All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
By any measure, the free schools programme has been a resounding success. If you judge schools by how much progress their pupils make between the ages of 11 and 16, free schools occupy the top five positions in the most recent league table and eight of the top ten. That’s pretty remarkable when you consider free schools comprise
Our hapless Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, can’t even fly to Samoa without another international British embarrassment breaking out. The latest is an angry accusation from Donald Trump’s campaign that Labour is committing the crime of ‘election interference’ in the United States. ‘The British are coming!’ screamed a typically camp Trump-Vance official press release last night.
What has become of Sue Gray, the Prime Minister’s former Downing Street chief of staff, who was rather unceremoniously removed from her official duties earlier this month? At the time of her defenestration, there was much soothing talk about how she was moving to an important new role as Keir Starmer’s envoy on a new
King Charles and Queen Camilla flew to Samoa for the Commonwealth leaders’ meeting early on Wednesday, after completing their visit to Australia the previous day. Not, however, without again being confronted by the historic grievances of Aboriginal community leaders. It was a disgraceful display of look-at-me exhibitionism, but Monday’s one-woman disruption of the King and
It is getting to the point where I am dreading going online. For I know the minute I open my laptop I will be exposed to the grimmest images of human suffering. The internet is awash with dead Palestinians. Their broken bodies clog up social media. Their ashen remains get thousands of shares. ‘Look at
America is retreating from the world stage. The country’s senile president appears absent from the dramatic events unfolding in the Middle East. Joe Biden urged Israel not to go into Rafah; to abstain from taking on Hezbollah; and to forgo retaliatory strikes against Iran. At every stage, the Israeli government followed its own counsel and
The second round of Labour’s early prison release scheme saw around 1,100 inmates released on Tuesday – and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is insistent that she wants this emergency release to be the last. As Mr S wrote earlier, a rather interesting range of jailbirds were let out early today – including convicted drug dealers,
Some experts believe that Donald Trump is on course to win a bigger share of the African American vote in 2024 than any previous Republican presidential candidate. You can’t trust experts. A number of highly-informed pundits made the same prediction in 2020 – and Joe Biden ended up winning 90 per cent of black voters
With a week to go until Rachel Reeves’s first Budget, Andrew Bailey has today sounded a note of gloomy caution. Speaking at a Bloomberg event in New York, the Governor of the Bank of England channelled the mythological Cassandra, whose warnings were accurate, but ignored. He told his audience today that ‘Cassandra was fated by the
On 20 June 2019, President Donald Trump rescinded an order he had given for a military attack on Iran in retaliation for the shooting down of a long-range Global Hawk surveillance drone. He decided that a missile strike on Iranian military bases (which might cause casualties) would have been disproportionate. Global Hawk was unmanned. No American
You may have thought that the Scottish government had abandoned gender metaphysics after the collapse of the ‘Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill’ last year. Think again. The SNP government appears to be heading back down the non-binary rabbit hole. This week it issued official guidance to public bodies suggesting that they should record public identities under no
September’s tranche of early releases did not go as smoothly as the government might have hoped. Footage of delighted prisoners celebrating outside jails, or saying ‘I’m a lifelong Labour voter now’ will, no doubt, resurface in Reform’s local election campaign videos in the spring. Then there was Amari Ward, the man who allegedly sexually assaulted
The second round of prison inmate releases is taking place today, with over one thousand people walking free from their institutions early. The jailbirds have been warned to be on their best behaviour this time – after the first release resulted in gleeful criminals popping champagne corks over freedom day coming early. But despite warnings
Paddington has an official passport. The makers of the new Paddington film Paddington in Peru revealed this in passing to the Radio Times today. They needed the passport for scenes in the new movie, presumably showing Paddington clearing customs on his journey back to darkest Peru. So they approached the Home Office for a facsimile, which is odd in
Yesterday brought the news that the police officer accused of murdering Chris Kaba in 2022 had been acquitted. Racial justice groups have long criticised the Met police over the matter and on Monday evening, protestors once again took to the streets outside the Old Bailey to demand justice for the 24-year-old. But protestations about the
Kemi Badenoch MP keeps being compared to Margaret Thatcher. But the truth is she has taken on the persona of a different, though equally familiar, character this week: the boy who calls out the Emperor with no clothes. In this case the Tory leadership contender is saying the inconvenient truth that absent fathers are compromising
On the 15 November Xi Jinping will mark the 12th anniversary of his becoming general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party – the sixth paramount leader in China since Mao Zedong established communist rule in 1949. One of the consistent features of Xi’s rule has been China’s hostility to India. People’s Liberation Army incursions across Indian
Another month, another batch of prisoners released early. Today marks the release of the second tranch of offenders as part of the government’s plan to ease overcrowding in jails in England and Wales. The 1,100 prisoners released on licence today have sentences of five years or more but will have spent just 40 per cent
Samoa is a land of sunburnt shorelines and majestic waterfalls. It is a Pacific paradise that, in a perfect world, should be left unsullied by the geopolitical machinations of larger states. But despite its small population and remote location, it is playing host – alongside other island nations scattered across the South Pacific – to
With just over a week left until the Tory leadership race concludes, the endorsements are rolling in. While a selection of new backers have rowed in behind Kemi Badenoch in recent days, Robert Jenrick’s campaign has not been devoid of last minute supporters. His former boss Suella Braverman has today announced she will be supporting
Some thought Rachel Reeves’s experience at the Bank of England meant she ‘knew how to run the economy’. She would keep an iron grip on budgets and demand value for money. The reliability of her management of the Treasury would unlock a wave of support from global finance. Ahead of the election, Reeves, along with
There is a big danger in today’s government borrowing figures for September being a little less bad than was expected by many observers. It will lead to claims that the Chancellor has enjoyed a ‘windfall’ prior to next week’s Budget, therefore lessening the need for spending cuts. No, there is no windfall. Until recent years,
Since 2010, British police have shot dead 30 people. This works out at an average of around 2.1 people per year. In two consecutive years – 2012-13 and 2013-14 – not a single person was fatally shot by police in the UK. In 2023-24, the last period for which we have full data, it was two; for
ITV are searching for an ‘AI expert’ to ‘create TV shows, films and digital content’, and to use this possibly baleful new algorithmic technology for ‘character development’ and ‘ideation’. The successful applicant will be ideating away for a tidy salary of up to £95,000 per annum. AI could be a game-changer for TV and film,
What is the point of a short prison sentence? David Gauke will no doubt think carefully about that question now that he’s been confirmed as the chair of the long-awaited Sentencing Review. Launched by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), it aims to provide ideas for a new framework of sentencing across England and Wales that
The Tory leadership contest will wrap up in less than two weeks and members have been busy casting their votes over the last few days. While there is frustration across the party about the lack of membership polling data available, Mr S is rather intrigued by what attentive users on Mumsnet think of Robert Jenrick
Today, over a thousand offenders will walk out of jail early as part of the government’s ongoing emergency scheme to ease the pressure on our crippled prison system. This time at least officials have dropped the pretence that no dangerous criminals will walk free earlier than a judge decided they should serve. Goodbye just deserts,
Is a major scandal over the sale of Newcastle United to a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund about to engulf the club? And perhaps cause embarrassment to some high-profile politicians too? Leaked WhatsApps sent by Amanda Staveley (the businesswoman who helped negotiate the deal) made the front page of the Daily Telegraph yesterday. They suggest that assurances given during
To City Hall, where tonight Sadiq Khan welcomed journalists from across the city to a Diageo-sponsored drinks reception. The London mayor took to the podium to laud the efforts of his diligent and dutiful staffers, taking time to praise his comms team for their relentless work trying to defend his decision-making. Yet about certain journalists,
