Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.
TfL have today stopped running those Boris Johnson announcements over the tannoys at Underground and national rail stations that were rather getting on commuters’ nerves. But their replacement seems to be trying to undo some of Boris’ good work in trying to scare people away from the centre of London. Last night, Westminster Underground Station
Oh dear: this morning Boris Johnson was being hailed as ‘unstoppable’ in his bid to be the next Conservative leader. But it turns out Westminster has been far too preoccupied with the boring details of how he can get re-elected in time to take over from David Cameron that we all failed to notice the
It’s been a few weeks at least since George Osborne’s last U-turn, so it must be time for another one, mustn’t it? Today’s launch of the Funding for Lending Scheme is being hailed as another change of course from the Chancellor as it signals the slow death of the National Loan Guarantee Scheme. The Sun’s
The average disposable income is at its lowest point since 2003, according to figures released this afternoon by the Office for National Statistics. The statistics for the first quarter of this year show that take home income was an average of £273 a week, while real incomes per head fell by 0.6 per cent to
By some quirk of planning, Channel 4 and BBC Two ended up showing two very similar programmes last night about the mess of the assessments that determine whether a sick or disabled person is able to work. The most haunting of the stories told last night was Panorama’s case study of a man who had
Abu Qatada has just lost his bid in the High Court to be released from prison immediately. He had tried to argue that it was a breach of his human rights to be held in prison ahead of the court hearing in October which will decide whether he should be deported to Jordan to face
There are more rumblings this morning on the shape of the next comprehensive spending review, this time at grassroots level within the Liberal Democrats. The Times reports threats from former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris that any attempt to sign up to a traditional spending review will trigger an emergency motion at the party’s autumn
London is quieter than usual this week in spite of the Olympics, with many commuters staying at home or fleeing the country while the Games take place. That’s a good thing for the transport system – clearly Justine Greening and Francis Maude’s ‘remoding’ advice had its desired effect – but retailers and tourist attractions are
Boris Johnson has had a fantastic few days. On Thursday he drove a crowd in Hyde Park wild with his Mitt Romney banter. On Saturday he charmed the public with his thoughts on the Olympic opening ceremony (‘People say it was all leftie stuff. That is nonsense. I’m a Conservative and I had hot tears
The papers today are full of empty seats at the Olympics. This morning, a Downing Street spokeswoman tried to take a glass-half-full approach, saying the empty seats were ‘disappointing’, but adding that the Prime Minister was ‘satisfied’ that Locog was working to resolve the issue. Locog carried out a review at the weekend which found
The Olympic beach volleyball is situated just behind Downing Street on Horse Guards Parade, and as such is perfectly located for a politician wishing to take an hour or so out from a hard day’s work. Boris Johnson is clearly a fan, writing in today’s Telegraph: As I write these words there are semi-naked women
In case you were in any doubt about how committed eurozone leaders are to the survival of the single currency, Angela Merkel has put out another statement on doing ‘everything possible to protect the eurozone’, this time with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. The pair had a phone conversation on Sunday and their remarks follow
The Guardian has published an interview on its site with Stephen Hester in which the RBS chief executive predicts his bank is facing a huge fine for its part in the Libor fixing scandal. He says: ‘RBS is one of the banks tied up in Libor. We’ll have our day in that particular spotlight as
Ed Balls is doing very well out of the GDP figures that were released on Wednesday. The Shadow Chancellor is right to say that George Osborne is not yet doing the right thing with the economy. But that doesn’t mean Balls’ solution is the right one. Cuts should have been only one side of the
Remember that great scandal that rocked the Olympics, G4S? That pre-Games row has been completely eclipsed, at least for now, by the rows and rows of empty seats at supposedly sell-out Olympic venues. It turns out that those seats, often situated below the masses of people who shelled out a pretty penny for their own
You’d think that after the bad economic news of the past week, George Osborne might have reverted to submarine mode as soon as he possibly could, moving quietly under the cover of the Olympics. But this afternoon he has stuck a periscope up with this message: the world has confidence that Britain is dealing with
There was an uncomfortable moment last night at the Olympic opening ceremony when the Syrian team entered the stadium. The athletes – who are there as competitors, not apologists for the Assad regime – did not receive the same raucous cheer as many of the other nations. The BBC commentators at least, who had been
The furore surrounding the news – which James broke on Coffee House this afternoon – that academies will now be able to employ teachers who are not qualified was so brilliantly predictable that we could have written the unions’ press releases for them. Christine Blower of the National Union of Teachers slammed it as a ‘clear
Mario Draghi’s announcement yesterday that the ECB would ‘do whatever it takes’ to preserve the euro certainly cheered markets up – but only for a while. Interest rates for Spanish 10-year bonds dropped below the danger threshold of 7 per cent and the euro gained two cents against the dollar. But the more eagle-eyed spotted
Boris Johnson is one of the few politicians in the world able to clamber up on a concert stage in Hyde Park, take the mic, and whip a crowd up into a frenzy as he did last night. If you haven’t seen the Mayor of London sending Londoners wild with excitement while mocking Mitt Romney,