The more familiar one grows with British politics, the more one is struck by a strange paradox: that so many people put in so much effort, and make so many sacrifices to try and get the chance to govern this country – but then show almost universally very little stomach for actually trying to govern […]
At the time of writing, you can get odds of 33/1 on Ed Miliband being our next prime minister – and unless you’re in a position where placing a bet would cause a scandal (due to the media’s absurd misreading of what ‘insider trading’ is), those look like pretty good odds. It feels a bit […]
For anyone even slightly involved in the debate over British housing policy, there are few things more likely to live in their head rent-free than the ‘Two Staircase Rule’ – which probably ranks above even Martyn’s Law as the most egregious example of something-must-be-done policymaking in recent memory. If you’re fortunate enough to be unfamiliar […]
Nigel Farage has announced that Reform UK would, if they form a government, construct 15 so-called Nightingale prisons to solve the cell shortage. These would be low-cost, prefabricated facilities built on military sites (the Army would apparently be drafted in to help with construction) intended to house up to 12,400 prisoners. The Government has denounced […]
‘Clarkson’s Farm’, the fourth season of which recently concluded on Amazon, is a remarkable artefact. Not even had they wished on a magic lamp could critics of Britain’s sclerotic state been handed a more potent weapon than one of this country’s most charismatic TV personalities, backed by indisputably its most talented production team, trying to […]
Before last year’s election, I really thought Keir Starmer might go big on housing. A Labour government with a big majority could scorn the howling of Conservative and Liberal Democrat backbenchers and drive through development where it’s desperately needed: Britain’s commuter belts. It did not take long for the shine to start coming off that […]
The most important thing to remember about the latest Sentencing Review is that it has been conducted in the shadow of one cold, hard fact: we don’t have nearly enough prison places, and aren’t going to get them anytime soon. At least, one must hope this is the only reason that David Gauke, the former […]
“Police and employers are cracking down on staff secretly working numerous full-time jobs after a rise in ‘polygamous working’”, reports The Times. This refers to the practice of someone working from home holding down more than one full-time job; apparently, there is a burgeoning network of online advice for people attempting this. It is easy […]
So, there we have it. Runcorn & Helsby 2025 joins the likes of Crosby 1981 and Orpington 1962 in the list of seismic by-election victories by a party outside the ‘big two’. As so often in such cases, pollsters and data nerds will be understandably vexed by the weight given to the result, given its […]
If there was any profession whose members you would expect to understand the principle that actions have consequences, it would be the legal profession – and especially the judiciary. It is their job, after all, to dole out life-changing consequences. When someone has broken the law, the judge hands down the sentence. Yet in recent […]
Birmingham City Council has declared a ‘major incident’ over its ongoing bin strike. Rubbish is piling up in the streets, rats are making the headlines and what was once a leading contender for this country’s second city is making the news as a basket case. More than it usually does, anyway. The origin of the […]
The latest revelations about endemic tuition fee fraud have drawn attention once again to a truth policymakers do not want to face: that our current model for higher education is completely unsustainable, and by this means or that the system is heading for collapse. Unfortunately for Conservatives, this isn’t one we can simply blame on […]
You can always tell that a policy is a winner when its advocates start simultaneously arguing that it’s a very important reform and that it won’t actually change anything, as did one of my fellow witnesses on recent edition of Radio 4’s ‘Moral Maze’. The creation of the Supreme Court is perhaps the prime example […]
Michael Gove was, without a doubt, the most able secretary of state produced by the last 14 years of Conservative government. This sounds like praise, and of course it is. But great ability is a two-edged sword. When an able individual sets themselves to good purposes, they can do great things, as Gove did at […]
In her speech to Policy Exchange yesterday, Kemi Badenoch described her foreign policy position as that of a ‘conservative realist’. Yet while she gestured towards plenty of welcome and overdue policy shifts on things such as the European Convention on Human Rights, it remains to be seen just how realistic the Conservative Party is yet […]
Baroness Carr, the most senior judge in England and Wales, has attacked both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch in extremely strong terms for having the temerity to criticise the courts – specifically, a recent decision by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal to allow six refugees from Gaza to settle in the United Kingdom. Referring to […]
For a Government which has had an absolutely torrid time of things since almost the moment it took office, the aftermath of last summer’s riots was a rare high point. For once, Keir Starmer got to strike a convincing pose as the tough-minded former prosecutor cracking down on disorder. Both the press and the public […]
‘There is a clear need for a wider political conversation about the notion of citizenship and voting rights in the UK in 2024.’ So declaims Modernising Elections, a new report from the IPPR, a heavyweight progressive think-tank (page 20). What it means by this is that there are ‘around 5 million permanent tax-paying residents of […]
Trying to predict the main challenges facing the Conservative Party in 2025 feels like a mug’s game. Not only are there so many to choose from even among those we can reasonably predict, but there is also the very real chance that some external event – such as an oil price shock, say – completely […]
Assisted suicide is an issue which – rightly – arouses strong feelings on both sides. But setting aside the substance of the issue for a minute, the circus surrounding Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (henceforth the ‘Leadbeater Bill’) has been yet another bleak milestone in the trivialisation of Parliament. The ur-problem […]
