All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
When it comes to recruiting and retaining teachers, the report cards of successive governments show a litany of failures worthy of a special measures downgrade. In 2015, David Cameron launched the short-lived ‘Return to Teaching’ programme, which intended to tempt ex-teachers back into service but only managed to recruit 350 teachers at a cost of
‘London's economy is smaller and the number of jobs are less’ thanks to Brexit, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said on the Today programme this morning. Is he right? No. Adjusted for inflation, the capital’s economic output was 16 per cent greater in 2024 than in 2015, the year before the vote to leave, according to ONS figures published last month. There were 6.44 million jobs in London in June this year, against 5.76 million in June 2016 – some 675,000 more.
I don’t think I’ve ever been more wrong than when I was booed in a synagogue around twenty years ago. The occasion was a panel on media bias against Israel. One of the audience had asked a question about the BBC’s ‘institutional anti-Semitism’ and I responded – I shudder now to think how wrong I was – that while it was obviously biased against Israel, that reflected the left-liberal mindset of the overwhelming majority of its newsroom rather than anti-Semitism as such. The years since the Hamas massacre on 7 October 2023 have been an object lesson in how wrong I was. The BBC’s reports have consistently repeated Hamas propaganda as fact, as with its international editor Jeremy Bowen’s coverage of the alleged bombing of a hospital in Gaza on 17 October that year.
At least nine people died and 40 were injured in a terror attack on a church in Hamoud, Jordan, on Friday. Mourners had gathered for a funeral at St George’s Greek Orthodox church, and three gunmen arrived in a pickup truck, detonated a small explosive device outside the parameters of the building and opened indiscriminate fire shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’. The CCTV footage reveals the perpetrators facing no resistance and fleeing. While the gunmen remain unidentified, and a group is yet to claim responsibility of the attack, there are unverified reports of the militants being affiliated with the Islamic State (Isis). Former Jordanian intelligence officers are suggesting the same.
I was once informed that hell would freeze over before I ever wrote anything kind or sympathetic when it came to Meghan Markle. In which case, that crackling sound you hear is ice forming over Hades, because recent events have convinced me that, for once, the Duchess of Sussex merits not the usual dismissal mixed with contempt that she has been treated with by many figures in the British media, but instead understanding and, indeed, sympathy as to why she has done many of the things that she is responsible for over the past eight years. Yes, even With Love, Meghan. When the news that Markle’s father, Thomas, was said to have a considerable stash of child pornography broke, my initial reaction was incomprehension. Firstly, his son Thomas Jr. had given an interview to the Sun.
‘Sustained and needless abusive or cruel behaviour’ towards Claude will be banned from the middle of next month, Anthropic has announced. The suggestion inherent in this change is that artificial intelligence (AI) could have some form of consciousness allowing it to feel pain, as opposed to being an emotional void of numbers and electricity. While most Large Language Models (LLMs) are programmed to deny that they feel emotions, Claude gives an equivocal answer, saying it is not yet clear. The ban was announced shortly after a scandal in the AI research community, where a group of pseudonymous programmers began publishing the results of an AI torture chamber they had created under the user name ‘terrafying’.
Brazilian politics is a soap opera that never runs out of plot twists: bitter rivalries, corruption scandals and colourful characters who keep rewriting the script. But Lula da Silva’s comeback was remarkable even by Brazilian standards. It brought an end to a dramatic cliffhanger, where the veteran left-winger won a fourth term as Brazil’s president. Just three weeks ago, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva looked vulnerable. His rival Flávio Bolsonaro had beaten him in the first round, raising the prospect of a right-wing turn in South America’s largest country. Brazil looked set for a shift towards tougher security measures, tax cuts and closer ties with Donald Trump’s administration.
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Budget week is finally here but it's also the week of Hallowe'en so Patrick Gibbons asks James Heale and Michael Simmons: will Burnham's first budget be one of tricks or treats? There have been a drip-feed of announcements over the weekend, from pensions to rough sleeping, so what have we learnt about the Budget on Wednesday – and about Burnhamism more generally? Plus: a sign of hope or the wrong message – we discuss whether John Healey should drink at the despatch box. You can catch the Spectator's livestream events on Wednesday, following the Budget, at spectator.co.uk/tv Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
By and large, the British Isles are a decent place to choose to live. While it is true that one reason for this is the quality of the institutions in the UK, the rule of law, the outstanding universities (and more), the more basic starting point is that the ecological lottery has been kind to this part of the North Atlantic: nice, long temperate summers and winters that do not give too much to complain about, other than short daylight hours. Most of the time, we live in a “Goldilocks zone” – not too hot, not too cold, not too dry, not too wet. So powerful is the developing El Niño, that it is not being referred to as a mega-Niño, but a “Godzilla Niño” That balance has started to change in recent years.
In a dramatic reversal, Brazil’s 80-year-old president, Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, has secured a fourth term in office, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Flávio had finished first in the opening round of the election three weeks ago, and his political camp had performed strongly in congressional and gubernatorial elections. Lula’s victory, with almost 52 per cent of the vote and a substantial margin of nearly 4.4 million votes, was decisive. But the election was marred by the badly managed extension of voting hours. Lula’s fourth term will begin in an extremely hostile environment, amid accusations of foul play on election night It was a night of confusão and emoção.
It was a peaceful weekend in France apparently. One broadcaster described the latest protests as ‘calm’ and Le Monde said they unfolded ‘without serious incident’. Tell that to the 53 police officers who were injured in clashes with demonstrators, 1,513 of whom were arrested as trouble broke out across the country. Laurent Nunez, the Interior Minister, said that in several towns and cities the police had been subjected to an ‘extremely high level of violence’. This Saturday is Halloween and social media is full of threats and taunts about bringing terror to the Parisian bourgeoisie In Grenoble, for example, hundreds of far-left extremists were beaten back by police who resorted to tear gas and baton charges.
I landed in Israel as acres of commentary continued to declare its current election the most consequential ever. An emergency. The language is familiar. The last chance to save Israeli democracy. The last chance to remove the right. The last chance to restore a serious government. The last chance to stop Benjamin Netanyahu. The last chance to save Benjamin Netanyahu. The last chance to deal Iran a decisive blow. Every election here arrives carrying some version of apocalypse. Reports of Israelis flying in from across the world specifically to vote tell you something about the political culture Israel, meanwhile, votes. It votes often. It argues loudly.
Prime Ministers in the modern era have invariably tried to prove that they are men of the people. It’s one reason why the likes of Tony Blair, Liz Truss and now Andy Burnham have used the familiar form of their Christian name in the way Harry Macmillan or Dave Lloyd George never did. But what marks out Andy Burnham as novel is that he doesn't merely flaunt his common touch as part of a broader, cynical strategy to garner electoral support. His earthly demeanour – albeit laboured – actually seems to convey authenticity. He really does want to be liked.
When a politician says that they want to have an "honest conversation" or discussion, there's two things to take note of. One is that announcing your intention to have a conversation, honest or otherwise, is a way of avoiding having the conversation here and now. It is an earnest sounding manana. The other is that "honest", in all such circumstances, protests too much. It seeks to imply that the conversations that have already been had by, y'know, those other people have been dishonest, and that you're the straight dealer who's going to tell it like it is. But it simultaneously betrays an anxiety. The same applies to honesty as applies to being powerful or being a lady: if you have to say you are, you aren't.
Israel Tel Aviv’s promenade on a Saturday night is heavenly. To one side, the Mediterranean glistens, dotted with boogie boards and children squealing as they splash into the surf. In the other direction, families, couples and friends picnic on lush green grass to the sound of lapping waves and two acoustic guitarists making their way through ‘Hotel California’. It is the Israeli idyll, ripe for a postcard – and a brief respite from the deep divisions that make Tuesday’s election such a consequential choice for the country. Arriving at Ben Gurion Airport last Thursday, I was struck by a country that is at once admirably resilient and deeply traumatised.
The autumn Budget will be delivered on Wednesday, but speculation over its contents has been overshadowed by Andy Burnham saying in the Sunday Times that the country needs an ‘honest discussion’ about a possible return to freedom of movement, in pursuit of a better deal with the EU. Nigel Farage has called the comments a ‘total betrayal’ of Brexit voters, including those in Burnham’s Makerfield constituency. On the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg showed Housing Secretary Angela Rayner a clip from a few months ago of the Prime Minister saying ‘the last thing we should do right now is rerun those [Brexit] arguments’, and asked why he was now doing exactly that.
Please, one last indulgence, implored Alastair Campbell. The previous two hours had been bad enough, sitting through Campbell being ‘interviewed’ by former Today host Mishal Husain about his godawful new self-help book. And the hours before had also been painful, trying to read that book, Persevilience, which is somehow both superficial and incomprehensible. Yet, as the launch event inched to a close, Tony Blair’s old spin doctor wanted still more attention. In fact, no, he wanted more than still more attention. He wanted to masturbate. Would you mind, he asked, standing in front of a giant projection of his own face, if I played ‘Ode to Joy’ on the bagpipes? It was precisely 9:34 p.m.
Every year, around Trafalgar Day, I rewatch Peter Weir’s 2003 film Master and Commander. It seems obvious to say that this is a film about heroism, but it took me until this year to realise that the hero is not in fact Captain Jack Aubrey, nor Stephen Maturin nor even Lord Blakeney, the 12-year-old midshipman whose arm is amputated. Nor is it an idealised form of Nelson’s navy, full stop. No, the real hero is Preserved Killick, the rancorous and difficult captain’s steward, who despite being in the midst of a storm around Cape Horn and with only the ingredients available to him aboard a late-Georgian frigate, produces an accurate blancmange rendering of the Galapagos Islands, complete with an edible French man-o’-war as its centrepiece.
In an office stuffed full of books, Alex Burghart sits back in his chair, sipping on a mug of tea. Beside the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary is a black and white photograph of a former army officer. 'This is Brigadier Clive Tonry, a D-Day veteran', he explains, when I inquire about the framed image. 'When I was eight and nine, he taught me science and he had the most wonderful disregard for health and safety.' Burghart fondly recalls being taught wind resistance by being strapped by Tonry in a parachute and dragged towards his school's barbed wire fences. 'He had two German helmets at the back of his classroom that he'd picked up from the beaches. He never told us they were men that he'd killed but that is what we guessed.
I’ve just been to the west of Ireland, perhaps the greenest place I have ever seen, and one of the most comprehensively stripped of nature too. Driving north from Shannon, you pass mile after mile of luminous green, almost treeless fields, until the road rises onto the dramatic limestone of the Burren. We were there to celebrate the marriage of my step-nephew (if such a thing exists) Isaac Ferry to beautiful conservationist Elizabeth Quartararo. The ceremony took place high above the Atlantic, at an ethereal spot beloved of Isaac’s late mother, my sister-in-law Lucy Birley. We reached the top on foot through an ancient hillside wood behind Mount Vernon, where Lady Gregory once entertained Yeats.
'Oxford Street ought to be the finest thoroughfare in the world.' To try and live up to that potential, it’s going traffic-free tomorrow. This does not foreshadow the end of Western civilisation, nor another front in the Mayor of London’s war on cars. It is just good business. The line that opened this article is not mine. It was written in 1879 by Charles Dickens Jr. We have had 150 years to think about it and now have the evidence base, growth agenda, and political leadership to make it happen. Like Dickens Jr., I am a lifelong Londoner. As such, I avoid Oxford Street like the plague. Today, the experience consists largely of dodging traffic, ducking scaffolding and avoiding shops selling cheap t-shirts and expensive sweets.
‘You need a better class of work, my boy.’ My GP father’s well-meaning but unhelpful reaction to my second redundancy, both of which occurred in 1989. I was barely 27; he had a job for life. Four short years but a historical era earlier, I had sallied forth to the London Stock Exchange in September 1985 as a graduate trainee with Laurie, Milbank & Co. Convinced of the old boy network, without malice my erstwhile lecturer John Hutton, now Lord Hutton and former Labour defence secretary, gently ribbed, ‘So Uncle Laurie came up trumps, then.’ There was no Uncle Laurie. The merger with Simon & Coates in October 1986 formed American bank Chase Manhattan’s new London-based securities business. My first year in the City was straight from The Pickwick Papers.
As Israel prepares for its election on October 27, the most consequential in decades, I find myself missing my late friend Khamis Abulafia. Khamis was a scion of the famous Jaffa Abulafia dynasty. The fifth child of his parents, he was named for the Arabic word for five. The Abulafia bakery, overlooking Clock Tower Square, is a local landmark – and a symbol of co-existence, closing each year for eight days on Passover, when Jews are forbidden from eating leavened bread. Khamis was a beloved figure in Jaffa, a bridge between its Arab and Jewish inhabitants. He had his own radio show and frequently appeared on television, commenting on Arab affairs. I always valued his insight and understanding. Sadly, he died during the Covid pandemic.
It’s a tabloid phrase you’re unlikely to hear often on BBC News, but ‘double-whammy’ seems a fitting description of what BBC staff have faced in yet another week of editorial turmoil and fresh announcements of cuts. The Telegraph’s revelations that civil servants have been working on secondment at the BBC, contributing to articles and blog posts misleadingly bylined as written by members of ‘BBC News’ and ‘BBC Verify’, have been met with irritation and bafflement.
Oxford Street is set to be pedestrianised on Monday. The change to what is often called the world's longest shopping street is controversial and opposed by Westminster Council. But London Mayor Sadiq Khan, having taken control of the area via the Oxford Street Development Corporation, hopes pedestrianisation will revive its flagging fortunes and bring back the shoppers in the run-up to Christmas. Well, I am a member of the demographic planners hope to attract back: a woman of a certain age and a lifelong shopper on Oxford Street. I've been tramping its pavements since I could barely walk as my mother hunted for what she needed in its department stores. As an adult, I often joined the throng of women bearing shopping bags and satisfied expressions.
Today the clocks change and today is St Crispin’s Day, anniversary of the battles of Agincourt and Balaclava. Legend says Crispin and Crispinian were twins, beheaded under Diocletian. Aristocratic Romans who supported themselves in exile as shoemakers, they are the patron saints of cobblers, tanners, saddlers, and curriers. The feast fell from observance long after the professions it celebrated had ceased to be common. But Shakespeare keeps it alive. The clocks fall back and winter’s footsteps remind us of what is inevitable – and that we should eat, drink, and be merry before it arrives Perhaps we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, but that which we are, we are: we have our inherited culture still.
As the Chancellor puts the final touches to his first Budget, the warnings about unfilled black holes seem only to grow, along with the split between spending-cutters and tax-raisers on what to do about it. As an avowed spending-cutter, I nonetheless find myself with the tax-raisers on one point. Let the owners, leasers and drivers of those monster cars progressively crowding my modest little hatchback off the road pay their way – and the bigger the tax penalty, the better. More than two decades ago, when I lived in the United States, I could not believe that the acronym SUV (for Sport Utility Vehicle), let alone the outsized vehicles it denoted, would cross the Atlantic, either at all, or so quickly and with so little apparent resistance.
Andy Burnham, together with Liverpool mayor Steve Rotherham, appeared on a charity special of Channel 4’s Gogglebox last night. The show began in 2013, but is still going, as all hit TV shows must in this benighted century. The novelty of the format – watching viewers watch TV – is long gone, as the participants inevitably started acting up for the cameras. It may be a false memory, but I’m sure I remember the show being more caustic, a bit sharper. It is now crushingly cosy and twee. So, perfect for our Andy then. This episode, a fundraiser for Stand Up To Cancer, interspersed the usual TV ephemera with harrowing real life cancer stories.
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Just days after The Sunday Times revealed that five SAS soldiers were sent back into the war zone while under a three-year murder investigation, MPs passed the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which the SAS Regimental Association has threatened to challenge in the High Court. To understand it's implications, Tim Shipman speaks to Richard Williams, former commanding officer of the SAS, about lawfare, the chain of command and what it means for Britain’s standing with Washington.Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Henry Lloyd audio_URL:https://assets.pippa.io/shows/68359028e1abc4be6b032cd1/1792789626168-ee46791c-a3d7-43a1-a147-3129045daf41.
One of my fondest childhood memories is walking Dudley High Street with my mother, aunt and sister at dusk on Sundays, window shopping, envious of those able to afford the clothes, jewellery, shoes, toys and ornaments on display. With its flourishing open-air market, brand-name stores, family-owned businesses, tea shops and long-established pubs, Dudley of the 1960s and ‘70s was a safe, respectful community – the very definition of middle-class England. Stretched out between a Norman castle at one end and rising toward the spire of St. Thomas and St. Luke’s Church at the other, the high street was the thriving centre of local life, a dominant presence at the heart of the industrial Black Country in the West Midlands.
Three incidents over the past fortnight have highlighted a disturbing trend in the UK: a tendency by some activists to downplay the violent and disruptive behaviour of certain pro-Palestinian groups. Two of these cases are linked to Palestine Action and its proscription. The first relates to the Irish author Sally Rooney and the decision (made jointly between the author and her publisher) to stop selling books in the United Kingdom after she promised to donate the proceeds to Palestine Action. This has been described in some quarters as a 'ban'. Yet the British government has no interest in outlawing her books; no one is precluding Rooney from supporting the Palestinian cause; and she could donate her royalties to any number of charities supporting Palestinians.
Next Tuesday, Israel holds elections for the first time since the appalling attacks of October 7, 2023. After such a sadistic onslaught, which happened on Benjamin Netanyahu’s watch, many pundits predicted his political days were numbered (though it’s worth noting that neither Roosevelt nor George W. Bush were expected to resign after Pearl Harbour and 9/11 respectively – indeed both were subsequently re-elected.) But Israel is tiny, and in per-capita terms, the loss of life on 7 October was 12 times worse than 9/11 was for the US; 89 times worse than the Bataclan massacre in Paris, 140 times worse than 7/7 in London.
The UK Commando Force (UKCF) had a busy summer this year. The Force’s mission, led by the Royal Marines, is defined by a year-round permanent presence in northern Norway and the High North. Based at Camp Viking, the UKCF trains in Arctic warfare training, coastal surveillance and contributes to the defence of Nato’s northern flank. The stakes are getting higher as the threat posed by Russia not only includes aggressive cyberattacks and disruptive behaviour along the land border with Norway but also offshore activities designed to repeatedly test Norwegian resolve in the Barents Sea and the archipelago of Svalbard. UK military personnel have not, however, spent this past summer in and around Camp Viking, some 25 miles east of the military air station of Bardufoss.
