Martin Luther shot to fame five hundred years ago with his protest against indulgences in October 1517. At the core of his message was the straightforward idea that the answer to every religious question was to be found in the Bible, the Word of God, taken in its plain and simple sense. As we now
If you’re thinking of investing in a buy-to-let property, take a look at this week’s Best Buys; two-year fixed rate mortgages for buy-to-let properties. Data supplied by moneyfacts.co.uk.
One is the son of a humble baker, whose burning passion for Catalan independence has been all-consuming since he was a boy. The other, a scion of a distinguished Spanish family, is a hard-nosed political operator with a taste for cigars and bullfighting. In the heady days of the referendum, some even dared to dream that
The most regular attack-line used against leading Brexiteers is that they misled the public over how much money could be used to fund the NHS if Britain left the EU. Throughout the referendum campaign, Vote Leave said that we send £350 million a week to Brussels – a gross figure, applied before a rebate etc.
Did a male MP allow three other men to urinate on him, for sexual gratification? That is one of the more exotic suggestions on a spreadsheet of allegations and rumours about MPs and their conduct that is circulating at Westminster. ‘Video exists of three males urinating on him’, the spreadsheet is said to record. That
It’s interesting that everyone is making such a fuss about this ‘dangerous wild lynx’ that has escaped from a Welsh animal park. Various reports have described it as ‘fearsome’ warning that it ‘could eat pets’ and be ‘aggressive if cornered’. The park itself – Borth Wild Animal Kingdom in Ceredigion – says that: ‘There have
The Conservative Party appears rather burnt-out at the moment. At its conference – even before Theresa May’s disastrous speech – it seemed to be the Knackered Party rather than the Nasty Party that the Prime Minister herself had warned about so many years ago. But it is still in government, and desperately needs to find
The current crisis – not too strong a term – began a long time ago. And in a sense part of it really is the European Union’s fault. The EU’s failures, or rather shortcomings, play a part in this story but the greater share of it is the consequence of the EU’s successes, not its
Amid the attention given to the ‘Three Brexiteers’ in their efforts to establish post-Brexit trade with the rest of the world, the work of business secretary Greg Clark often gets overlooked. But in conversation with James Forsyth at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, this is what we learned about the government’s business strategy. The
The Spectator, in association with Sky, brought together the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, David Anderson QC, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Michael Beckerman of the Internet Association, which represents the internet giants, and Andrew Griffith of Sky for a panel event at Conservative party conference. This is a summary of the discussion which took place.
A strange thing happened after TFL’s decision last month not to renew Uber’s license to operate in London. The ride sharing app started a petition on the website change.org. To defend the livelihoods of 40,000 drivers – and the consumer choice of millions of Londoners – sign this petition asking to reverse the decision to
Oh dear. Earlier this month there was a furore when it was revealed that a tights advert featuring a picture of a dancer’s bare back had been banned from the Tube. As part of Sadiq Khan’s promise to ban adverts on TfL which could cause body confidence issues, the firm were told by TfL’s contractor to add a
The Westminster sleaze row shows no signs of dying down with today’s papers filled with more tales of MPs behaving badly. The Telegraph warns that the Parliament sex scandal ‘could be worse than expenses’ – reporting that two female staff stopped working for a minister over claims of inappropriate behaviour. Meanwhile the Sun leads on Michael
Here’s an uplifting story from the vanguard of the culture war. As the New York Times reports: ‘At the Advent School in Boston, Erina Spiegelman, who is an instructional coordinator, recalled that a teacher last year asked a group of students the big question: ‘What is gender?’. The first answer came from a second-grader: ‘It’s a
As Parliament sleaze dominated Commons business today, John Bercow told MPs ‘there is a need for change’ – describing allegations of a ‘culture of sexual harassment’ at Westminster as ‘disturbing’. Although the Speaker placed the responsibility on political leaders to clean up Parliament, Mr S hopes that Bercow can also play an important role in helping
Scotland’s whisky industry is the UK’s single largest food and drink export, accounting for almost a fifth of Britain’s the sector’s exports. It’s also the number one internationally traded spirit in the world, and changes in the market can, therefore, cause something of a stir in the UK exports market. That’s why today’s statistics from
As allegations of sexual misconduct in Parliament rise and a spreadsheet of suspected sex pest MPs does the rounds, today the government attempted to take control of the situation. In a statement to the House, Andrea Leadsom promised to get a grip on the issue – as she said Parliament ‘must take action in days
Last week I wrote a column elsewhere arguing, among other things, that it is time for the government to look beyond its (almost impossible-to-meet) commitment to a budget surplus at some point in the 2020s and think about a looser target that might allow more public spending, seeking perhaps a primary but not overall surplus.
Westminster is agog with whispers about who the Tory MPs are on a list of men and women alleged to be guilty of inappropriate sexual behaviour, sexual harassment and worse. Some names have been circulating for years, with many women across the Parliamentary Estate saying they have their own story about this MP or that
There are a couple of predictable elements to the reporting of sex scandals involving a public figure, and both were in evidence when it was revealed that Stephen Crabb, MP, had sent ‘pretty outrageous’ messages to a woman he’d turned down for a job in his parliamentary office. When it came to the reporting, Mr