Editorial: Go-Ahead’s cock-up doesn’t look good for anybody September 29, 2021 If ever a news story could capture a nation’s mood, the shooting of a stunning, rare white stag by police in Merseyside yesterday, apparently against the RSPCA’s advice, seems to sum up a general feeling of melancholy sweeping the shires. The stag, we are informed by the powers that be, could have become a menace [...]
Editorial: It’s time to be straight on the cost of net-zero September 28, 2021 In the final years of New Labour’s time in office, free market campaigners, deficit hawks and the Conservatives sought to change the language used for government projects. For years, Gordon Brown et al had used the word investment to describe the use of public money. Those campaigners and politicians were successful; first, the word investment [...]
Editorial: Tax-hiking ministers aren’t entitled to demand pay rises, too September 27, 2021 To listen to Government ministers at the moment, one could be forgiven for thinking we were in the middle of an economic boom. Amid an entirely predictable collapse in haulier numbers and knock-on shortages, the response so far has been on the one hand an underwhelming visa scheme and on the other a demand for [...]
Editorial: How can Labour cut through against the tax and spend Tories? September 23, 2021 BARACK Obama’s two books, Dreams from my Father and The Audacity of Hope, are amongst the high-water mark of recent political writing. With his usual fluency, they crafted a back-story onto his political vision, and introduced a junior Senator from Illinois to the world. They were translated into at least 30 languages, and bestsellers everywhere [...]
Editorial: The Special Relationship needs shared goals more than a trade deal September 23, 2021 So the prospect of an all-singing, all-dancing Broadway show of a trade deal with the United States has been . After three prime ministers, as many presidents and a whole lot of grandstanding, Boris Johnson has been forced to admit it was more an ambition than a geopolitical reality. During the Prime Minister’s time with [...]
Editorial: Transport for London needs a funding model fit for a modern capital September 22, 2021 On the tube, mind the gap is supposed to be a cautionary warning for absent-minded tourists. Alas over the course of the pandemic it’s become something rather more serious – a constant, if pithy, reminder of the black hole at the heart of Transport for London’s finances. London is a great global city, but the [...]
Editorial: The energy cap can’t go right now – but free markets have better answers September 21, 2021 It is not, perhaps, the best time to argue for free markets and open competition in the energy market. Analysts are anticipating that the increase in the wholesale price of natural gas will see a host of firms wiped out; their economics are simply unworkable. The only thing protecting consumers from spiralling energy prices, then, [...]
Editorial: London’s ability to roll with the punches has served it in good stead September 20, 2021 “Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls.” So snarled Joe Strummer on The Clash’s London Calling – an iconic rallying cry that we have borrowed for today’s front page. West London’s finest songwriter probably didn’t foresee the strange places in which we’d one day be making pandemic-induced Zoom calls. but he’d surely be [...]
Editorial: London’s back and will remain a giant among cities September 20, 2021 “Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls.” So snarled Joe Strummer on The Clash’s London Calling – an iconic rallying cry that we have borrowed for today’s front page. Whether the London legend foresaw the strange places in which we’d one day be making pandemic-induced Zoom calls is up for debate. Regardless, it [...]
Editorial: Sir Lindsay Hoyle leads by example and stands up to China September 16, 2021 The Chinese embassy has accused UK parliamentarians of undermining Beijing’s attempts to improve Sino-British relations. No, that is not satire. The same regime which slapped sanctions on MPs who spoke out against egregious human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims has claimed it is in fact Westminster standing in the way of a cohesive and collaborative [...]
