Ross Clark is a leader writer and columnist who has written for The Spectator for three decades. His books include Not Zero, The Road to Southend Pier, and Far From EUtopia: Why Europe is failing and Britain could do better
Lucky old Americans. They only had to put up with one fruitcake as president, in Donald Trump. It could have been worse. But for a few hanging chads in Florida in the 2000 Presidential election, they could have ended up with Al Gore. It isn’t just the hanging chads, though, that have become unhinged, but
The dead went unburied and the rubbish piled high in Leicester Square. Then a suntanned Jim Callaghan arrived back at Heathrow from a summit in Guadeloupe to tell reporters, in words fairly paraphrased in the Sun headline: ‘Crisis. What crisis?’ The Prime Minister said that he didn’t think the rest of the world, looking at
Oil prices are down, wholesale gas prices are down, so why isn’t inflation falling a lot faster than it is? The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for December, announced this morning, stood at 10.5 per cent, down from 10.7 per cent in November and 11.1 per cent in October – a welcome boost but still way,
Just why is Chris Skidmore’s review into the government’s target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 called an ‘independent’ review? It somewhat stretches the definition of the word ‘independent’. Skidmore was the very minister – the Energy and Clean Growth Minister – who pushed the net zero commitment through the House of Commons
The idea that we face a certain recession has been drummed into our heads for months. The Bank of England recently produced a graph showing recession lasting into 2024. Just yesterday, the International Monetary Fund repeated its assertion that Britain faces an especially gloomy 2023, with recession inevitable – while simultaneously upsetting the House of
Labour feels strongly on the NHS – you can tell that by the number of times Keir Starmer brings up the NHS during Prime Minister’s questions, which he did again today. Historically, the NHS has always been a weak point for the Conservatives. In spite of granting the health service ever more resources, come election
The calendar for January is already pock-marked with strike dates for railway workers, ambulance staff, postal workers and others. But does the current situation really deserve to be compared with the Winter of Discontent in 1979, when the rubbish piled high in Leicester Square and dead went unburied (as the gravediggers went on strike)? The
With five continuous days of rail strikes this week, it’s beginning to look like we’re reaching an endgame. Someone, or something, has got to give. And it must be becoming gradually clear to the RMT’s Mick Lynch – and the other unions involved – that they won’t necessarily be the ones left standing at the end. They
The best thing that can be said about global economic growth prospects for 2023 is that no-one is expecting very much. On that basis, hopefully, things can only get better. Over the weekend, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva said that she expects a third of the globe to be in recession, including
Unforeseen events which provoke global crises – such as Covid — have come to be known as ‘black swans’. By the same token, the end of 2022 has just been visited by a great big fluffy white swan. Over the past 24 hours the main benchmark for European gas futures – the Dutch Title Transfer
Is there any weather condition which cannot be blamed on anthropogenic global warming (AGW)? No, it seems, judging by the reaction in the US liberal press to the snowstorm which has engulfed much of the US over the past few days. According to Bloomberg it is all down to a loopier-than-normal jet stream, “the kind of
Whatever happened to the economic boom that was supposed to follow the Covid pandemic? The 2020s, some argued, would be like the 1920s, with an economy roaring its way out of recession, to be remembered as a time of unprecedented wealth and opportunity. That is not how things have turned out so far. While economic growth
We’re finishing the year by republishing our ten most popular articles from 2022. Here’s number eight: Ross Clark’s piece from May on the crypto crash. When Britain voted for Brexit, Macron boasted that Paris would eat the City of London’s lunch. It didn’t quite work out that way, with most league tables continuing to put
Economic growth is the third quarter was known to be depressed, but the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has this morning upped its estimate of the retreat in GDP for the third quarter, from a fall of 0.2 per cent to a drop of 0.3 per cent. That need not be too alarming in itself
Mick Lynch told Mishal Husain this week that it is about time she started showing partiality to Britain’s working people. Leave aside the assertion that the BBC should break its impartiality guidelines to please Mick Lynch, is he really representing the working classes? Unless you count as ‘working class’ everyone who does any paid work,
Could flu really kill 30,000 people in Britain this year as our immune systems, rendered naïve after two years of lockdowns and other anti-Covid measures, are over-ridden by the virus? That suggestion has been reported in places this morning. There has certainly been a sharp increase in people reporting flu symptoms over the past couple
After a faltering start in its programme of rate rises, the Bank of England is catching up. Today’s half-point rise in its base rate to 3.5 per cent may be relatively modest compared with last month’s 0.75 per cent rise, but it is still twice as high as any rise the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
Has inflation peaked? The Consumer Prices Index fell to 10.7 per cent last month, down from 11.1 per cent in October. This follows predictions that October would be the month in which inflation peaked – so this morning’s figures from the Office for National Statistics will raise hopes that the worst may be behind us. This
It will come as no comfort to those who have already lost fortunes, but it is remarkable how resilient the crypto currency market has been this year, especially following the collapse of the FTX exchange in November. But if the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas and the request by US authorities for
Oxford councillors are feeling rattled by opposition to their proposal to divide the city into six districts and to limit the passage of road traffic between them. The city and county councils put out a press release last week accusing residents of spreading ‘misinformation’ about the scheme. It complained of abuse received from members of
