Gold climbs after Trump fires US attorney general January 31, 2017 The price of gold climbed overnight, edged on by uncertainty after US President Donald Trump fired attorney general Sally Yates. Global markets opened lower today, and safe haven assets such as gold and silver got a boost as investors looked for certainty. The precious yellow metal was up 0.5 per cent to $1,202, while the [...]
Fake news is troubling – but censorship is far worse January 31, 2017 We're in the grip of a fake news epidemic that is now poisoning our politics. That is the impression one would get from observing the tweets of the great and good. In the aftermath of Brexit in the UK and Donald Trump’s victory in the United States, it has been tempting for those who could [...]
Taking Trump literally: The chaotic US visa ban has revealed the new President to be incompetent or malevolent or both January 31, 2017 Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal and libertarian icon, told us last year to take Donald Trump “seriously but not literally”. Trump was playing to the gallery, Thiel suggested, and if elected would govern seriously and competently – and would quietly forget his more outlandish campaign promises. Naively, I and a few others started to hope [...]
David Davis questions whether opponents of an Article 50 Bill trust the British people January 31, 2017 Brexit secretary David Davis will today up the ante as MPs debate Article 50, questioning whether his opponents “trust the people”. MPs are set spend the next two days debating legislation granting the government power to begin divorce proceedings from the EU. And speaking ahead of the debate, Davis said that MPs were presented with a [...]
Amazon and Expedia back Washington state’s lawsuit against Trump’s travel ban January 30, 2017 The state of Washington is set to take Trump to federal court with the help of technology companies Amazon and Expedia to challenge the US President's executive order to ban travel from certain countries. Attorney general Bob Ferguson today said he was filing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, the US Department of Homeland Security and [...]
Protesters march on the streets of London in opposition to Trump’s travel ban January 30, 2017 Protesters are gathering outside of 10 Downing Street and elsewhere across the UK in opposition to US President Donald Trump's controversial new executive order that banned travel from seven majority Muslim countries. At the protest tonight, there will be speeches from MPs including Ed Miliband and Caroline Lucas. A Press Association reporter on the scene said [...]
Boris Johnson says Trump’s travel ban will make no difference to British passport holders January 30, 2017 Foreign secretary Boris Johnson has told MPs that holders of British passports will remain unaffected by harsh new immigration rules introduced in the US. President Donald Trump signed an executive order introducing a 90 day restriction on arrivals from Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen. Despite reassurances from the Foreign Office this weekend, [...]
There’s no case for cancelling Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain January 30, 2017 Theresa May did not ask for the hand she has been dealt. She did not campaign for Brexit. She had nothing to do with Donald Trump’s election. Nevertheless she must deal with both – and I am proud of the way she is making the most of the situation she’s in, for the good of our [...]
Can Brexit’s success or failure be objectively measured? This think tank hopes so. January 30, 2017 A think tank is trying to draw the sting out of Brexit debates by laying out a framework to judge the success of the UK's departure from the EU. A new report, published today by UK in a Changing Europe, proposes four economic tests for an assessment of Brexit, just days before MPs will first vote [...]
George Osborne has another new job, and he’s teaming up with John McCain January 30, 2017 Former chancellor George Osborne has picked up his fourth role since being dumped as chancellor by Theresa May. Osborne has been making some hefty change on the speakers' circuit, and now he is to join up with a "do-tank" led by Republican senator John McCain. The Tory MP will serve as the McCain Insitute's first [...]