Politics

November 14, 2019

From Berlin to Brexit: A short history of European walls

When it should be holding the beacon higher and brighter, the UK is abandoning its important role as a promoter and defender of the system…

September 4, 2019

What dark forces lie behind the Brexit façade?

Boris Johnson last night turfed out 21 Tory rebels. Now he is preparing to put British democracy to one of its greatest tests, writes Geoff…

July 31, 2019

Can Boris Johnson tame the Brexit monster?

Boris Johnson has set an impossible pre-condition which he knows must lead to a no-deal Brexit, writes Geoff Kitney. So far, so good for Boris…

July 18, 2019

Boris Johnson’s deceit maketh the man

Very soon the UK could have the least trustworthy prime minister for generations. Murray Ritchie poses the question: how did it come to this? If…

June 6, 2019

Boris for PM offers succour north of the Border

Supporters of Scottish independence are increasingly optimistic as Indyref2 approaches. The reasons are not difficult to find, writes Murray Ritchie. Just as Brexit is paralysing…

May 24, 2019

May resigns – and Johnson is waiting in the wings

Too late now for Theresa May, but Australia has just provided a lesson: get the politics right first and worry about the consequences later, writes…

March 28, 2019

Brexit: A path to yes through a forest of no

The Brexit process is marooned in uncertainty as no democratic method seems able to select a route that is favoured by a parliamentary majority. The…

March 22, 2019

Leadership, or the sad lack of it

Brexit has cruelly exposed the western world’s lack of leadership, nowhere more than in the United Kingdom. Murray Ritchie poses the question: How did it…

January 31, 2019

Brexit is now all about the art of the possible

Theresa May’s current political strategy seriously risks running into a dead-end from which it will only be possible for a new prime minister, taking a…

January 7, 2019

Political peace in the UK is unlikely

Can the United Kingdom as currently constituted survive Brexit? Probably not, suggests Murray Ritchie. Later this month Britain’s House of Lords will debate the future…

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Corbyn makes pitch for business vote at CBI
Jeremy Corbyn’s proposals to oversee the creation of hundreds of thousands of apprenticeship placements and to overhaul the contentious levy on employers have been welcomed by industry as he extended an olive branch to the private sector. The Labour leader yesterday dismissed claims that his policies amounted to an “anti-business” agenda as “complete nonsense” as he addressed the annual CBI conference in central London. Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, the lobby group’s director-general, said that plans to enhance vocational training and to “retool” the economy to tackle climate change had opened “the door to partnership” with employers. Mike Cherry, 66, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, praised Mr Corbyn’s “very positive” decision to put reforming business rates and dealing with late payments “at the top” of Labour’s business policy programme. The Times, November 19

Tory business rates review fails to convince
Boris Johnson’s pledge of a fundamental review of business rates has been greeted with scepticism, with industry leaders fearing that it will “go over old ground” after failures to act on previous promises of reform. A Conservative government would cut the commercial property tax in its first budget if the party won a majority at the general election, the prime minister said. “We will reduce the overall burden of business rates as part of this review,” the Tories said. However, the last review of the tax was completed only three years ago and resulted in relatively minor changes. The party’s 2017 manifesto promised “longer-term reforms” to rates that have not materialised. The Times, November 19

Greens to pledge zero carbon by 2030
The Green Party of England and Wales will launch its election manifesto later with a pledge to reach net zero carbon emissions in the UK by 2030. The party says it would invest £100bn a year by 2030 as part of a “green new deal” to tackle climate change – to be mainly paid for by borrowing. The party will also pledge to increase NHS funding, hold a Brexit referendum and extend voting to 16-year-olds. The party is standing in 498 out of 573 English and Welsh seats. Co-leader Sian Berry will promise to “hit the ground running”, at the launch of the party’s manifesto, because “the future won’t give us another chance to get these next two years right”. BBC news, November 19

Corbyn’s best hope is a minority government
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s best hope of becoming prime minister is to lead a minority government involving smaller opposition parties, according to members of his inner circle. With Labour trailing the Conservatives in the opinion polls, Mr Corbyn’s supporters said that – “barring a miracle” – there was little chance of his party emerging with a House of Commons majority after the general election on December 12. But in the event of a hung parliament, where no party has a Commons majority, Mr Corbyn’s backers think he has a good opportunity to form a minority government. Financial Times, November 19

NHS bosses say poor staffing endangers patients
NHS bosses have made a dramatic intervention into the campaign, with nine out of 10 saying the staffing crisis is endangering patients. Almost 60 per cent believe this winter will be the toughest yet for the service. It may scare the horses in the Tory campaign where there is concern that the growing crisis in the health service risks derailing the party’s Brexit-dominated campaign. That’s unlikely to be helped today by the Lib Dem policy pledge add an extra £35bn for health and social care over the next five years, by adding a penny to the basic rate of income tax. It puts the Tories in third place, pledging to spend £140.3bn on the NHS up to 2023-24, with the Lib Dems on £142.2bn and Labour in front on £143.5bn. The Guardian, November 19

NHS pay tax bills to keep consultants working
Doctors will have their extra tax bills paid by the NHS to avoid unfilled shifts plunging hospitals into a winter crisis. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is due to order civil servants to press ahead with the plan despite reservations that it could violate purdah rules that forbid contentious announcements in the run up to the election. Hundreds of millions of pounds will be spent guaranteeing that consultants, senior nurses and other clinical staff will not be left out of pocket by tax bills after warnings that senior doctors were refusing to do overtime because they are in effect paying to work. The plan was devised by NHS England and is due to come into effect today in efforts to protect patients during what is already being talked about as one of the bleakest winters the NHS has known. Handing tax cuts worth potentially tens of thousands of pounds to a single, highly paid group of workers is likely to stoke resentment among other staff, NHS bosses warned. The Times, November 19

Spending on trees in UK falls despite pledges
Spending on trees and forestry fell by nearly £20m a year between 2015 and 2018, when a purely Conservative government had taken over from the coalition, despite pledges to plant more trees. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said £132m was spent across the UK on trees in 2017-18, down from £151m in 2014-15. The more recent total included £32m in England, with most of the rest spent in Scotland. The figures equate to less than £1 per person in England and less than £2 per person across the UK, compared with annual spending of about £90 per person on roads, £150pp on fossil fuel subsidies and £135pp in foregone tax from the nine-year freeze on fuel duty. Subsidising fossil fuel production overseas costs each UK taxpayer more than £7 a year, according to estimates from Friends of the Earth. The Guardian, November 19

Israeli settlements on West Bank ‘are not illegal’
The US yesterday abandoned its longstanding position that Jewish settlements on the West Bank were “inconsistent with international law” in a boost for Israel that was condemned by the Palestinian leadership. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said the declaration that reversed the US position established by President Carter was not meant to prejudge a final agreement on the status of the land seized by Israel in 1967. The move was seen as supportive of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, as he battles to stay in power after two inconclusive elections. It comes after steps under President Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, open the US embassy there and endorse Israel’s ownership of the Golan Heights annexed from Syria. Mr Trump placed his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in charge of drawing up plans to end decades of conflict in the region but the unilateral American actions have turned Palestinians against Washington’s leadership. No US plan has yet been made public. The Times, November 19

China attacks HK ruling to overturn mask ban
China’s parliament has attacked a Hong Kong court ruling that overturned a contentious mask ban, threatening to inflame tensions in the territory where a police siege of a university has entered its third day. In a statement published by the official Xinhua news agency, a National People’s Congress spokesperson said members of its of law and labour committee “expressed serious concern” and “strong dissatisfaction” with the Hong Kong High Court ruling, which invalidated a mask ban implemented in early October. Tuesday’s NPC announcement did not constitute a formal rejection of the Hong Kong court ruling. But by signalling its opposition before the Hong Kong government could even appeal against the decision in the territory’s own Court of Final Appeal, the NPC risks fuelling protests motivated by a belief the city’s freedoms have been eroded by Beijing. Financial Times, November 19

Attenborough: World changing habits on plastic
The world is beginning to tackle the threat of plastic waste, according to the renowned broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. “I think we’re all shifting our behaviour, I really do,” Sir David said in an interview with the BBC. Describing plastic pollution as “vile” and “horrid”, he said there was growing awareness of the damage it can do. “I think we are changing our habits, and the world is waking up to what we’ve done to the planet,” he said. Sir David was speaking as he and the BBC’s Natural History Unit were announced as the winners of the prestigious Chatham House Prize for their Blue Planet II series of documentaries. BBC news, November 19

Scientists flushed with success over self-cleaning lavatory
As sticky issues go, it’s among the stickiest – but solving it could save 100 billion litres of water a year. How do you make a self-cleaning lavatory? A team of US scientists believe they have the answer after developing a coating that is able to repel even the notoriously clingy “Type 6-ers” on the Bristol Stool Chart. Their system, which they have described in the journal Nature Sustainability, employs nanotechnology to ensure that everything flushes down smoothly, and they estimate that it could decrease the amount of water used in lavatories by 90 per cent. “Poos are very sticky. We all know this from our daily experience,” said Tak-Sing Wong, a professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at Pennsylvania State University. They are so sticky that even Teflon does not repel them. But his new material, which trades under the name Spotless Materials system works differently. It can be applied to ceramic surfaces in two layers. The first bonds to the material, producing fine hairs. The second is a lubricant, that needs to be reapplied every 500 flushes. Together, they help solve the slipperiest problem in science. The Times, November 19

EasyJet relaunches package holiday business
EasyJet is relaunching its package holiday business as the airline looks to fill the gap in the industry left by Thomas Cook’s demise earlier this year. About 20 million people fly with EasyJet to Europe annually but only 500,000 book accommodation through it. The news came as the carrier reported a 26 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £427m for the year to 30 September. EasyJet also said it would become the world’s first major net zero carbon airline by offsetting carbon emissions. Chief executive Johan Lundgren told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is not a long-term solution, offsetting is not perfect. I don’t think it’s greenwashing, everyone recognises that it works, but this is in addition to the fact that since 2000, we’ve reduced our carbon emissions by 30 per cent.” BBC news, November 19