The Week

Leading article

Our duty to refugees

It is hard to deny that the government must take tough action on the issue of migrants arriving in Britain by small boats. A large proportion of those entering the country are not refugees fleeing danger but young men in search of better economic opportunities. Indeed, the largest increase in arrivals comes from Albania, an

Portrait of the week

Diary

My memories of Matt Hancock

‘You could be the next Ed Balls.’ That’s what I told a doe-eyed Bank of England official called Matthew Hancock when I was introduced to him at a drinks party 18 years ago. I needed a fiercely intelligent, hard-working, exuberant aide who could help me as shadow chancellor – just as Ed had been the

Ancient and modern

The Athenian case for lockdown

The leaked WhatsApp messages about Covid tell us little of relevance to the handling of the disease (but much about personalities) because we all know what policies they resulted in and who was responsible for them. They have simply encouraged many journalists to proclaim (again) how they were completely right all along about lockdowns, and

Barometer

How often does spring bring a cold snap?

Out of service  Conservative MPs criticise the proposed appointment of Sue Gray as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. It is not unknown, however, for civil servants to switch to political careers, including two prime ministers of recent times.  – Edward Heath began his career in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, having come joint top in

Letters

Letters: Putin isn’t winning

Friends like these… Sir: I much admire Peter Frankopan as a historian but his article ‘Is Putin winning?’ (4 March) is misleading and plain wrong. He argues that the vote at the UN on Ukraine on 23 February demonstrated that Russia’s strategy is winning new friends in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia; friends