Dan Jarvis is the model of a modern flailing minister
I wonder how No. 10 decides which minister is up for the ritual humiliation of the Today programme each morning.…
The joy of Giorgia Meloni
There are not, as far as I know, any Italian top-flight poker players. Italians are hardly renowned for their ability…
Trump-Zelensky II went off without a hitch
Not since Barack Obama held a press conference dressed as the Man from Del Monte has a suit played such…
Give J.D. Vance a glimpse of real Britain
We’re used to strange sights in north Oxfordshire. The first person I ever met in our small Cotswolds town was…
Ricky Jones and the reality of two-tier justice
This may be looked back on as the week when two-tier justice moved from being an accusation to a statement…
Thought for the Day and the elite empathy problem
Like much of Radio 4’s output, Thought for the Day is something of a curate’s egg – sometimes enlightening and a…
Labour is entering its ‘Zanu-PF’ era
If you hadn’t heard of Rushanara Ali until her resignation yesterday, then good for you. If you still hadn’t until…
What will Rachel Reeves take credit for next?
There’s no rest, they say, for the wicked. Nobody, however, ever deigns to inform us what amount of downtime will…
Migration has radicalised middle England
One of the symptoms that something has truly shifted is unrest in unlikely places. The sleepy heartlands of middle England…
Sadiq Khan will wear his Trump insult as a badge of honour
The Trump Golf Course at Turnberry in Scotland looks like a middle-ranking complex for assisted living. It is all plastic…
The Epping migrant delusion
The origin of the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes is difficult to pin down: could it be 19th century Denmark…
Boredom is Rachel Reeves’s secret weapon
When French General Bosquet watched the 600 men of the Light Brigade charge helplessly into the Russian heavy artillery at…
Sausage King Starmer’s bad afternoon on the grill
Sir Keir Starmer has a sausage problem. Stop sniggering at the back. Not only was there his infamous slip demanding…
Life is good in Starmerland. It’s a shame about Britain
It was clearly hot in the House of Commons today. The Lib Dem benches were a sea of pastel colours,…
I’ve got Donald Trump to thank for my unusual middle name
Never make a drunken bet. At about 3 a.m. one fateful morning, pre-pandemic and several bottles down, a friend and…
PMQs is truly cursed
In the Fifth Circle of Dante’s Inferno, the damned are cursed to bob on the surface of the Styx, scrapping…
Emmanuel Macron would love to be King
When Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito visited Windsor Castle in the early years of the 21st century, the Queen Mother gave…
The ghost of Liz Truss haunts parliament
Today’s Urgent Question in the House of Commons about the state of the economy was dominated by two people who…
Admit it: most wedding speeches are awful
Perhaps the most traumatic part of attending an American wedding – much worse than the bridesmaids coming in the wrong…
At PMQs we saw Keir Starmer’s ugly side
‘When a Knight won his spurs in the stories of old, he was gentle and brave, he was gallant and…
Welfare reform died in parliament last night
That this government is bad at maths will not come as a surprise to many readers. Thus far, however, in…
Liz Kendall’s humiliating welfare climb-down
‘This government believes in equality and social justice,’ began Liz Kendall. Which government she was describing is anyone’s guess. I…
Keir Starmer is seriously stupid
Sir Keir has returned from his worldwide statesmanship tour. Barely the edge of a photograph went ungurned in, not a…
Rachel Reeves looks increasingly petrified
Sir Keir Starmer was in the Hague. I know, I know, you’d have thought they would have done Blair first.…
David Lammy has nothing to say
The day started badly for David Lammy. Well – we don’t know that for sure – it’s feasible that first…
