1945 has a strong claim to be the most important year in history. In the history books, it feels like a year when everything happened all at once. 1945 began with the liberation of Auschwitz and the revelation of unimaginable horrors. It was the year of the race to Berlin between armies from both the […]
Neither Suella Braverman nor Konstantin Kisin identify as English. It is odd that they have decided to declare new rules for who can be English – and ones which the broad majority of those who consider themselves as English would reject.‘He is brown and Hindu – how can he be English?’, Kisin, the fast-talking host […]
‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ That is the famous inscription on the Statue of Liberty, symbolising the story of America as a ‘nation of immigrants’. But there are competing ideas of America. This second era of Donald Trump will now see a clash as sharp as any […]
Thomas Tuchel will be the England football team’s next manager. A German manager will lead England to the 2026 World Cup – as the team seek to mark the 60th anniversary of England’s famous 1966 victory over West Germany by finally winning a major trophy again. The 2026 World Cup also falls exactly 30 years […]
This has been the Wacky Races leadership contest. It is impossible to confidently predict which of Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will now emerge as Conservative Party leader. Cock-ups and botched conspiracies saw Conservative MPs eliminate James Cleverly by mistake. A handful of his own voters cast a hapless tactical vote. More important, numerically, was […]
If there is one thing that the four remaining Conservative leadership candidates do agree on, it is that their party failed on immigration in government.A harder question may be why.One simple answer would be that Conservative ministers just did not take the party’s manifesto commitments seriously at all. A second would be that they did […]
‘Watkins turns. Watkins scores. Bang on 90 minutes’. The last-minute Ollie Watkins goal that took England to the European championship final was watched by twenty million of us back home – making it easily the biggest collective national moment broadcast this year. As Gareth Southgate noted in his ‘Dear England’ letter to the fans, ahead […]
It is little surprise that immigration, and the main parties’ approach to it, is central to the current general election debate. That is a good thing: immigration is an issue of importance to voters and the democratic process allows us to interrogate the competing policies of those vying to lead the country. Integration – how […]
Could this be an immigration election? The issue has hit the headlines the morning after Rishi Sunak announced the July 4th date for the general election. The final statistics of this parliament show net migration at 685,000, more than double the level that it was four years ago, when the Conservatives said that they would bring the […]
The Supreme Court finding the government’s policy unlawful means that there is little chance of Britain deporting any asylum seekers to Rwanda before the General Election. Given the government’s prospects of re-election look slim, and Labour opposes the scheme, Lord Reed may have sounded the death knell for the Rwanda scheme as he read out […]
The 75th anniversary of the Windrush docking at Tilbury was marked yesterday with more status and recognition than ever before. There were community-led events in town halls, hospitals, schools and workplaces, a national faith service at Southwark cathedral, and the King unveiled portraits of Windrush elders that he has commissioned for the royal collection. The […]
It will be Manchester’s day at Wembley on Saturday. City and United, the two biggest footballing tribes in the city, are no strangers to cup finals, but their 140-year rivalry has never seen them meet in a cup final before. It will be another occasion that again demonstrates the incredible, sustained depth of footballing identity […]
The Office of National Statistics looks likely to announce the highest ever level of net migration this week, despite the Government’s 2019 manifesto pledge that ‘overall numbers will come down’. That number rose to over half a million in the year to June 2022 and now seems likely to rise even higher when the figures […]
‘It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would be more ashamed of being caught standing to attention during God Save The King than of stealing from a poor box,’ George Orwell wrote in The Lion and the Unicorn. He could have been writing about me. I once […]
“Okay campers, rise, and shine, and don’t forget your booties ‘cause it’s cold out there… it’s cold out there every day.” In the film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s jaded weatherman Phil Connors first realises something is amiss when he wakes to ‘I got you babe’ on his radio alarm and the same announcement as the […]
Rishi Sunak’s first photo-call with his wife on the steps of Downing Street came as part of the launch for this year’s Poppy Appeal. He had, on his first day in office, entered Number 10 on his own after speaking to the nation from outside – part of a decidedly low key ‘lets get to […]
The Prime Minister has said she is willing to do unpopular things to secure growth. She also faces discord in her cabinet over her government’s approach to immigration, with some urging liberalisation to boost the economy while others call for cuts to overall numbers. New research published today from Ipsos and British Future, tracking public attitudes […]
Liz Truss has appointed the most ethnically diverse Cabinet in British history, with black and Asian politicians holding all of the Great Offices of State for the first time. To have half a dozen black and Asian members of the Cabinet is a remarkable acceleration of progress, certainly in my adult lifetime, and particularly in […]
A little less conversation, a little more action. It might be that Elvis had the right prescription for a more constructive agenda on race. The Conservative leadership race has highlighted both the increasing presence of ethnic diversity at the top, and a growing partisan rift over the politics of race. But a new book from […]
Birmingham bid the Commonwealth Games farewell in style on Monday night. The closing ceremony told the story of the city’s Commonwealth links, including the contribution of the Windrush generation onwards to rebuilding the industrial heart of post-war England. The core theme was West Midlands pride in its many musical contributions. The nostalgic sugar rush of Dexys […]
