Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

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

Mark Galeotti

Will the assassination of another Russian general change anything?

Friday morning, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik was heading out from his flat in Balashikha, a commuter town east of Moscow, when a car bomb exploded, killing him. There can be little doubt this is an operation by Ukrainian intelligence, another example of their capacity to launch skilful targeted assassinations in the heart of Russia. But

Melanie McDonagh

The Pope’s funeral was symbolic of the man

The funeral of Pope Francis is perhaps his last chance to set his mark on the papacy. The ever so slightly pared down ceremony today is symbolic of the man, as were so many of his other ways of being pope. It will be difficult for Francis’s successor to return to the more ornate habits

Why are MPs turning a blind eye to ‘two-tier’ policing?

Does Britain have a ‘two-tier’ attitude towards policing? The Home Affairs Committee, made up of 11 Tory, Lib Dem and Labour MPs, is dismissive of the suggestion. ‘It was disgraceful to see the police officers who bore the brunt of (the) violence being undermined by baseless claims of ‘two-tier policing’, its report, published earlier this

What is more worrying than war between India and Pakistan?

This week, jihadist gunmen killed 26 tourists. For some reason Islamist diehards, supported by their stooges in British universities, did not pour onto London’s streets with their heads wrapped in kaffiyeh. I wonder why? Perhaps it was because the tourists killed were Indians not Jews or Caucasians, and the place was Pahalgam, a picturesque village

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How Trump could reverse America’s baby bust

Over the past few weeks, the White House has been considering a range of ideas to boost America’s falling birth rate: a $5,000 (£3,756) ‘baby bonus’ to new mothers, programmes to educate women on their menstrual cycles, a ‘National Medal of Motherhood’ for women with six children or more. Trump has pledged to be the

Can Pete Hegseth remain at the Pentagon?

The moment the Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s nomination for defence secretary, the Pentagon community knew it was in trouble. One horrified defence official said at the time: ‘He may have been educated at Princeton and Harvard, but does he know anything about running a huge organisation like the Pentagon? No, he doesn’t.’ As

How Mao haunts China

Imagine a time traveller from Mao Zedong’s China – say a Red Guard  – landing in a Chinese city today, nearly half a century since Mao’s death in 1976 brought the Cultural Revolution to an end. Picture her in baggy unisex khaki and blunt bob, gaping at women her age prancing past in heels and

Svitlana Morenets

Zelensky counters Trump’s surrender deal

I open the calculator on my phone to count how many civilians have been killed in Ukraine over the past five days. The number 38 stares back at me. I hope I haven’t missed anyone. An apartment block in Kyiv. A five-story building in Pavlohrad. A bus in Marhanets. Russian missiles and drones found Ukrainians in their beds, on their way to work or school. In Kherson, the

Is a Scottish visa the answer to Scotland’s workforce crisis?

There aren’t many politicians calling for a rise in immigration to Britain at the moment, but you can count on the SNP to be different. Today the party’s Scottish visa bill had its second reading in the sparsely-populated Commons, with sponsor Arbroath and Broughty Ferry MP Stephen Gethins spending 50 minutes elaborately making the case

Milei freed the peso. Argentina’s economy survived

It was Argentina’s ‘liberation day’, Javier Milei proclaimed last week after meeting US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the Pink House, Argentina’s presidential palace. On Friday, he had shocked the country by lifting the cepo – ‘clamp’ in Spanish – which has restricted currency trades in South America’s second-largest economy for so long. ‘After 15 years of capital

We don’t need a crackdown on killer cyclists

Wayward cyclists watch out: Keir Starmer is coming for you. The government has announced a crackdown against bikers who kill pedestrians. The offence of ‘careless cycling’ is to be punished with a potential two years’ imprisonment if someone is injured, five if they are killed. With ‘dangerous cycling’, the punishment could be up to five

Lisa Haseldine

Is the US getting closer to a Ukraine deal?

US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Russia this morning to meet with Vladimir Putin, as Donald Trump ploughs ahead with his plan to secure a peace deal in Ukraine by hook or by crook. This is the pair’s fourth meeting in nearly as many months. Putin and Witkoff are expected to discuss Trump’s final

Steerpike

Tory peer backs total nicotine ban

The generational smoking ban is (slowly) making its way through parliament, as part of Labour’s plan to ban nicotine purchases for anyone born after 1 January 2009. The plans – first announced by Rishi Sunak – are being eagerly pushed through by Wes Streeting, despite Mr S pointing out a potential breach of the Windsor

Steerpike

Jenrick: Give Kemi a break

Former Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has caused quite a stir this week, after a recording leaked to Sky News suggested the frontbencher had ambitions of his own to ‘unite the right’. The clip ruffled feathers as commentators suggested the Conservative MP was in favour of doing a deal with Reform UK – something that

Is Robert Jenrick on manoeuvres?

17 min listen

Despite this being the week that Kemi Badenoch finally showed some steel in PMQs, it’s Robert Jenrick who has been stealing the headlines. That’s for lots of reasons – mainly his comments about a potential Tory Reform pact, which he clarified on Good Morning Britain this morning, saying: ‘Kemi Badenoch and I are on exactly the same

Steerpike

Anti-gender ruling MSP faces vote to sack her

All is not well in Holyrood. At the weekend Green MSP Maggie Chapman sparked outrage after she condemned the Supreme Court judgment that backed the biological definition of a woman. Appearing at a trans rights rally, Chapman fumed about the ‘bigotry, prejudice and hatred’ coming from the highest court in the land – before denouncing

Spain’s defence spending boost pleases nobody

Just a week after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Spain to spend more on defence, the country’s socialist prime minister, has unveiled a massive defence development initiative costing over ten billion euros (£8.5 billion). This new plan raises Spain’s defence budget from a mere 1.4 per cent of its GDP, the lowest amongst Nato’s

Gavin Mortimer

What Pope Francis got wrong about illegal migration

Migrants have been pouring into the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa this month. Over 100 on Monday and 344 on Wednesday; the previous week 269 landed, and at the start of April more than 1,000 arrived in a 48-hour period. They are Eritreans, Ethiopians, Sudanese, Guineans, Moroccans, Syrians, Malaysians, Somalis and Senegalese but the three nationalities

Do young Australians still care about Anzac Day?

Today is Anzac Day, arguably the most solemnly sacred day in the Australian calendar. At dawn on this day in 1915, as part of an Anglo-French operation, men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on a rocky beach on Turkey’s Gallipoli peninsula in the face of murderous fire from Turkish defenders. Many

Will India strike back after the Kashmir terror attack?

India is bracing for a potential military confrontation with Pakistan after a deadly terrorist attack on tourists in India-administered Kashmir left 26 people dead, triggering a wave of national outrage and sharpening regional tensions. The assault – described by authorities as the deadliest attack on civilians in the region in recent years – claimed the

Ross Clark

The EU’s new travel rules won’t stop illegal migration

Like it or not, for ordinary people, Brexit is about to make itself felt in a way which it has not done so far. MEPs have finally given their approval to the EU’s much-delayed Entry and Exit System (EES), which will now be introduced over a six month period starting in October. It means that

Trump should be allowed to address Parliament

Labour MPs have been busy this week. No, not running the country – but voicing their opposition to Donald Trump’s state visit. Diane Abbott, Nadia Whittome and Clive Lewis are among 17 parliamentarians campaigning to ensure the US President isn’t allowed to address the Houses of Parliament. Their Early Day Motion rehearses various criticisms of the President

The African cardinal who terrifies Macron

Cardinal Robert Sarah from Guinea in West Africa has been named among the potential successors to Pope Francis and the prospect is sending a jolt through the French establishment. He has accused the West of betraying its Christian roots and described mass migration as a form of ‘self destruction’. He has spoken of immigration as

Steerpike

Pirates beseige maritime minister over ferries farrago

It’s not just the SNP who can’t sort out their ferries. A new row has broken out much further south over the failure to provide affordable transport to the 140,000 residents on the Isle of Wight. The local Tory MP Joe Robertson is leading the charge over rocketing ferry prices, which mean a return trip

‘Vladimir, STOP!’ – Trump is being humiliated by Putin

Theodore Roosevelt was a believer in speaking softly but carrying a big stick. But where does that leave Donald Trump, who today resorted to all-caps plea, or perhaps demand, that Putin ‘STOP!’ his offensive operations against Ukrainian cities – yet backed up his entreaty with precisely nothing?  ‘I am not happy with the Russian strikes on

The danger of banning face coverings at protests

As the government’s Crime and Policing Bill makes its way through parliament, MPs on the Public Bill Committee are scrutinising its clauses today – including, potentially, Clause 86. If passed, this provision will make it a criminal offence to conceal your identity at a protest. For some people this may sound sensible enough. But for dissidents