Are Francis Maude’s £5.5bn savings in central government spending a significant step forward in his battle to shrink the public sector? In today’s Telegraph, the Cabinet Office minister explains the beneficiaries and sources of the latest cutbacks: Today I can announce that in 2011-12 we saved £5.5 billion. This is the equivalent of around £500 for each working
Have Alex Salmond’s hopes for Scottish independence died, thanks to the Olympics? In this week’s cover feature, Iain Martin writes that the national pride and spiritual unification emanating from the 2012 games have finished off the SNP’s hopes of a break from the union. On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Iain recounts when he first
He’s the main beneficiary of the failure of the boundary reforms, and he’s also leading the most popular party, according to the latest poll from YouGov. Things are looking rosy for Labour leader Ed Miliband, with his party holding a 10-point lead over the Conservatives. Labour is also the party of choice on the NHS,
Now that Lords reform is entirely off the agenda, Nick Clegg faces the complicated task of negotiating a policy battle to keep his party happy. Pursuing AV and an elected House of Lords were core to Clegg’s justification to his party for power, so he now has to find something significant to avoid ‘going naked’ to
If yesterday was the peak of enthusiasm for Boris Johnson’s hopes for the Tory leadership (Guido noted that every broadsheet commentator discussed the Mayor of London in their Saturday columns), then today is very much the morning after. The first sobering voice came from William Hague as he popped up on Sky News to warn
The case for reform of secondary school exams gained further momentum today with the revelation that the number of schools using Cambridge IGCSEs has increased by 300 per cent since 2010. Michael Gove allowed state schools to enter pupils for these ‘tougher’ tests two years ago, and the state sector now accounts for almost half
Are flying killing robots about to change our lives? Mary Wakefield interviews technology expert turned thriller writer Daniel Suarez in this week’s magazine, who believes the day of killing drones is fast approaching. In our latest View from 22 podcast, Mary examines the fast approaching juncture faced over drone warfare: ‘One of these [fast approaching technologies]
Hidden behind today’s gushing Olympic headlines lies more disappointing economic news. Nationwide’s latest House Price Index release today shows that house prices are continuing to fall, with a 0.7 per cent decline in July. As the graph below shows, the fall in prices is a continuation of a trend that began when the country re-entered
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Have the Tories’ manoeuvres over Lords reform signalled the end of the coalition? In this week’s magazine, our leader argues that Tuesday’s rebellion shows that Tories are back in full force, while James Forsyth writes that a coalition break-up date before 2015 is now not a case of if, but when. But Nick Clegg is
The Olympics may just 16 days away but will the spectators be able to find chips? The shocking picture above shows the real effect of the Censorship Olympics. Thanks to a lucrative sponsorship deal with McDonalds, all other catering teams are forbidden from serving chips anywhere within the area of London categorized as Olympic Park —
Did those around Gordon Brown create the conditions for the Libor fixing scandal? According to George Osborne, the answer is yes. In his cover feature this week, James Forsyth speaks to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who takes aim at his opposite number, stating those in the last government were ‘clearly involved.’ In our latest
Could the government save £33 billion a year through better use of data? That’s the claim of a new report from Policy Exchange, which highlights how the government has failed to modernise and make efficient use of huge amounts data sitting at its disposal. Although playing with information isn’t exactly glamorous government, the inefficiency highlighted
Has David Cameron now shot the UKIP fox? The Prime Minister has now put a referendum on the political agenda. No.10’s thinking, as revealed by James Forsyth weeks ago, is that the weekend’s high-profile posturing will see off the UKIP threat. The PM has given it a decent amount of welly in the Commons today
Has the world become one huge ball of anger? As a follow-up to his book A Bee in the Mouth, Pete Wood examines how ostentatious rage — once the preserve of Americans — is now spreading to Europe and taking over the world in this week’s cover feature. In our latest View from 22 podcast,
Tony Blair has chosen this summer to launch his re-entry mission into British politics. He hired a UK communications director in May, guest-edited the Evening Standard yesterday and agreed to a rather intriguing interview in same paper, stating he would like to return to office, while accepting it was not likely. So what is the
A speech earlier this week by unmasked-spy Jonathan Evans has put the threat of cybercrime back into the national consciousness. The MI5 director general spoke at Mansion House earlier in the week to warn of ‘real damage’ caused online — highlighting one London business which suffered a £800 million loss following an attack. He stressed
Is David Cameron’s greatest threat sitting inside his own party? In this week’s cover feature, James Forsyth examines the radical new mood that is taking shape among some of the 2010 intake of Tory MPs. On our View from 22 podcast this week, Liz Truss MP, a member of the ‘Free Enterprise’ group, gave us
Primary school children studying subordinate clauses and foreign languages? What an outlandish but suddenly very real idea. Michael Gove announced earlier this week a curriculum reshuffle to restore rigour and aptitude to primary education. But why is liberalising Gove instigating a top-down approach, prescribing what teachers teach? It’s not the first time that Gove’s
