World
Polanski confirms run for Starmer’s seat
The Green party’s resident tit-whisperer, Zack Polanski – formerly Dave Paulden – looks set to take on Labour in the…
The day the Today programme lost the plot
I never wanted to be one of those grumpy ex-BBC types who write articles with headlines like ‘what has happened…
Marine Le Pen’s Muslim headscarf ban is popular, not populist
Marine Le Pen has promised to ban women wearing Muslim headscarves if she becomes president next year. The leader of…
‘Clean cocaine’ isn’t worth it
Cocaine has a tendency to get the press all aflutter. So it’s probably no surprise that the Daily Mail had a splash earlier this summer with…
When will Scottish nationalists come clean about devolution?
The Programme for Government – picture a dour, cheapo version of the King’s Speech – is an annual statement by…
Andy Burnham is about to face a hard lesson
There was a cautious cheer for Andy Burnham as he stood up for his first PMQs. MPs were perhaps cautious…
Burnham can’t blame Sunak for Britain’s bond woes
At Prime Minister’s questions today, Andy Burnham was pressed by Kemi Badenoch on the sharp rise in government borrowing costs…
Burnham can’t keep being a people pleaser
Andy Burnham had a reasonable first outing at Prime Minister’s Questions today. He didn’t flounder, but he didn’t make it…
No. 10 refuses to condemn Diane Abbott’s Nato conspiracy rant
The imminent threat from Russia is a NATO fiction to justify their complete capitulation to Trump’s demands for more military…
Burnham says yes, yes, yes to Labour’s Summer of Sex
One of the biggest criticisms levelled at Andy Burnham is that he simply cannot say no. Every campaign, every demand…
Fixing depressed kids is a near-impossible business
As a young Emergency Department doctor, I developed a spiel for the kids who came in with mental health problems.…
Sadiq Khan is the victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice
Who – at least among those of a Conservative mind — didn’t feel a pang of pleasure at the news…
The war on Maureen Lipman
I see even national treasures aren’t safe from the petulant, punitive tantrums of the irritant left. Witness the travails of…
Badenoch promotes top Jenrick backer
With the shadow cabinet reshuffle completed, Kemi Badenoch is now turning her attention to the junior ranks. One of the…
Giving 16-year-olds the vote would be absurd
It is not always easy to guess what lasting effects a prime minister will have. With Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement…
Gordon Brown is wrong about a united Ireland
Gordon Brown spent much of his political career arguing passionately that Scotland should remain within the United Kingdom and that…
I am a persecuted human rights icon
Thursday night, New Orleans. I have flown in from Los Angeles for work and am walking off the jet bridge,…
Andy Burnham’s ‘triple helix’ is bizarre, meaningless guff
Andy Burnham was at the government despatch box for the first time in nearly 17 years, having had the sort…
How is Burnham different to Starmer?
What is Andy Burnham really going to do that’s different from his predecessor? When he made his first address to…
Is Ceuta the beginning of the end for Pedro Sánchez?
Spain’s socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has accused social media networks linked to Israel and Russia of spreading misinformation that…
Burnham should drop the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill
Now that parliament has returned, the government has questions to answer about its approach to the legacy of the Northern…
The Middlesbrough carnage is just the beginning
The much-missed Rod Liddle, who knew Middlesbrough so well, would have had exactly the right words to describe the aftermath…
Sir Keir Starmer resigns from parliament
The great and principled man of the people, Sir Keir Starmer, is to stand down as an MP. Despite repeatedly…
The great teacher shortage is turning into a crisis
In recent years, it seems we have become stuck in a state of permacrisis. Headlines are dominated by the cost-of-living…
The SNP’s food price cap bill is stupid and cynical
If the first job of a government is national security the second probably ought to be food security. Odd, then,…
