years since Boris Johnson achieved one of the most remarkable election victories in modern history. The large…
Party’s over
In normal circumstances, no one would care if staff in No. 10 held a Christmas party. But last year, Boris…
Salvation army
Last week, the government published its blueprint for how it intends to remodel the army. According to the plan, it…
The cost of Boris
Earlier this week, the Conservative party sent an appeal to its registered supporters asking them to become members. ‘We’re delivering…
Asylum isn’t working
Emad Al Swealmeen, who blew himself up in a taxi outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, is not believed to have…
Acts of remembrance
On the advice of doctors, Queen Elizabeth II will not attend this year’s Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall.…
Cold comfort
The COP26 summit is unlikely to be an outright flop. There has been no shortage of drama, with speakers seeming…
Sunak’s surprise
The Conservative party has always sold itself to voters as the party of low taxation, but it has now pushed…
Zero strategy
The commitment to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 is the most expensive government proposal in modern history. Yet it…
The wrong premise
Coronavirus may have fallen out of the news cycle but the threat of the virus has certainly not passed. Britain…
A binary choice
It’s a strange reflection of our times that with so much else at stake, the leaders of both main parties…
Lights, camera, traction
There’s a great revival under way in the British TV and film industry, but it’s not the BBC that’s behind…
Step on the gas
Britain is caught in an energy crisis of the government’s own making. It is true that gas prices have spiked…
An immigration amnesty
Many feared mass unemployment as a fallout from Covid-19. Instead, we have ended up with the opposite problem: a labour…
Emergency exit
For 18 months, the government has held power over us as never before in peacetime. The emergency powers granted by…
Doctor who?
Nye Bevan famously said that he was only able to persuade family doctors to support the creation of the NHS…
The protest test
The concept of normality has been so disrupted over the past 18 months that the Extinction Rebellion protests — usually…
Recovery position
At the start of this year, Britain looked as if it would be the first major country to vaccinate its…
Office politics
After seizing so much power during the pandemic, Boris Johnson’s government is having trouble working out where its remit now…
The mild West
An athlete seeking sanctuary in a foreign embassy after a state–sponsored attempt to spirit her home from the Olympics; a…
The new insularity
There is something bizarre about a sporting event designed to bring people and nations together but from which spectators have…
On the cards
Back when Boris Johnson was on a mission to stop identity cards being used in Britain, he made a very…
The bigger picture
There are two certainties whenever England’s football team plays; one that is long-established and the other a recent phenomenon. Players…
