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Israel’s overt ground intervention into Lebanon is now entering its third week. So far, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have advanced just a few kilometers in and established control in a number of locations across the border. The IDF itself has described its ground action on the border as consisting of ‘limited, localised and targeted
Of all the thousands of tributes paid to Alex Salmond since his untimely and premature death the one that best sums up Alex is that from Adam Boulton, the former Sky News political editor. Adam wrote: ‘He was a world class politician, whether you liked him or not.’ There aren’t many objective observers of the
Some find happiness through love, some through religion, others through their work or hobbies. But Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has recently revealed that he would be happy living next to a pylon. Following Ken Livingstone’s interest in newts and Jeremy Corbyn’s obsession with manhole covers, it seems prominent Labour politicians are constantly surprising us with
And then there were two. Either Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will be the next Conservative leader. This is a contest that, for the first time since members were given the final say, will really go down to the wire. Whoever wins, the Tory party looks set to change radically. Badenoch’s list is peppered with
Some sociology academics have, after a three-year research project called ‘Exploring Atheism’, unveiled a startling discovery: there are a lot of people in Britain who don’t believe in God. I know, it’s quite a gut-punch. They do not quite claim to have found that most Britons are atheists. But they do claim that there are
Here’s a question: what do crazy rich Indians want more than anything? The answer appears to be luxury watches, and the more the merrier. From January to July of this year, Swiss watch exports to India were up 20 per cent compared with the same period in 2023, and up more than 41 per cent
When he lost his Gordon seat in the 2017 general election, Alex Salmond told his count and those watching – friend and foe – that ‘you’ve not seen the last o’ my bonnet and me’. The line comes from Sir Walter Scott’s Bonnie Dundee, an ode to John Graham, the 1st Viscount Dundee, who led
It is hard to believe that I will no longer wake up on Monday mornings to the sound of Alex Salmond on the phone, either berating me for my latest offence against journalism or telling me what I should be saying about the most recent political scandal. The former SNP leader and First Minister of
Oh dear. Keir Starmer today marks his first 100 days in 10 Downing Street, but he has little cause for celebration amid tanking poll ratings and reports of staff unease over his grip on the government. When Starmer first entered 10 Downing Street, there were predictions across the commentariat that his arrival would herald a
Labour’s Employment Rights Bill promises workers flexible working, is supposed to protect them from unfair dismissal from day one of their new job, and make it easier for them to go on strike. In particular, according to Louise Haigh this week, it will stop companies doing what ferry operator P&O did two years ago and
Those of us who voted Labour with pleasure on 4 July could never have imagined the new government’s first 100 days. We thought that the grown-ups would take charge after the chaos of the Tory years. Labour would be the adults in the room, as the cliché goes: sensible, professional people like Sir Keir Starmer,
‘Now it’s official,’ the German press lamented, ‘the idiot’s apostrophe is correct.’ The Council for German Orthography, the body that regulates German spelling and grammar, has relaxed the rules on when and how apostrophes can be used to show possession. What seems like a matter for grammar pedants has fuelled angst for the very future
Canada, like other countries, has had a long-standing problem with doctor shortages. Rural and northern communities struggle to find doctors who want to stay in remote regions after their mandatory medical placements have ended. Finding a family doctor or paediatrician has become a massive struggle, too. ‘Fewer medical students [are] choosing to specialise in family
France’s Interior Minister is the tough-talking Bruno Retailleau. In his inaugural declaration a fortnight ago, he hammered out his three priorities: ‘The first is to re-establish order, the second is to re-establish order, and the third is to re-establish order.’ Standing behind Retailleau was Gerald Darmanin, the man he was replacing as France’s ‘top cop’.
We in Britain have become used to the hallmarks of anti-Israeli protests. There are the slogans decrying ‘genocide’. There are chants in sympathy of terrorist organisations. There’s the explicit or insinuated anti-semitism. But one sinister feature making its transition across the Atlantic is the appearance of the face mask. Wearing a mask at a demo
The American essayist Fredric Jameson died recently. One of his most famous quips (sometimes wrongly attributed to me) holds today more than ever: it is easier for us to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. What if we apply the same logic to Jameson himself? His entire way of life
In the coming days, Foreign Secretary David Lammy will visit China and Chancellor Rachel Reeves is eyeing up a visit early next year for economic and financial dialogue. Whilst engagement is important, it’s not unreasonable to expect an understanding of the government’s strategic position on such a defining relationship before ministers board their flights. Does
This weekend, Sir Keir Starmer marks his first 100 days in 10 Downing Street – with the hope of better days to come. The Prime Minister is trying to put a rough first three months behind him with a shake-up of his Downing Street team and a series of events aimed at showing the government
Back to Labourland, where there’s more trouble afoot. It emerged today that some rather careless comments made by a Cabinet Minister have cost the government an, er, one billion-pound investment deal. Ouch. Transport Secretary Louise Haigh delivered some stinging remarks this week about P&O Ferries, after it emerged that the company had let go hundreds
Labour’s long-promised Employment Rights Bill may not be quite as immediately game-changing as the trade unions hoped or the business lobby feared. There will be implementation delays, with most elements not operative until 2026 – unsurprising given the expected complexity of the legislation. Further consultation will be needed before more detailed regulations are tabled. But
Eyebrows have been raised, to put it mildly, at the news that the Ministry of Defence is using an artificial intelligence programme to assess submissions to the current review of Britain’s armed forces. The Strategic Defence Review was launched in July, and the following month a call for evidence was issued, inviting ‘serving military, veterans, MPs of all parties,
When Iran attacked Israel last week with a barrage of missiles, one thing was certain: Israel would hit back hard. Ten days on, that response has still not come. Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, has warned that the retaliatory strike on Iran will have an element of surprise. Israel’s attack, he said, ‘will be deadly, precise
In the pantheon of all-time tennis hunks, Rafael Nadal sits at the apex. The hunkiest ever to do it. In his prime, which remarkably lasted close to two decades, he seemed to conceal within the archetypal Mediterranean love god physique a kind of tennis supercomputer, capable almost always of finding impossible-seeming angles from which to
All is not well with the Labour lot just now – and the party’s supporters are rather unimpressed. Polling from YouGov conducted between 4-6 October has found that almost half of those who backed Sir Keir Starmer’s crowd at the July election had been disappointed by the performance of the party. Oo er. It’s hardly
After the binge, the bill? The new French government of Michel Barnier presented the main lines of its proposed 2025 budget on Thursday evening, promising to cut public spending by £50 billion while raising taxes across the board. It’s belated austerity for a state with a fiscal policy that has previously resembled dine and dash.
The European Union has joined the United States and Canada in slapping tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles (EVs). It’s a rare moment of transatlantic unity – but where does it leave Britain? For now, the UK remains the awkward man in the room. It is the only G7 country not to have imposed tariffs on
There’s been plenty of drama in Westminster this week with Keir Starmer reshuffling his No. 10 team and the Tories’ game-playing in the party’s leadership contest. But away from parliament, the other big story in domestic politics has been the return of Boris Johnson. The former prime minister has been on a publicity trail to
Well, well, well. In his new job as president of global affairs at Meta, former leader of the Liberal Democrats and staunch Remainer Nick Clegg has announced a widespread roll-out of Meta AI across countries including Brazil and the UK. Yet, rather interestingly, the Brexit-opposed businessman noted that the software was unable to be rolled
Happy Friday: the economy is growing. After two consecutive months of no growth, GDP picked up in August, rising by 0.2 per cent. Production and construction output finally turned around, growing 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively, after contracting in July by 0.7 per cent and 0.4 per cent. Services output grew by