40 u-turns and counting, the coalition has a habit of dropping difficult policies. One notable exception is High Speed 2, which is still being keenly promoted. Today, members of a new HS2 growth task force have been announced. The advocates are an impressive selection of council leaders, academics, businessman and trade unions. Their job will
Lord Howell has got himself into a spot of fracking bother this afternoon. The Newcastle Chronicle reports that George Osborne’s father-in-law says fracking should be carried out in ‘unhabituated and desolate areas’. Nothing too controversial about that, except Howell singled out the north east of England, where there is apparently ‘plenty of room’. Howell —
Did you know that DFID cost each person in the country £97 last year? Or that the DWP spent £173 billion in 2012-13? Or that the BBC cost each person £21.59 last quarter? Well, you do now thanks to GIST, the government’s new spending website launched today. In an attempt to fix the messy Data.gov.uk, GIST
Labour’s war against The King’s School merger continues to be fought fruitlessly, despite rebuttal after rebuttal from the Department of Education. As first reported in the Spectator two weeks ago, Michael Gove has signed off funding for the independent King’s School and state Priory Primary School in Tynemouth to merge into the new Kings Priory
Are the baby boomers propping up the lazy ‘jilted generation’ while driving Britain’s economic recovery? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Daily Mail columnist Melanie Philips debates The Guardian’s Shiv Malik on the latest round of generational warfare, including on whether there is any need to blame one group for the country’s economic woes.
The coalition’s biggest clash with trade unions so far is fast approaching. From October, the NASUWT and NUT teaching unions are carrying out a series of regional walkouts over the introduction of performance related pay. Unfortunately for the unions, new polling from Populus shows the public are not on their side. When questioned on how
Andrew Neil’s interview on Sunday Politics the other week triggered much reaction – and protest from those who do not believe that there is a debate to be had. Andrew has replied at length today, and we thought you might be interested in what he has to say. First, the offending interview: The viewers included one
Has the Prime Minister been too naïve in cooking up plans to tackle unadulterated online access to porn? Today’s Daily Mail is totally ecstatic at the proposals, but fails to take into account how difficult regulating the Internet can be. Unless David Cameron decides to go for the totalitarian Great Firewall of China approach — which filters every tiny piece of
Should Labour support private schools joining the state sector? Yes, is probably your immediate response but in reality, Labour’s position is unfathomable. A case in point is the battle for The King’s School, which I’ve written about in this week’s Spectator. The King’s School is due to move into the state sector this September and
When my parents came to choose a secondary school, they were naturally keen to send little Sebastian to the best possible place — regardless of whether it was state or independent. Their first choice was Emmanuel College in Gateshead, where we lived — one of Kenneth Baker’s original city technology colleges and inspiration for Labour’s
Today’s recommendations from IPSA on MPs pay have been with met the condemnation we’ve come to expect regarding our politicians — snouts in troughs, out of touch political class, etc. But it’s not simply MPs giving themselves more money. Here are the key five points of what the independent recommendations are actually proposing: 1. Overall cost of
Why has the Met Office become so inaccurate at predicting weather in the UK? On the latest View from 22 podcast, author Rupert Darwall explains why out of the last 13 years of weather predictions by the Met, 12 have been incorrect. How does the Met Office go about predicting weather? Are these inaccuracies down
Are Lambeth Palace and the Vatican about to undergo a significant transformation in how they operate and present themselves in public? On the latest View from 22 podcast, the Telegraph’s Damian Thompson explains how the evangelicals are taking over both the Catholic and Church of England, which will result in a dynamic shift in how
When David Cameron announced ‘state multiculturalism has failed’, the chattering classes gasped in disbelief. Here was a Prime Minister, bull dozing his way into the tricky area of immigration — one his predecessors had shied away from. The speech was praised by the right, and lambasted by those on the left — including his coalition partners. David
Even Boris can’t help the toxic Tories. That’s the upshot of Lord Ashcroft’s latest polling, which asked 8,000 people (including several focus groups outside of London) about what they think of the mayor. Although Boris Johnson is the country’s most loved politician, he is not the voters’, or even Conservatives’, top choice as prime minister. David
George Osborne’s latest spending review has demonstrated how little progress he has made on pushing Britain towards fiscal sanity. On the latest View from 22 podcast, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman analyse Osborne’s statement to the Commons yesterday, the political significance of his plans and how Labour managed to fluff their response. Colleen Graffy, a
Boris Johnson’s powers of persuasion have once again wooed George Osborne. In today’s spending review, the Chancellor has put aside £2 million to investigate Crossrail 2 — a new underground line for London. The fact the Mayor was able to bag another win from Osborne — Crossrail 1 was protected from funding cuts in 2010 —
The Tories have earned rare praise for their LetBritainDecide campaign for James Wharton’s Private Member’s Bill. Everyone accepts that the slick website and social media campaign are (surprisingly) impressive. But there’s another — largely unnoticed — aspect to this campaign which has a lot less to do with change in Europe and more to do with
Is George Osborne cutting enough into public sector spending? In this week’s Spectator cover feature, Ross Clark examines how the Chancellor isn’t making much of a dent at all into government waste and how he is wasting numerous opportunities for being austere. On the latest View from 22 podcast, Matthew Sinclair of the Taxpayers’ Alliance
Ofsted has provided an independent boost for Michael Gove today. Just days after his plans to toughen up GCSEs were finally confirmed; a survey lambasts non-selective secondary schools for systematically failing thousands of bright children. Instead of challenging their abilities, Ofsted says the most intelligent pupils are being left to ‘tread water’. The numbers in
