All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Where did it all go wrong for Volkswagen? The German carmaker is said to be planning to shut several factories and lay off thousands of staff. Workers who do keep their jobs could see their pay cut by as much as ten per cent, according to VW’s top employee representative, Daniela Cavallo. If the revelations
The evening of 2 June 2019 is something of a ‘sliding doors’ moment in my life. I had just read a column in a local arts magazine called The Skinny, written by a notorious gender identity activist. In it, the columnist justified violent action against lesbians at Pride marches, defending tweets in which they had
Sir Keir Starmer is known to detest leaks – but what about when it is the Prime Minister leaking himself? Watching Starmer’s big speech this morning, Mr S was perplexed to see the Labour premier confirming reports that his Chancellor intends to hike the national bus fare cap on Wednesday from £2 to £3. Shurely
What now? This is the question on everyone’s lips here in Tokyo after a dramatic general election which looks to have inflicted a potentially grievous wound on Japan’s eternal party of government. The Liberal Democratic Party (known as Jiminto) led by the barely broken-in new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba lost its overall majority, even if
Are the details of the alleged £22 billion fiscal black hole about to be revealed? In addition to providing assessments and forecasts for the UK economy alongside the Chancellor’s Budget on Wednesday, the Office for Budget Responsibility is also set to publish its ‘review’ into Rachel Reeves’ claim that the Tories covered up a multi-billion
The Central Bank of Russia raised its benchmark rate to a twenty-year high of 21 per cent on Friday – and has indicated that it could go even higher. Even Vladimir Putin, a notorious serial boaster, won’t be caught bragging about this tell-tale sign of a not-so-healthy economy. The writing is on the wall: Russia
The prisons are bursting but it seems there is room for at least one more convict. Tommy Robinson has today been jailed for 18 months after admitting contempt of court by repeating false claims against a Syrian refugee. Robinson admitted ten breaches of a High Court order made in 2021 during a hearing in Woolwich
Keir Starmer has given up trying to define what a ‘working person’ is after last week’s debacle, announcing at the start of his pre-Budget speech today that working people know who they are. The Prime Minister said: ‘I know some people want to have a debate about this, and I know there will always be
They’ve handed over the Chagos Islands and are up for talking reparations. So what else of Britain’s heritage is Labour prepared to surrender? An obvious case, perhaps, is the Elgin Marbles, whose fate briefly became the subject of a major diplomatic incident involving Rishi Sunak and his Greek counterpart late last year. At PMQs, the-then
Could Rachel Reeves’s ‘black hole’ be filled not through tax rises or even spending cuts but rather through getting an extra two million people into work? That is the claim this morning made by the Jobs Foundation, a think tank set up by Matthew Elliott, now Lord Elliott, who formerly ran the Taxpayers’ Alliance. Raising
I have a question for Sally Rooney. Why are you perfectly happy to engage with cultural institutions in the UK, despite the various mad wars us Brits have waged in recent years, but you dodge like the plague cultural institutions in Israel because Israel is fighting a war in Gaza? Rooney, the celebrated Irish author
The news that came out of Georgia late on Saturday was as saddening as it was predictable. For weeks, the country’s ruling party, the Russia-aligned Georgian Dream (GD), were advertising that they saw no alternative to staying in power following the rigged parliamentary election – promising a ban on opposition parties and even ‘Nuremberg trials’. If there is
It’s Budget week in Westminster. Over three months after Keir Starmer triumphed in the general election, his Chancellor Rachel Reeves will this week set out the direction of the Labour government for the coming years in her first ever Budget. It’s fair to say that expectations are relatively low – with the Prime Minister himself
Following this weekend’s fraughtly awaited election ‘results’ in Georgia – as important for the country’s direction as any since the end of the Cold War – a potentially explosive situation is developing. While exit polls suggested the Georgian Dream (the incumbent, pro-Kremlin party) would gain no more than 42 per cent to the collective opposition’s
In 2012, as the Islamic Republic showed signs of buckling under the weight of US and EU sanctions, Senator John Kerry spearheaded a series of backchannel meetings with his Iranian counterparts to begin exploring the deal that became the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an arms reduction agreement between Iran and western nations in
Labour has promised that, come what may, they will not be increasing taxes on ‘working people’. Well, jolly good. Those of us who work for a living will tend to welcome such a promise. So will hedge fund managers, who go to work every day, and the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and the lawyers
As the dust settles on the latest confrontation between Israel and Iran in the Middle East, the nature of the Israeli strikes against Tehran this weekend is becoming clear. It is a mark of the extent to which clashes between these two regional powers have become normalised over the last six months that the details, rather
After a miserable few days involving a diplomatic row about reparations at the Commonwealth summit in Samoa, Keir Starmer will have been hoping for a more positive start to this week ahead of the Budget on Wednesday. Alas, it appears not to be. Tonight the Labour party announced the suspension of Mike Amesbury, after CCTV
Tel Aviv In attacking Iranian military sites this weekend, Israel broke through its fear barrier. For years, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have planned to strike Iran using aircraft but they have always backed out at the last minute. IDF war planners feared the worst-case scenario: downed planes, pilots captured and Israeli citizens hung as
The Tory leadership contest looks set to end next week without a single ‘yellow card’ being awarded. But the two remaining candidates seem to be making a late bid for a reprimand from Bob Blackman. Both Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch have this morning traded verbal blows with each other, four days before polls close
Coverage of the death of Chris Kaba – and the acquittal of the police officer Martyn Blake tried for his murder – has raised more troubling questions about editorial decision-making at the BBC. Kaba was shot dead during an armed vehicle stop in south London on 5 September 2022. Because Kaba was black, it appears the BBC’s
Turkey has been rocked by the disturbing news of the arrest of a so-called ‘newborn gang’ which is accused of being responsible for the death of multiple babies. According to an Istanbul prosecutor’s indictment, healthcare workers in both state and private hospitals allegedly arranged the transfer of newborns to intensive care units in private hospitals, as
Ahead of the Commonwealth summit in Samoa, Keir Starmer told the travelling press pack that he wanted to look forward rather than have ‘very long endless discussions about reparations on the past.’ Rather than discuss the possibility of payments to Commonwealth countries to apologise for Britain’s historical role in the slave trade, Starmer wanted to
In Christian countries, it’s typical to put things off until ‘after Christmas’ when the new year begins. In Israel, the equivalent is ‘after the festivals’. The Jewish autumn festivals begin with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year followed by Yom Kippur and the eight-day festival of Tabernacles, Sukkot. Throughout his career, Netanyahu’s talent has been
So. Farewell then the Women’s Equality party. Founded to much fanfare by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer in 2015, the self-proclaimed ‘intersectional feminist organisation’ has decided to push for its own abolition at a special conference next month. It comes after a decade of stunning electoral success that saw them win a single seat in Hampshire in
A 57-year-old man was gored and killed during the bull running through the streets of Vall d’Uixo (population 31,000) in Spain last weekend. It was the third goring in three days in the town. In 2023 a total of eight people were killed by bulls in Spain during such events; the year before 23 died. In 2023 more than
On Saturday, Israel launched a retaliatory strike against Iran which targeted around 20 military sites across the country, using over 100 combat aircraft. This was an unprecedented operation by Israel against Tehran – in both its breadth and depth. Israel’s aim was to degrade and deter. And in the process, it has reminded the world
The UK isn’t the only place which has been toying with the idea of introducing a ‘generational’ tobacco ban. Rishi Sunak’s bill that would ban sales to anyone born after 1 January 2009 was taken over by Labour following the election, but now it is Russia that is debating a similar measure. The Ministry of
For the last decade, the Duterte family has been known throughout the Philippines as almost untouchable – respected, feared, and seen by many as above the law. Take Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs when he was president of the Philippines. Despite a bloody crackdown, Duterte remained largely unchallenged both domestically and internationally during his