Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

My false diagnosis exposes a key flaw in the Assisted Dying Bill

Perhaps the strongest argument against the reintroduction of capital punishment is the possibility that mistakes, once made, cannot be rectified. In the 20th century, such errors – even with legal safeguards in place – were not uncommon. Infamous cases, such as those of Timothy Evans and George Kelly, are a testament to that. It is ironic, therefore, that MPs

Should Christie’s cancel its AI art auction?

How do you define art? This centuries-old question is constantly brought back to the fore, particularly at times when artists find new ways to create. It was the case with the advent of photography in the 19th century – and it is the case with art where the process is aided or fully executed by

Why children peddle conspiracy theories

Teenagers today are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, and that is a very bad thing indeed. This was the unmistakeable message conveyed by a story in the Times yesterday. Citing a report published by the Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools, it related how ‘conspiracy theories are rife in classrooms’. Young people,

Gareth Roberts

Andrew Gwynne and the truth about WhatsApp

Labour MP Andrew Gwynne has been sacked from the cabinet, and suspended from the party, for sending ‘vile’ WhatsApp messages. Gwynne, who reportedly wrote that he hoped an elderly constituent who had complained about bin collections would die, is also said to have made antisemitic remarks and jokes about Diane Abbott. He stands exposed of

It’s time for Badenoch and Farage to talk

Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a pact with Reform. The Tory leader told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Nigel Farage has said that he wants to destroy the Conservative Party. ‘So I’m not…I have been given something very precious. I am the custodian of an institution that has existed for nigh on 200 years…I have to look

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Have Kemi Badenoch’s first 100 days been a success?

18 min listen

Kemi Badenoch has been Conservative Party leader for 100 days. Her party is fighting for survival, and she faces an uphill task greater than many of her predecessors: Reform UK surging in the polls, a depleted talent pool of just 121 MPs, and the hangover of 14 years of Conservative rule leaving her hamstrung on

Steerpike

Nick Robinson hacked in crypto-scam

Just what is going on at the BBC? It was only a fortnight ago that Laura Kuenssberg was ‘hacked‘ ahead of the launch of her new show. And now it is the turn of a second Beeb bigwig to suffer the same fate, apparently at the hands of another crypto scam. Nick Robinson, the star of

Tom Slater

Don’t cancel Andrew Gwynne

The police are coming for your WhatsApp groups. And if that doesn’t strike terror into your heart, you’re not using WhatsApp properly.  The hapless former health minister and Labour MP for Gorton and Denton, Andrew Gwynne, hasn’t just been sacked by Keir Starmer for his offensive messages about pensioners, Mossad and Diane Abbott. He’s also been reported to

Steerpike

Second WhatsApp scandal MP suspended

Another day, another Labour drama. Now a second parliamentarian involved in a rather distasteful WhatsApp group has been suspended after former minister Andrew Gwynne was sacked at the weekend over his rather strange message exchanges. It transpires that Oliver Ryan, MP for Burnley, has this afternoon had the whip removed after it emerged he was

The Spectator is hiring: US Online Editor (London)

Join The Spectator’s expanding team as our US Online Editor and work with the best British journalists, authors, critics and cartoonists. As US Online Editor you will work closely with the senior editorial team in the UK and US to commission, edit and publish Spectator articles covering the United States. You will take charge of daily output –

Steerpike

The Labour lawyer love-in with the ECHR

With Sue Gray gone, one might have expected the Labour government’s infighting to have subsided. But there is a new public enemy now: Richard Hermer KC. The Attorney General has caused quite the commotion during his time in the top job, with questions raised over his links to Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial Chagos deal, his

Why do so many gay men support the AfD?

‘There are many neighbourhoods we can no longer go to because we are in danger of being injured, attacked or murdered,’ Ali Utlu tells me. As a gay German man of Turkish extraction and an ex-Muslim, he’ll be voting for the hard-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party in the German elections later this month. And he’s not alone.  A survey of more than

Keir Starmer and the lost art of political oratory

31 min listen

From Churchill to Thatcher to Blair to Farage, Parliament has seen some truly fantastic rhetoricians over the years. But last week came the news that – in a bid to improve his own oratorical skill – Keir Starmer employed a voice coach: former actress Leonie Mellinger. Mellinger has been at the centre of a fresh

The hitch in Trump’s plan for Arctic dominance

There is an ‘icebreaker gap’ between Russia and the United States. For decades, the Soviet Union and now Russia have recognised that icebreakers not only allowe their remote northern settlements to be resupplied by sea but also ensured that the waters north of this vast country were navigable. Moscow can boast that it has a fleet

Steerpike

New Labour minister believes people can identify as llamas

Dear oh dear. In the last hour, Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Ashley Dalton MP to replace Andrew Gwynne as health minister – after the latter was sacked and suspended over the weekend over some rather offensive message exchanges. But it would appear that Dalton is not without her skeletons either. Mr S can reveal

Mark Galeotti

Has Putin picked up the phone to Donald Trump?

So, did they speak? How often? What about? The very coyness around the question of whether Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone – Trump says so, maybe more than once, while the Kremlin is neither confirming nor denying – suggests that pre-discussion discussions on the war in Ukraine are indeed already taking

Why won’t Ireland take in Palestinian refugees?

Oh, what a tangled web we weave. When Donald Trump made his rather provocative claim that the US would expel all Palestinians from Gaza and turn the region into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’, international condemnation came thick and fast – matched only by the confusion of world leaders. Did the President of the United

James Heale

Have Kemi Badenoch’s first 100 days been a success?

Leader of the opposition is regarded by many as the worst job in British politics. Peter Hennessy called the post ‘a transit camp – to either glory or oblivion’; Denis Healey quoted The Odyssey, saying it was better to be the ‘meanest swine heard on earth’ than ‘king of all the shadows’. Denied Whitehall’s legions

Trump’s tariffs could kill Europe’s steel industry

So, it seems that Donald Trump wasn’t bluffing after all. On his way to the Superbowl, the president made time to impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the United States, ramping up a trade war that has been looming ever since he moved into the White House last month. Speaking

How Hamas used starvation as a weapon of war

We asked for proof of deliberate starvation in Gaza. On Saturday, we received it. The images of Eli Sharabi, Or Levy, and Ohad Ben Ami – three hostages released by Hamas after 491 days in captivity – were haunting. Frail, skeletal, barely able to stand, they bore the unmistakable marks of prolonged deprivation. The sight

Jake Wallis Simons

What happened to William Dalrymple?

At first impression, William Dalrymple is flying high. This patrician historian of British-Indian relations, who celebrates his sixtieth birthday this year, presides over his own literary festival in Jaipur and has amassed more than a million followers on X (many of them hailing from the subcontinent). In recent years, he has grown to become a

Gavin Mortimer

Is a ‘Trump tornado’ about to tear through Europe?

There is a wind of change blowing through the West. It emanates from Washington DC, where Donald Trump continues to dash off executive orders; more than fifty by the end of last week, the highest number in a president’s first 100 days in four decades. The liberal mainstream media is rattled. The New York Times

A baby phone ban is long overdue

Crucial brain development in the first few years of life depends on the ‘serve and return’ interaction with parents and carers; baby talk, storytime and games. Sitting in front of a screen is one-way traffic: a child is only in receive mode. Maybe that’s why we are seeing the terrible impact of excessive screen time

How can we develop AI that helps, rather than harms, people?

In every technological revolution, we face a choice: build for freedom or watch as others build for control. With AI the stakes couldn’t be higher. It already mediates 20 per cent of our waking hours through smartphones, automated systems, and digital interfaces. Soon it will touch nearly every aspect of human existence. While AI promises

In defence of Sandie Peggie

A few days ago I was alerted to a new mental health campaign video for the NHS service Mind To Mind. ‘Life is full of ups and downs,’ the clip started. Cut to a middle-aged woman looking out of her window, a little fraught, but then resiliently donning a colourful bobble hat before leaving her

Donald Trump is right to pity Prince Harry

Say what you like about President Trump – and people very much do – but there is little doubt that, at the outset of his second term, The Donald has behaved like a man in a hurry. Not a day seems to go past without a blizzard of executive orders closing this and shuttering that,

Does a ‘new golden age’ beckon for the US and Japan?

Perhaps the first thing on everyone’s minds was just how low Ishiba Shigeru, Japan’s Prime Minister (who prefers warships to golf clubs) could go on a round at the Trump International Golf Club. After all, following Trump’s victory last November, Ishiba’s South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol, was seen sharpening up his golf swing in

Why does Labour loathe ordinary people?

The jaw-dropping contempt dripping from the reply suggested by Labour’s sacked health minister Andrew Gwynne to a 72-year-old lady in Manchester who had complained about her bin collections may seem shocking but is scarcely surprising. In a WhatsApp chat with Labour councillors, Gwynne proposed to respond with: ‘Dear resident, F*** your bins. I’m re-elected and

Patrick O'Flynn

Labour is doomed under Keir Starmer

Voters simply haven’t taken to the party leader and that’s becoming impossible to ignore. Presenting the public at the next election with a figure they don’t like, rate or agree with would be madness. So at some stage a new leader will have to be installed. There are certainly some mutterings to this effect in Tory

I’m sick of fare dodgers on the Tube

Go to any tube station at rush hour in London. Literally any. Then wait by the barriers and watch. Within 60 seconds it’s likely you’ll see at least half a dozen young men (it’s almost always young men) barge their way through the barriers without a care in the world. No one is shocked anymore