The Week
Portrait of the week
Home In an extraordinary wrangle between government departments, the Treasury accused Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, of ‘making things up’…
Letters
Gasbags Sir: Seb Kennedy tells us that, like Covid, our looming energy crisis came from China (‘Power grab’, 9 October).…
Aristotle and transphobia
Professor Kathleen Stock of Sussex University is accused by a group of students of being transphobic and a danger to…
The wrong premise
Coronavirus may have fallen out of the news cycle but the threat of the virus has certainly not passed. Britain…
Diary
I’m on a book tour which involves 65 speeches in 60 days in Britain, Washington, Philadelphia, Virginia, Mexico, California and…
Barometer
Wrong place, wrong time The name of the village of Nelson, north of Cardiff, was described as ‘problematic’ in an…
A binary choice
It’s a strange reflection of our times that with so much else at stake, the leaders of both main parties…
Portrait of the week
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said he did not think Britain was in a crisis; he wanted it to…
Letters
How to stay safe Sir: Mary Wakefield is correct to highlight the opprobrium heaped on anyone who suggests sensible safety…
Absurd plots à la Bond
So James Bond is back, doing exactly what he always does, inviting the audience into a fantasy world for the…
Barometer
Whole-life sentences How many prisoners are serving whole-life sentences? — There are currently 74 prisoners in prison with whole-life tariffs;…
Diary
The rhythm of the big party conference leader interviews is a strange one. First come days of slow, repetitive, detailed…
Barometer
Scummy idea Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called Tories ‘scum’ in a speech to activists at her party’s conference. The…
Portrait of the week
Home The crisis of the week was a shortage of fuel at garages. ‘There is no need for people to…
Letters
Parish problems Sir: Emma Thompson draws attention to a serious problem in the Church of England (‘Power to the parish’,…
In search of refuge
Hardly a day goes by without headlines about immigrants, asylum-seekers and refugees. In the ancient world, movements of people were…
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…
Diary
I am just back from my final salmon fishing trip of the year. I have never had a worse season…
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…
Barometer
Seeds of change The Chelsea Flower Show opened in autumn for the first time, delayed thanks to the pandemic. The…
Portrait of the week
Home To prevent a shortage of meat, which relies on carbon dioxide in its packaging, the government gave millions of…
Letters
Driving force Sir: As a long-distance UK lorry driver I am very aware of the issues raised by Rodney Pittam…
Power struggles
Why are cabinet ministers Liz Truss and Dominic Raab squabbling like children over access to grace-and-favour Chevening? Because they know…
Diary
As the cross-Channel ferry noses into Ouistreham, I have a perfect view westward along the D-Day beaches. The excitement of…
An immigration amnesty
Many feared mass unemployment as a fallout from Covid-19. Instead, we have ended up with the opposite problem: a labour…
