All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Violent conflict, not traditionally a feature of life in Britain, arrived with brutal force this weekend. Angry mobs targeted mosques and attacked hotels housing migrants, setting at least one on fire. Businesses were looted, and groups of men have been seen gathering in force, holding weapons and attacking others. Although more than 400 arrests have
Does His Majesty’s Government have a policy on civil servants wearing fetish clothing in the workplace? It’s not the sort of question you’d expect to find in the rather mind-numbing list of written inquiries asked by members of the House of Lords. But Baroness Jenkin, who is still waiting for her answer to that question,
A Sky News reporter having his microphone grabbed and dropped to the ground might seem like a trifling story right now, given everything that’s happening in the country. But when the mic-grabber is none other than Sir Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, it’s a different matter. A very different matter. In a democracy,
When Rishi Sunak was prime minister, he welcomed Elon Musk as a guest of honour at the government’s AI summit, with the pair even having a fireside chat. However, the new inhabitant of No. 10 takes a different approach to the billionaire owner of X and Tesla. This afternoon, Keir Starmer’s spokesman has slapped down
A month ago, no one in Bangladesh could ever have imagined that the country’s authoritarian prime minister Sheikh Hasina could be forcibly removed from power and sent by military helicopter out of the country to India. Least of all Hasina herself, as her party, the Awami League, controlled the police, the judiciary, and all other
The British Army’s Field Army Threat Handbook has warned soldiers of potential Russian espionage at UK sites where Ukrainian military personnel are being trained. Possible methods identified include ‘the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems, mobile and foot surveillance, virtual and physical approaches to training providers and interest from investigative journalists’. This is a threat
To Scotland, where the Nats are facing accusations of not dealing with sex offender complaints properly. Cameron Downing, former SNP equalities officer, was last month jailed for six years after being convicted of sexually assaulting six young adults and physically assaulting two women. Between 2016 and 2021, the ex-equalities officer was found to have attacked
As Britain braces itself for further outbreaks of violence, questions are being asked about the UK’s police response and how effective it has been. While a number of officers have been injured over the past week as they work to contain rioters, accusations have been levelled at officers for ‘two-tier policing’ – amidst fears that
It was never just about Gaza. Since October, the Middle East has been in a regional war that, over the next few weeks, is likely to break into the open. After Israel’s airstrike on Beirut and assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, Iran is promising a different approach. Following the killing
Good heavens. Now it’s ITV under fire after the broadcaster was accused of bias for allowing ex-politician-turned-presenter Ed Balls to interview Yvette Cooper, who also happens to be his, um, wife. Talk about keeping it in the family… The Home Secretary was across the airwaves this morning doing the media round after horrific riots –
Donald Trump’s second son Eric made a visit to Scotland this weekend, for a round of golf and a rather interesting media interview. While Eric Trump insisted that the Trumps have ‘tremendous respect’ for the country, the ex-president’s son was, however, a little less complimentary about David Lammy… The Foreign Secretary has a history of
Are we really on the brink of civil war in Britain? Is it ‘inevitable’ in the foreseeable future? So thinks Elon Musk. It would be easy to dismiss this as absurd. Indeed it is absurd. But those of a nervous disposition might point to certain circumstances in 1642 – the start of what most English people think of
For five days at the beginning of August 2011, it felt like we were on the brink of anarchy. Over the last few days, similar scenes have played out on British streets: shops have been smashed and looted; people attacked; and police officers on the front line have been injured. There is nothing more frightening
For a while it looked as if Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were going to be lucky: they had walked into an economic recovery. The anaemic growth and market turmoil of the past few years – which Labour liked to blame entirely on ‘Tory chaos’ and absolutely nothing to do with the pandemic or energy
The last comparable period of civil disorder in this country happened in 2011. Then as now, the courts acted with speed and severity to try to quell five days of rioting in multiple locations, which traumatised the nation, caused hundreds of millions in damage and injured more than three hundred officers. The head of the
The riots that have erupted across Britain in the last week have been reported extensively in France. The centre-right Le Figaro describes a ‘whiff of civil war’ in the air. The French media are well-versed in covering riots of their own, but the trouble on the other side of the Channel is unusual in that the troublemakers
Hundreds of angry protestors have attacked a hotel in South Yorkshire that has been used to house migrants and asylum seekers. Videos posted on social media show the police retreating under a hail of objects thrown by anti-immigration protesters outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham. There are pictures of protestors hurling pieces of wood and chairs
After a weekend of violent disorder breaking out across the UK, the Prime Minister has this evening issued a statement from Downing Street. ‘I utterly condemn the far-right thuggery we have seen this weekend,’ Keir Starmer says. ‘Be in no doubt: those who have participated in this violence will face the full force of the law.’ The
My brand is pessimism so I’m wary of flogging it to death or becoming a parody of myself, but it’s hard not to feel a bit downcast about the direction of the country. Perhaps it’s just been an especially grim couple of weeks for Britain, with riots in Leeds, a soldier stabbed in Kent and
Protests are spreading across the UK. In Hull, protesters gathered outside a hotel housing asylum seekers and chanted ‘stop the boats’, and in Belfast a Syrian cafe owner had his business targeted. Now the action has spread to Rotherham. This afternoon, a mob has set fire to a hotel, used to house migrants. Footage appears
On Friday night, I watched the news with a sick heart. I watched masked men in Sunderland throw bricks and beer cans at the police and chant racist slogans. I recognised the setting. I grew up in Sunderland: I spent 15 years of my life there and still have family there. I was in Keel
A full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah now seems closer than at any point since 7 October. Recent escalations, including the killing of twelve Druze children by a Hezbollah rocket and the assassination of the organisation’s armed forces commander, mean that war is now a more likely scenario. A war in Lebanon would look very differently to
Yesterday evening, the government instituted a little-known procedure called the Additional Courts Protocol. Set up following the 2011 London riots, this involves emergency ad hoc magistrates’ courts sitting 24 hours a day to deal swiftly with the troublemakers. This was the right decision. But it still may come back to bite the people who made
Sir Keir Starmer’s government looks ready to smile upon the British Museum’s apparent desire to by-pass the legal prohibition of the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens by negotiating a ‘long-term loan’ instead. Since Greece believes that the Marbles were stolen, that ‘loan’ is bound to be permanent. The first hint of this
Radical preacher Anjem Choudary – the Bexley-born godfather of homegrown Islamist terrorism in modern Britain – has finally been imprisoned for life. Found guilty of directing the banned group al-Muhajiroun after an international investigation involving Scotland Yard, the MI5, the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Canadian police, Choudary was given a minimum term of 28 years
Japan is running out of rice. Stocks have fallen to their lowest levels in decades, prompting fears that emergency reserves may need to be accessed. Prices have hit a 30-year high as private companies held just 1.56 million tons in June, the lowest level since 1999 and 20 per cent less than the previous year.
On 16 May, 1944, as the first full trainloads of Hungarian Jews trundled towards Auschwitz, the SS decided to clear out the area known as the ‘Gypsy family camp’ to make room for the new arrivals. The family camp housed several thousand Roma and Sinti (Roma with German roots) people. Like the Jews, they were
Last week, the new head of the Army, General Sir Roly Walker, warned that war may be much closer than we think. Is our military ready? Two years ago, a syndicate of young officers published an article on the extreme shortage of division and brigade-level training in the British Army. Since then, the amount of larger-scale training
As if the French hadn’t enough on their plates, with turbulent elections and an underwhelming Euros performance, they’ve now had to contend with the prospect of terrorism blighting the Olympic Games. At least one major terror plot has been foiled by the French authorities, and pro-Islamic State channels are issuing threats to stadiums and fans. The main
