Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Saturday

Gavin Mortimer

France wants Macron to send in the army

Nearly three quarters of French people think it’s time for President Macron to send in the army to restore order to the towns and cities that have been sacked in recent days. According to a poll published yesterday, 70 per cent of people said they wanted the military to be deployed to areas that have been looted, vandalised and firebombed since police shot dead a 17-year-old in western Paris on Tuesday morning. The teenager, Nahel, was laid to rest on Saturday afternoon but it remains to be seen whether the furious reaction to his death – for which a policeman has been charged with voluntary manslaughter – will abate in

Max Jeffery

Why is the NHS in such a bad way?

27 min listen

Next week is the NHS’s 75th birthday. Why is the health service in such a poor state? Are the Tories selling it off? And is there any hope for its future? Max Jeffery speaks to Kate Andrews and Isabel Hardman.

Rupert Darwall

Has the Bank of England’s net zero obsession fuelled inflation?

The Bank of England was made independent to take monetary policy away from flighty politicians who are slaves to expediency and fashionable sound bites. Instead, central bankers imbued with objectivity, prudence and, most of all, economic expertise would be in charge. But when it comes to climate change and net zero, the Bank has shown that poor judgment is certainly not exclusive to elected officials. Only a month ago, Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England was touting net zero as a growth elixir. ‘The transition to net zero is a major structural change that needs substantial investment and can over quite a prolonged transition period help to raise

Patrick J. Deneen

Why America needs regime change

No sensible reader of the news could look at America and think it is flourishing. Massive economic inequality and the breakdown of family formation have eroded the very foundations of society.  Once-beautiful cities and towns around the nation have succumbed to an ugly blight. Cratering rates of childbirth, rising numbers of ‘deaths of despair,’ widespread addictions to pharmaceuticals and electronic distractions testify to the prevalence of a dull ennui and psychic despair. The older generation has betrayed the younger by saddling it with unconscionable levels of debt. Warnings about both oligarchy and mob rule appear daily on the front pages of newspapers throughout country, as well as throughout the West. A growing chorus of voices reflects on the likelihood

Patrick O’Flynn

Project drear: Starmer’s plan to bore his way to power

The very modest poll ‘bounce’ that Rishi Sunak delivered for the Tories after the farcical Liz Truss premiership has proved to be of the dead cat variety. The most recent YouGov poll showed the Conservatives at just 22 per cent – about half the vote share they achieved in the 2019 general election. This, you might think, explains Labour’s buoyant 47 per cent rating in the same poll. Well, not really. Because digging deeper into the figures reveals that only 15 per cent of 2019 Tory voters have switched to Keir Starmer’s party. That’s about one in seven. Even the little-known Reform party led by Richard Tice is doing better than

Anna Arutunyan

Putin’s secret weapon is fragility

As the dust settles on Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny that wasn’t, the consensus is clear: Vladimir Putin has been left weakened and vulnerable. Rebellions like this historically spell the beginning of the end of Russian authoritarian regimes, and observers are watching excitedly for signs of more vultures circling the Kremlin. But Putin’s weakness might, conversely, be the reason he clings on to power – at least for now. That Putin was damaged by the events of last weekend seems obvious: a private businessman with an army of just 10,000 men crosses your border, calls you a liar, takes one of your military bases in Rostov, marches on Moscow and shoots down

Ian O’Doherty

Ireland’s deeply sinister hate crime bill

These are certainly interesting times in Ireland. Like every other European country, there’s a cost of living crisis. Mortgages are going up. Inflation is wiping out savings and the ruinous impact of our strict lockdowns is still killing jobs.   We’ve even spent recent days convulsed in a bizarre national uproar over RTE’s highest paid star being allegedly bunged money ‘off the books’; a scandal so serious that it led to the Director General of RTE being suspended while investigations are carried out.  This is both a crank’s charter and a heckler’s veto Yet while these various issues dominate the papers and the airwaves, the really important issue of freedom of expression

Isabel Hardman

Isabel Hardman, Paul Wood and Alexandra Shulman

18 min listen

This week: Isabel Hardman examines our curious obsession with glucose monitoring gadgets (01:03), Paul Wood wonders what exactly went on between Putin and Prigozhin (07:11), and Alexandra Shulman shares the contents of her weekly diary (12:15). Produced and presented by Linden Kemkaran.

Gavin Mortimer

Is it safe for France to host the Rugby World Cup?

The Rugby World Cup kicks off in just under ten weeks with hosts France playing New Zealand in the Stade de France. The national stadium sits squarely in Seine-Saint-Denis, a district which yesterday was smouldering after a night of anarchy. Shops were looted, cars torched and a bus station destroyed in an orgy of violence that was replicated across the republic.   President Macron cut short a trip to Brussels for a crisis meeting with ministers and security chiefs in Paris on Friday morning, and he reportedly said there will be ‘no taboos’ in doing what is necessary to restore law and order. Further details will be forthcoming but there

Friday

Tom Slater

The climate ‘crisis’ has nothing to do with the Holocaust

What is it with environmentalists and the Holocaust? Barely a month goes by without some prominent green or another outrageously invoking the greatest crime in human history when promoting their plans for eco-austerity. Step up Dale Vince, green entrepreneur and donor to both the Labour party and pongy activist troupe Just Stop Oil. In an interview with the Mail, he has compared climate sceptics to Holocaust deniers. ‘Anyone who says the climate crisis is not happening or it’s not man-made, honestly, I think they’re a dangerous fool, because it’s like denying the Holocaust happened’, he said. The use of this Holocaust rhetoric is grotesque, censorious and dangerous Were that not grotesque enough – comparing those

Steerpike

Zac Goldsmith: the greatest hits

It seems that Zac Goldsmith’s decade-long dance with government is over. The Old Etonian today handed his notice after four years as a minister, accusing Rishi Sunak of being ‘simply uninterested’ in environmental issues. It (for now) ends a 13-year career in Tory politics which saw him elected MP for Richmond thrice, lose said seat twice and mount an ill-fated mayoral bid only once. Below is Steerpike’s guide to some of the worst episodes of Zac Goldsmith’s political career… Rule troubles Throughout his on-off decade in the House of Commons, Goldsmith continued to get tangled up in spending rules. Following his first campaign in 2010, the Electoral Commission expressed concerns

James Heale

Does Zac Goldsmith’s resignation matter?

11 min listen

Zac Goldsmith has resigned as a minister, and says he quit because Rishi Sunak is ‘simply uninterested’ in the environment. It comes a day after Goldsmith was named by the Privileges Committee as one of 10 Tories who organised a campaign to undermine the Partygate inquiry. How much will Goldsmith’s resignation hurt the government?  James Heale speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls.  Produced by Max Jeffery.

Freddy Gray

Will Hunter bring down Joe Biden?

39 min listen

This week Freddy is joined by Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, and Charles Lipson, professor of political science at the University of Chicago. They discuss Charles’s recent piece in The Spectator’s US edition where he argues that the walls are closing in on old Joe, in relation to the Hunter Biden story. Is the President’s involvement in his son’s dealings really just ‘malarkey’? 

Lucy Dunn

The trouble with the Tories’ NHS plan

The NHS is facing the worst workforce crisis in its history. Vacancies are high and retaining staff is getting more difficult. Though medical schools have increased their student intake in recent years, poor working conditions and ongoing pay disputes continue to threaten the functioning of the health service. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay have knocked their heads together and concocted a plan in a bid to save the NHS. The question is: will it actually work? More medical school places, shorter degrees, apprenticeships for doctors and increased job flexibility are all on the table as part of the Tories’ blueprint. But while NHS chief Amanda Pritchard

Isabel Hardman

Will the NHS plan work?

Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay want us to see the NHS workforce plan, published today, as being one of the big historic events in the lifetime of the health service, which turns 75 next week. Barclay describes it in the Daily Telegraph as ‘the most radical modernisation and reform of the workforce since the NHS was founded in 1948’ and ‘the first time any government has published a comprehensive workforce plan’. The last time there was any real planning for workforce was back in 2000 when the Blair government launched its NHS plan, and so Barclay can reasonably lay claim to this being a big moment. There are

Brendan O’Neill

Does the TUC understand what the word ‘mum’ means?

Imagine if, in 1868, when the TUC was founded, someone had told those warriors for workers’ rights that one day they would be referring to biological males as ‘mothers’. And what’s more that they would be publicly scolding anyone who dared to dissent; anyone who said: ‘Hold on – surely only women can be mums?’ They would have thought you mad. We’re a reasoned, rational organisation concerned only with improving the pay and conditions of working people, they’d have insisted. Well, fast forward to 2023, and what do you know: the TUC, the big beast of union politics, has openly declared that men can be mothers too. A curious thing

Kate Andrews

The ‘workforce plan’ can’t save the NHS

The NHS is in crisis, but the government at last has a plan: a ‘Long-term Workforce plan’, that is, aimed at getting staffing levels up to something functional in the years to come. The £2.4 billion blueprint (which has big question marks around how it will be funded) was published today. Medic placements will be doubled to 15,000 a year and close to 25,000 more nursing and midwife places will be created by the start of the next decade. These might be good ideas but they will do little to help ease the misery of those stuck on the NHS’s enormous waiting lists. The plan comes a week ahead of

Steerpike

Does Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall think Question Time speaks for Britain?

The Court of Appeal’s rejection of the government’s Rwanda plan spells trouble for Rishi Sunak in his bid to ‘stop the boats’ – but at least one man is happy about the verdict. Step forward, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  The celebrity chef was on Question Time last night, telling viewers he is ‘delighted’ about the apparent end of the scheme to send asylum seekers to Africa. He said: ‘I was flabbergasted to hear Suella Braverman say that most Britons are disappointed by this decision. I’m absolutely sure that most people in this room are delighted by this decision.’ Mr S is surprised to hear Fearnley-Whittingstall thinks the Question Time audience speaks for

James Heale

Zac Goldsmith quits with personal attack on Sunak

One name stood out yesterday in the Privileges Committee dossier on parliamentarians who had attacked the panel over its investigation into Boris Johnson. Alongside the seven MPs whose comments were criticised was the name of one peer: Zac Goldsmith, the only serving minister on the list and a longtime Johnson ally. Rishi Sunak’s spokesman was forced to subsequently confirm that the Prime Minister retained confidence in Goldsmith as a Foreign Office minister. Goldsmith was, privately, asked by No. 10 to apologise for his comments about the Privileges Committee as they felt they were incompatible with his position as a Minister of the Crown. Instead, less than 24 hours later, Goldsmith

Lionel Shriver

The truth about ‘affirmative action’

I’ve never cared for the expression ‘affirmative action’, which puts a positive spin on a negative practice: naked, institutionalised racial discrimination – that is, real ‘systemic racism’, which was initiated in the United States long before the expression came into fashion. After all, following the Civil War, the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution were expressly added to establish equality under to law for Americans of all races, and a raft of Congressional civil rights legislation has since reinforced this colour-blind principle. Perhaps I risk sounding ungrateful. Still, now the Supreme Court has finally ruled that universities in the US are forbidden from admitting students on the basis of race, my