All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The junior doctors’ dispute has been characterised by a series of extraordinary claims by the BMA. At one time the union claimed that doctors were going to suffer a real-terms pay cut of 26 per cent – a claim debunked by the respected Channel 4 Fact-checking team. A pay calculator on the BMA website which claimed
Savers are wasting a fortune by keeping their money in cash only. They may as well be burying the £735 billion they’ve collectively put by in a sock in the back garden for all the good it’s doing them. The figure was revealed by investment platform Selftrade, which also found that 62 per cent of
Millions of internet users face costs of up to £60 a year to keep their email address if they switch broadband provider. Others risk losing their account altogether if they switch. This is according to Thisismoney.co.uk which reports that BT is tripling the amount former customers will have to pay to keep their BT email address when
Jeremy Corbyn’s enemies within the Labour party are known to be dreaming about a time after his leadership. But why aren’t his opponents doing anything about getting rid of him? According to former Labour party advisor John McTernan, they should do it sooner rather than later. Speaking on the Spectator podcast this week, McTernan said:
These days the BBC can’t seem to get anything right. On top of regularly riling Brexit-ers with ‘EU bias’, the corporation has been accused by some — including former BBC pol ed Nick Robinson — of showing anti-Corbyn bias. Now they can add a new one to their list; anti-Green Party bias. Yes, Green Party MEP Molly
Downing Street has spent the past 24 hours trying to clarify David Cameron’s links to an offshore fund set up by his late father, which never paid tax in Britain. Initially, Downing Street said this was a ‘private matter’, Cameron was then asked about the matter, and said ‘I own no shares, no offshore trusts,
Something odd happened at the Guardian on Monday as the paper’s editorial staff were basking in the glow of their just-published splash about the Panama papers. They were understandably excited, having sat on the revelations for months, and were about to put flesh on the bones of the stories that had broken on Sunday evening
Washington DC In La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Monday night, Donald Trump said, ‘If we do well here, folks, it’s over.’ He was right in theory. There were signs that the billionaire’s crusade against the Republican party establishment and the plutocrats who run it might find an ear in Wisconsin. The state has an industrial working
Today, thousands of doctors lay down their stethoscopes in a valiant defence of the state religion. More than 5,000 operations have been cancelled as a result of the latest walkout, which begins at 8am and will last 48 hours. If their placards bear the truth, those striking believe they are sacrificing themselves unto the throes of poverty for
Proof, if proof was needed, earlier this week that property prices in the capital are out of control. Research by Savills estate agents found that house prices in the London commuter belt increase by more than £3,000 for every minute the property is closer to the city by train. What’s that you say? £3,000? Per minute?
It’s a red-letter day here at 22 Old Queen St: Miles Goslett’s exposé of Kids Company has just been named Scoop of the Year. The awards, by the London Press Club, differ from the others in that you can’t nominate and you can’t pay to enter: the shortlist is drawn by a distinguished judging panel. It’s
Last Saturday, on 2 April, 9-year-old Bonnie Armitage was killed by a kick from a horse. This tragic accident could have happened anywhere – at the yard, at a pony club camp, on a fun ride – but as it happened, it was at the closing meet of the Cotswold Hunt. This last aspect of the accident
Oh dear. With Sadiq Khan leading the polls ahead of the upcoming London mayoral election, Zac Goldsmith has his work cut out when it comes to convincing swing voters to vote blue. As part of this, the Old Etonian needs to show that he has a firm understanding of Londoners’ needs. Alas, his efforts hit
Jeremy Corbyn has launched Labour’s local election campaign today with the promise that his party will stand up to the government, and the claim that it is being effective in doing so. He said: ‘Now, being in Opposition is never easy, I think we all know that. But Labour in Westminster has proved you can
Some people seem to want to discuss their sex lives on television, as in the show Sex Box. Couples are interviewed before and after they have tried something new, right there in the studio (although hidden from view). This week, the couple were close friends, and were trying out being lovers for the first time. The interviews are
It was unfashionable of me to write in praise of George Osborne on Budget day. I did so, you may recall, because ‘at least we have a finance minister who’s always on the front foot’: I wanted to make a contrast between our Chancellor’s relentless activism in pursuit of his political goals, and the supine
‘We cannot have a situation where the banks are able to privatise their profits and nationalise their losses,’ declared Vince Cable in 2008 in the midst of the banking collapse. But steel companies? That is a different matter. Cable has demanded that the government take on the pension liabilities of Tata’s British employers in a
For football fans, June 10th – the day Euro 2016 kicks off – is likely to be a more exciting prospect than June 23rd – when Britain votes on whether to stay in the EU. But could lovers of the beautiful game see English football become unstuck in the event of Brexit? Richard Scudamore, the
If you’re not familiar with the nuances of the insurance industry (and quite frankly, who is?), then the name Flood Re may seem odd. It’s the moniker given to a new government-backed scheme designed to help homeowners in flood-stricken areas reduce their insurance premiums. Launched yesterday, Flood Re is the first of its kind in the
Hardly anything is less likely to keep people reading than to mention an exciting evening in Toronto. But stick with me. Because last Friday night in Toronto there was a debate (organised by the Munk debates, which can be watched in full here) on the great migration crisis which pitted Louise Arbour and Simon Schama
Don’t speak ill of the dead and all that – but, after Zaha Hadid’s sad, premature death at 65, we’ve only had oceans of praise. Over the last few days, the usual suspects, Richard Rogers and Anish Kapoor, have weighed in to testify to her genius and charm. Well, they would praise Hadid, wouldn’t they? They
The weather has rarely been out of the news over the past few months following devastating flooding across the country. Today there’s a glimmer of hope for homeowners as Flood Re gets underway. Under the terms of this new government-backed scheme, people who live in areas susceptible to flooding should be able to access cheaper home insurance. The
As the London mayoral race heats up, Sadiq Khan has gone on the offensive when it comes to the cost of public transport under the Tories. The Labour candidate — who promises a four-year fares freeze if elected — says that when it comes to value for money, things have got so bad that a luxury transatlantic
This hasn’t been a good week for the government. As I say in my Sun column today, it has been oddly off the pace in its response to Tata’s decision to sell off its UK steel plants. We have had the absurd sight of the Business Secretary flying to Australia and then turning round and
In March, Zac Goldsmith was named the most ‘pro-business‘ London mayoral candidate in a ComRes poll. According to the survey, 65 per cent of Londoners think Goldsmith is pro-business, compared with 39 per cent for Sadiq Khan. However, despite this vote of confidence in Goldsmith’s approach to business, a closer look at the Conservative mayoral candidate’s
Behold, the Tweet that banned the internet. Has it really come to this? Evidently so. It is necessary to laugh at Greater Glasgow Police and you’d be advised to do so while it remains legal to do so too. Doubtless this latter consideration is simply the result of an administrative oversight but we must make
The biggest mistake in politics is to judge a policy by its intentions, not its ayesults. The Living Wage sounds like it’s helping those at the bottom: the over-25s are on £7.20 as of today, up from £6.70 under the old minimum wage. Within four years, it will be over £9. So a massive pay
‘We would fight them, slaughter them,’ Aadheen told me. ‘The moment we take a pill we would stop thinking about anything.’ The pill he’s referring to is Captagon, an amphetamine that’s said to fuel some of the brutality associated with Isis. In November last year, Turkish authorities seized 11 million Captagon pills on the Syrian border. In the same
Meet Boris Johnson, Britain’s new chief trade negotiator. I admit it is an effort to imagine Boris in that parish, haggling with dry regulators over technical barriers to trade like phytosanitary rules and mutual recognition of standards in nuclear engineering. Yet Boris has great aspirations for Britain’s future trade deals, and his gusto is certainly
It’s April Fools’ Day but a raft of price hikes due to come into force today are no laughing matter. As workers welcome the introduction of the new mandatory National Living Wage (NLW), a slew of changes to taxes and household charges will mean fewer pounds in people’s pockets. Among the cost increases are water bills, up
Have you seen the internet meme which suggests that Donald Trump’s ‘divisive’ rhetoric helps Isis gather support and grow in size? It’s been getting a lot of likes and shares, possibly because it contains an element of truth. Certainly Isis seems to buy into the idea, which is why they featured The Donald in their triumphant post-Brussels
Hardly a day goes by without some hen-brained millennial student telling us that something that we’ve enjoyed for centuries has suddenly become racist. The Rhodes statue. The bronze cockerel from Jesus College, Cambridge. Sombreros. Kimonos. Native American headdresses. The Cultural Appropriation Brigade has now decided that dreadlocks cannot be worn by white men.We know this because a
During Ed Miliband’s time as Labour leader, he was subject to opposition from MPs in his own party as those in other parties. In fact, Miliband couldn’t even rely on his own family for unconditional support, with his brother David — who had lost out to Ed in the Labour leadership election — seldom praising his performance. Still, at least Ed
Terrorism is a distraction. It’s a distraction from the big question of our day, about Islam and violence. Only a tiny minority of Muslims affirm that sort of violence. A far larger proportion of Muslims condone another, vaguer sort of violence. It is this that we must confront. I mean the violence of theocracy. Theocracy