Makerfield
Labour’s mercurial kingmaker
The eventful career of Josh Simons, the man who gave up his seat for Andy Burnham
Two false dawns
Anger can furnish a movement with energy, but not with votes
Nowhere left to go
Labour is running out of cash, authority and time.
It’s what you Makerfield of it
Andy Burnham may yet stop Reform, but victory would raise almost as many questions for Labour as defeat.
Most Read
Why they hated Ann Widdecombe
Fair-minded people could agree or disagree with her opinions. Left-wing bigots hated her for not abandoning them
Amnesty irrational
Gender identity ideologues cannot get away with baseless smears any more
The case against recognising Somaliland
The Somaliland lobby is being dangerously naive about the realities of the region
The vibe shift is a myth
Far from living through an age of cultural rebellion, we are seeing the imposition of cultural conformity
The end of Peel’s police?
She invokes a vanished age of policing, but Shabana Mahmood’s reforms point towards a more continental model of policing
Bye bye, Beeb?
A Netflix-style subscription model is the only way to save the BBC
The martyrdom of Young Bob
On ebbing power of the political influencer
Love on manoeuvres
La fille du régiment, Covent Garden
The emperor’s old advisor
McSweeney’s performance before MPs suggests age and experience hasn’t brought clarity — only better excuses
Decolonisation dissected
This toxic and destructive ideology must be rejected
Britain will be worse without hereditary peers
The expulsion of the hereditaries is neither fair nor pragmatic
Under the volcano
As Sicilians say, Mamma Etna gives more than she takes away
The last true Kapellmeister
Chaotic in all things except music, where he demanded precision and gave his all
NigeDosh: an urgent appeal
Tonight’s political coverage is repeatedly interrupted by urgent appeals for charities that may or may not be fictional
RIP New Labour?
Keir Starmer’s failure should mark a decisive break with a failed consensus
American strategy in Iran is wiser than it seems
President Trump’s intervention will leave the world safer than it was